The Cross

The cross is a central part of the human history, a central part of Christianity and a central part of Christian living. Without the cross, there is no Gospel! It’s a very very important part of our lives and it’s up to us to learn more about the power of the cross.  1 Corinthians 1:18 NKJV demonstrates that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us those who are being saved it is the power of God”. To those who do not believe in God or see the crucifixion of Jesus as just another story in history, the death of Jesus is absurd and ridiculous. Some regard it as something that is impossible to happen because it defies the laws of physics but to those who are being transformed by the God, it is such an awesome and amazing event that shows just how great, gracious and loving God is!

The Passover Lamb & Jesus,

Shadow and reality are two different concepts; the shadow is not the real thing as it is simply a representation of the real thing. The same truth can be applied with regards to the crucifixion of Jesus, the shadow is the Passover Lamb in the Old Testament and the reality is the Cross and death of Jesus.

If God delivered a whole nation by the blood of the animals, think about how much more He will He do for us because of the cross. Jesus is our sin bearer, He carried our sins like the scapegoat in Leviticus 16:8-10 and took it into the wilderness WOW!

As Christians, we can’t say that as long as we go to church on Sundays and give our offering then we’re going to heaven. That’s incorrect. No-where in the Bible does it state that you need be give your tithe and offering and so on in order to be saved. Ephesians 2:8-9 states that it is by God’s grace that we are saved through faith, it is not the result of our own efforts, but God’s gift so that no one can boast about it. It’s through Christ alone that we can enter into heaven (Acts 4:12).

The Passover

The early Jewish believers in Jesus considered him the fulfillment of the Passover lambs that were yearly sacrificed. Thus Paul, a Jewish Christian who had studied under Rabbi Gamaliel, wrote, "Messiah, our pesach, has been sacrificed for us" 1 Corinthians 5:7. John in his gospel noted that Jesus died at the same time that the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple (see John 19:14)and that like the Passover lambs, none of his bones were broken (the others being crucified had their leg bones broken by the Romans- John 19:32,33,36). The idea behind all this was that just as the Israelites were redeemed from Egyptian slavery by an unblemished lamb, now men could be freed from slavery to sin by the Messiah, the Lamb of God

Exodus 6:5-7 says “Moreover I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore tell the children of Israel, ‘I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments: and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians”. In Luke 22 we can see the similarities, Jesus became the Passover Lamb for us and fulfilled everything on the cross. 

1^st cup: Jesus lifted up the cup and said He will bring us out

2^nd cup: He will deliver us from slavery

3^rd cup: He will redeem us with an outstretched arm (Outstretched arm on the cross)

4^th cup: He will take us to be His people

The ultimate goal of God is to make us His people.

Suffering of the Cross

They tied Him and whipped Him.  Leather strapped Armed ends of whips with acon shaped pieces of lead, sharp pointed bones-goes into the flesh and tears out flesh. Heavy led will hit body and damage organs. Everyone sent to the whip is because Roman soliders want them to confess something. Roman soliders did it with skill. Jesus was led like a lamb to the slaughter not opening His mouth. Jesus underwent severe trauma and suffered severe blood loss

We must proclaim the power of the Cross. We must preach Jesus. We must be willing to go where God calls us to go to bring people to freedom. God has called us all to go and share the Good News with others.

Merits of the Cross

What Jesus did on the cross was a payment and an inheritance for us.Jesus didn’t have to die but He chose to die for us. Jesus died on the cross as the Son of Man, He emptied Himself and gave up His divinity and became a servant (Philippians 2:4-8).  We needed a scapegoat, someone to come and save us because without Jesus we are spiritually dead because of our sins (Ephesians 2:5). Dead people cannot resurrect themselves, hence why we need Christ. Christ did the work first, and then opened the door for us to come to Him. Romans 5:8 states that whilst we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Aren’t you thankful to Jehovah Jirah for sending His only begotten Son to come and save us despite our ignorance?! As I mentioned in my last post regarding Spiritual Warfare Satan wants to take what Jesus has given to us. Today, so many Christians don’t walk with what they should be walking with, we must be bold disciples who refuse to allow the enemy to take what belongs to us.

He Came To Restore!

Through Jesus, He restored everything that was lost in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 1:26-28 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” So from this portion of scripture it is clear that God’s original plan for us was to: rule, subdue, have dominion, replenish, multiply, be fruitful and be blessed. However when Adam and Eve disobey God in the Garden of Eden, Satan was given authority over the earth (Luke 4:6). 

In Genesis 3:14 God said to the serpent who was Satan, “because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.” Mankind came from dust and the enemy was given dominion, authority was transferred from mankind to the enemy. Although Satan used a woman to bring down humanity and destroy fellowship with God, God too had His own plan because through a woman’s life, Mary, Jesus was born.

Through one man, Adam, sin entered the world and so death passed to all human beings (Romans 5:12). In order for Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice, without sin or blemish (2 Corinthians 5:21) He couldn’t be conceived with a seed from a human being. It’s for this very reason that Mary became pregnant through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18). When Jesus resurrected He crushed Satan’s head and took back the authority. He has the keys of Death and of Hades (Revelation 1:18) and because of what He did on the Cross death has lost it’s sting thank God because through Jesus we have the victory (1 Corinthians 55-57)

Jesus comes through the door, the legal way (Revelation 3:20) but Satan is a thief and He comes to kill steal and destroy, He comes the illegal way (John 10:10)

1^st Merit-Merit of Righteousness

God allowed Jesus to die on the cross that we might become the righteousness
 
of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), isn’t that extraordinary?! We should receive what Jesus did on the cross as a gift because He has given us the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness (Romans 5:17). If we don’t accept and appreciate what He did on the cross then we disregard Christ. It is important to remember that although God no longer sees us as sinners when we accept the gift of salvation, we still need to repent when we do wrong and fall short of God’s glory. Guilt and sin are examples of issues that can block our prayers from being effective and powerful. 1 John 1:9 declares that if we confess our sins by faith God will cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. Even if we confess and still feel guilty, we must have faith and believe that we have been forgiven. When God forgives us, it’s a two-way thing. Every time He forgives us, Jesus bears our sins because He has paid the price. Many times our Christian walk is based on what we feel rather than based on what the Word of God says and this isn’t the way God intended things to be. If we believe in Jesus, we are saints of the Most High God.

2^nd Merit-Merit of Prosperity

Prosperity is when we have enough got our own needs and desires as well as enough to give others…this doesn’t necessarily mean you are a millionaire. It simply means you have more than enough’-Casey Treat. Psalm 35:27 declares that God has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant! He cares about us and wants us to prosper not just financially but in every area of our lives. This includes relationships, spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally. 2 Corinthians 8:9 states that Jesus was rich yet for our sakes He became poor that through His poverty we too might become rich. We are not called to be poor.

If we want to prosper we need to work hard and walk in the wisdom of God, which He gives liberally if we ask (James 1:5). If we are lazy we will become poor but working hard will make us rich (Proverbs 10:4). Discipline is key! It’s sooo important that we discipline ourselves and set targets and deadlines. If we want to prosper then sacrifices need to be made on our part, there are times when we will need to put aside sleep, eating and socializing if we want to achieve our dreams. Solomon put it this way in Proverbs 13:18 “Poverty and shame come to him who refuses discipline”-ouch!

3^rd Merit-Healing

Healing is a central part of the cross! Through the cross, our sins are forgiven and we have been given the gift of righteousness. This was all made possible through the blood of Jesus. We have been redeemed from the curse, and the blessing of Abraham is upon us.

Before the death of Jesus          After the death of Jesus         

SIN                                                      RIGHTEOUSNESS (2 Corinthians 5:21)

SICKNESS                                             HEALED (Isaiah 53:4-5)

CURSE (Galatians 3:13)                           BLESSING OF ABRAHAM (Galatians 3:14)

POVERTY (2 Corinthians 8:9)                    PROSPERITY (Philippians 4:19)

HELL   (Revelation 20:12-14)                    ETERNAL LIFE (John 3:16)

We need to picture ourselves as alive and well, righteous through Christ, healed, prosperous and wealthy, as a man thinks in his heart so is he (Proverbs 23:7). Without the cross there is no Gospel! What Jesus did on the cross is very powerful and very important. In Genesis 3, Satan came and brought spiritual death; Jesus came to undo that by bringing spiritual life. Satan caused their bodies to decay and die. Jesus came to undo it. When Satan came in he brought sickness and disease. Jesus bore that sickness and disease so we no longer have to bear it in our own body (Isaiah 53:4-5). Hallelujah isn’t that remarkable. Some sicknesses are a result of demonic and spiritual forces and others could be due to generational curse. It’s important that we pray to God and ask Him to reveal it to us so we can break it. It is crucial that we rebuke the Spirit of infirmity and sickness and declare healing over our body and mind in Jesus’ name because we are not called to be sick.

7 Indications Of A Curse

-Mental or emotional breakdown

-Repeated sickness especially if it is heredity

-Barren or miscarriages

-Divorces

-Continuing financial hardships/inability to prosper

-Accident prone

-Suicide or sudden deaths

Things That Can Bring Curses

-Idolatry-Worshipping false idols

-Witchcraft (Deuteronomy 7:25-26)

-Contact objects (A image of something in the house its contact for satan, it’s an avenue for Satan to open us up to something that may be demonic)

How To Break Curses

1.     Confess your faith in Christ

2.     Repent

3.     Forgive others and yourself

4.     Renounce (give up) all contact objects and false idols in your life