“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world.” Galatians 6:14
As the blood of Christ, and the covenant according to that shed blood, is the great basis, essence, and reason for the first great postion of faith according to it, so the cross of Christ, and its signification, is the second. As is the case of the blood of the covenant, its power and worth in the eyes of the Father, to cleanse from all sin, and present the sinner spotless, so is the case of the cross, its meaning being the basis for a stand of faith that is imperative if the enemies to faith are to be overcome by the power of God in the life. So, what does the cross mean? And how is its meaning and message to be applied to the life of the believer? Again, we begin at the Beginning, the Lord Jesus, who accomplished such an eternal, immutable, absolute and complete work on the cross, so that the truth of that work would be the basis for true liberty, freedom from all that is of sin, the world, self, and the devil. What then is this message? It is a declaration, in a terrrible form, which communicates to us a finished work on Calvary, never to be repeated, or altered, but to be appropriated, taken as a gift from God, used well by faith, so that the glory of God can and will be revealed in and through the hearts and lives of men. The Beginning of that work was Christ. So was its Conclusion. What was that work specifically?
First and foremost, it was a work of mercy, grace, and love, the veracity and purity of which was proved by the pain and suffering endured. The work itself was objective, the truth of which sets free the sinful soul from bondage and death. The demonstration of that work was excruciating suffering, the like of which this world has never known. Isaiah tells us that Christ was “…wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we were healed.”(53:5) But prior to this declaration, and the expression of all that this means, was the fact that this Son of God sent into this sinful world by the love of the Father, was a man despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, not esteemed, and certainly not one who attracted others because of his outward appearance. This beloved Son, this Lamb of God, “…bore our griefs, and carried away our sorrows,” (v.4) yet, in our twisted perception of Him, we “…esteemed Him smitten of God, and afflicted.” In other words, He was not only rejected, but totally misunderstood. He had come to those whom he loved, only to be rejected, and eventually crucified. The meaning of the cross begins with the suffering of Christ, the manifest just judgement of God of sin, but the love of God for the sinner. But how does this cross apply to me, to us?
As was pointed out with regard to the blood of Christ, it is one thing to know the truth of its power, but quite another to appropriate it in the life, to take, or partake of it’s cleansing properties, and saving, santifying strength. The same is true of the cross. When the believer was placed into Jesus Christ at the moment of the new birth, many things concerning the cross became true of the believer, the first of which was that he was crucified with Christ. This means that all that pertained to the sinner’s existence in Adam, outside of Christ, pertaining to sin, was put to death with Christ, forever buried in God’s sight. The old man in Adam, died the day of the believer’s conversion to Christ. Old things were now passed away, and all things had become new. The new man in Christ had been born.
Dear Father, Apply the cross today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.