The Benefits Of The Cross Of Jesus

The Benefits Of The Cross Of Jesus

The benefits of the cross of Jesus, I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. I now live in the flesh by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me, and this life that I now have is by the grace of God.

We find excitement in Galatians 2:20 because it indicates that we are joined to Jesus Christ in every aspect. Every victory he has attained is ours because we are in Christ and he is in us.

For instance, when Christ passed away, sin’s influence over our lives also did. We were elevated with him to a new life free from the grip of sin when he rose from the dead. We must recognize and appreciate the victory Christ has won for us. Our experiences will reflect the Lord’s victory when we embrace and accept it by faith.

One of the first things we learn about Christianity is how the cross is the center of our belief and what distinguishes it from all other religions.

You must be aware of this in order to avoid being easily swayed and persuaded to renounce your beliefs. The source of power and wisdom is the cross-centered gospel.

We must comprehend that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross was not a coincidence. The cross is God’s ingenuity, not a symbol of God’s frailty. The prince of this world would not have touched the cross if he had known its strength.

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We must comprehend the efficacy of Christianity and the knowledge of God revealed through the crucifixion. Before we can comprehend the significance of the cross, we need to comprehend three biblical narratives:

• The first is about how the serpent interacted with humans in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-12).

• The second recounts the incident with Moses’ rod in Pharaoh’s court (Exodus 7:10-12).

• The savage serpent in the wilderness is the third tale (Numbers 21:1-9).

In the first tale, man succumbed to the serpent’s temptation. By following the serpent, man lost his dominion, inherited Satan’s rebellious nature, and came under the rule of the kingdom of darkness (Romans 6:16). He also became the servant of the devil. Man died in that his connection to God was severed and his soul degenerated.

The magicians’ rods are swallowed by the rod of Aaron in the second tale. The serpent form of Aaron’s staff allowed it to eat the serpents of the foe. The Christ is the rod from the stem of Jesse who shall swallow up all the works of the enemy and take dominion over them, hence the story foreshadows the prophesy of the life of Jesus.

The third tale was a prophecy about Christ’s suffering and death on the cross. (John 3:14-15). Because Christ the rod actually became into a serpent on the cross sin ( 2 Corinthians 5:21), He could become sin for us. Sin was the only issue God had with humanity.

Jesus had to become sin when He went to the cross because He understood that sin was the root of our issue. Everything that transpired in the Garden was neutralized and undone by him. For the rescue of our spirit, soul, and body, we are to look to Jesus in the same way that they did in the wilderness.

The crucifixion of Jesus has the ability to defeat and undo sin wherever it may exist and wherever its effects may spread. The ability to overcome sin can only be received from the cross of Jesus, which is still the only place where the power of sin may be defeated.

You can only be delivered from your sin through the cross. The cross has the power to change your past, present, and future. The location to obtain control over illnesses and diseases will always be the cross of Jesus.

All that Jesus sacrificed for now belongs to you. Jesus’ crucifixion is more than just a symbol; it serves as evidence of your atonement and adoption. The power and wisdom of God are in Christ crucified. The cross will always serve as the focal point of both spiritual and physical existence.

Ten Things You Need to Know About Jesus’ Cross

1. The trinitarian event of the cross.

The trinitarian and cross-shaped nature of Christianity is special. The Trinity must therefore be made visible by the cross. The Son yielded to the Father’s will, the Father sent the Son to save the world, and the Spirit applies the work of redemption to followers of Jesus.

The Father predestined redemption (Ephesians 1:3-6), the Son carried it out (Ephesians 1:7-10), and the Spirit applied it (Ephesians 1:13–14). The Son submitted to the Father, and God did not withhold him. But the Son is not being sacrificed by the Father.

There is only one will in the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Even while the sacrifice is solely the Son’s doing, it also reflects the three people’s will.

2. The account of the Scripture is centered on the cross.

A Bible devoid of the crucifixion is a Bible devoid of a climax, a conclusion, and a resolution. The death of Jesus puts an end to the spiral of sin that started in Genesis 3 and must be ended.

Jesus took on the world’s sin and paid the penalty for all of humanity in his own body. At the crucifixion, a new humanity, family, and kingdom are founded by the new Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David.

Paul does not state that he decided to know nothing other than the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus, but rather that he determined to know nothing other than Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). Not above the cross, nor below the cross, not beyond the cross was where wisdom was found, but in the Cross.

3. Power in the kingdom is redefined by the cross.

The Christ-event on the cross definitively reveals Jesus’ declaration that the kingdom of God has come. The Bible describes how God will establish his dominion on earth.

He assigns Adam and Eve to rule and reign as his representatives over the planet, but they want to take control for themselves (Genesis 3:5). In actuality, this is what their entire offspring do. The city opposed to the kingdom of God is Babel (also known as Babylon).

Jesus redefines power by demonstrating strength through weakness as the genuine Son. Unlike Adam, he empties himself rather than abusing his power (Philippians 2:5–6). He is elevated to rule over everyone by becoming their servant (Philippians 2:9–11).

4. The beginning of the new covenant is the cross.

At the Last Supper, Jesus explains that the new covenant is inaugurated by his death. His new community is built upon his body and blood.

The disciples are a part of the new community as a result of Jesus’ blood being poured out on them, just as the Israelites were when they made a covenant with Yahweh and were sprinkled with blood.

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Due to the gift of the Spirit, the community of the new covenant now all has the Torah written on their hearts and knows the Lord (Jeremiah 31:33–34).

Along with being the site of the devil’s defeat and the payment for our sin, the cross also serves as the symbol of Christianity.

5. In the cross, sin and death are defeated.

The record of debt that was against humanity is erased by the cross (Colossians 2:14). Jesus died on the cross carrying our sins in his body, allowing us to be free from both sin and death (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus was subjected to the death and sin curse in order for us to receive Abraham’s benefits (Galatians 3:13).

It is crucial to see the cross and resurrection as one event since it is only through Christ’s death and resurrection that defeat over death is attained (1 Corinthians 15:54–55).

6. The devil is defeated by the cross.

Christ overcame the powers of evil in the afterlife as well as sin and death on the cross. At Golgotha, there was a cosmic eruption, a new cataclysmic power entered the planet, and a deeper magic overcame the earlier magic.

He disarmed the powers that be, humiliated them in front of everyone, and defeated them on the cross (Colossians 2:14). Christ is seated at the right side of the Father in the celestial realms after his resurrection, where he is exalted above every rule, authority, and power (Ephesians 2:20–21).

7. The cross serves as a substitute.

The cross was made for us, in our stead, and for our benefit. For His sheep, He gave his life. He serves as our lamb sacrifice. Look at the Lamb of God, for He takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

We look up and see Jesus as our replacement, just as Abraham raised his eyes and looked and saw a ram to present as a burnt offering in lieu of his son (Genesis 22:13).

He took the place of all the slaves, rebels, idolaters, and murderers (Galatians 3:13) by becoming a curse for us. If subduing spiritual forces is the desired outcome, then substitution serves as the foundation or basis for such subduing (Galatians 1:4). The great transition (the eschatological turn of the ages) as well as the great exchange (substitutionary atonement) are both symbolized by the cross.

8. To the world, the cross is absurd.

“Christianity is the only major religion to have as its fundamental theme the suffering and degradation of its God,” the narrator of a PBS television program claimed. Paul also realizes that this revelation of Christ’s suffering and death will be a hindrance to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (1 Corinthians 1:23).

Until spiritual eyes of seeing are given, the message does not necessarily appeal to the senses. When the world looks at the cross, it sees frailty, madness, hatred, and disdain. The scandal of the cross was the most obvious aspect of the Christian movement in its early years. The manner in which the Messiah was killed was also wrong, in addition to his actual death.

9. The cross promotes harmony, peace, and unity.

The chance for reunification with the Father for the entire world is provided by the cross. Blood is the key to achieving the world peace and universal human togetherness.

Because he has united us and destroyed the hostile barrier between us in his flesh, he is our source of peace (Ephesians 2:14). Only the blood of the cross can bring about world peace, shalom, and togetherness (Colossians 1:20). Harmony cannot exist without blood.

10. The marching order for Christians is the cross.

Jesus tells his disciples, “If anybody will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me,” after explaining to them why he must endure suffering (Matthew 16:24).

As he is led in the triumphal procession, Paul becomes the fragrance of death, embodying the cross in his ministry (2 Corinthians 2:14–17). He even claims to have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20).

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However, Paul advises the new community in Philippi to have the mind of Christ, which is characterized by Jesus’s humility on the cross (Philippians 2:5), rather than merely applying the cross to his own mission (Philippians 2:8).

Along with being the site of the devil’s defeat and the payment for our sin, the cross also serves as the symbol of Christianity. The crucifixion, according to Rutledge, “is the distinctive element by which everything else… is given actual significance.” It is the litmus test for Christian legitimacy.

The Benefits of the Cross of Jesus

1. Jesus Christ’s atoning death on the cross purifies and sets us free from sin (Matthew 26:28; 1 Peter 2:24).

2. Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and death saves us from the wrath of God (Romans 5:9).

3. God redeems and pardons us via the death of Jesus Christ on the cross (Colossians 1:14).

Whether they acknowledge it or not, people carry a tremendous amount of tension and terror due to guilt in their hearts. This is expected because the Bible makes a point of clearly stating that all men are sinners. One of the basic doctrines of the Bible is the idea of sin’s universality.

Then what? Are we superior to them? No, not at all. As it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE,” we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.

Because of our sinful nature, we all fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:9–12; 23).

Everyone is to blame, and because of this, people have been driven to look for solutions to the mental, emotional, and bodily ills brought on by sin. All of these and more have been tried in vain, including social transformation, novel philosophies, escape through drugs, magic, and even denial (“I have no sin”).

None of these so-called solutions can do what the cross achieves, which is to eliminate the sin that causes guilt, hence they are all ineffective. These other things address the symptoms of sin, but the cross successfully gets rid of sin itself, which is the real problem.

Because of His wounds, you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

Peter is stating that Jesus takes our actual sins away from us and takes them upon Himself in order to heal us of their effects. He doesn’t explain, justify, or cover them up. He does this by transferring them, a procedure that the Jewish sacrifice ritual foreshadowed for generations.

When a priest offered an animal as a sacrifice for someone’s sins in the Old Testament, he would first touch the animal to signify that a transfer was happening (Leviticus 4:13-21).

As the animal was being killed to represent that the moral cost of sin, which is death, had been paid, the sins of the individual were being transferred to it (Genesis 2:15-17).

The human was therefore freed from the weight of guilt brought on by sin after the sin was symbolically transferred to the animal, who was subsequently slain (the animal was sacrificed because death was the method anything was transmitted from the physical realm to the spiritual realm).

Of course, we are aware now that this was merely a foreshadowing of things to come. Jesus, the sinless and eternal being, offered up His sinless and eternal being in a sacrifice on the cross in order to make moral payment for all sin, for all time. He did this by taking on the sins of all men (not symbolically, but literally).

An innocent and sinless life is what I mean when I say that the sacrifice had to be made in order to atone for sin. A life that is not perfect would taint the sacrifice. Because Jesus was the Son of God, the value of His life made His sacrifice sufficient for all men, not just one or two, as I said earlier.

Due to His divine character, His offering was sufficient and priceless enough to be exchanged for all men, rather than just one. (I could only accept one other human life in exchange for my ideal human life. Christ’s life is more valuable than all other human lives since He is perfect and divine.)

People are drawn to the cross because they perceive it as the location where they can confess all of their sins and find forgiveness. Because they have discovered the sole means of addressing their guilt that permanently removes it, people are drawn to the message that Jesus died to settle the moral due they owed to God:

forgiveness! The New Testament’s strongest arguments for sinners come from Peter and Paul. Peter stated:

For the remission of your sins, turn to God and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ(Acts 2:38).

Paul uttered,

Therefore, those who are in Christ Jesus are no longer under condemnation.
Romans 8:1.
The cross is used to transmit sins; it provides forgiveness; and it draws guilty sinners.

4. Satan’s authority is destroyed by Jesus Christ’s death on the cross (Colossians 2:14-15; Hebrews 2:14-15).

5. Physical healing results through the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53:5).

6. Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and death eventually saves us from bodily death (2 Timothy 1:10; Hebrews 2:9).

7. Jesus Christ’s atoning death on the cross makes us right with God and with people (Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:11-22; Colossians 1:13-20).

8. We have access to God because of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross (Hebrews 10:19-20).

Conclusion

Paul claims in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is the power of God for salvation, which is correct, yet the crucified body of Jesus Christ is the source of the gospel’s power. Why?

1. I am drawn to religion because of its ability to free me from the agonizing shame that I bear as a result of my crimes.

2. It draws my heart’s focus in another direction. I used to desire my own glory and independence from God, but now I want to see Him glorified and understand His will for my life.

3. The cross has the ability to restore my sense of personal worth. I used deception, coercion, and rivalry in an effort to appear significant and loved.

Now, my value is derived from the fact that God saw me and gave Himself up for me.

I firmly believe that the cross has the ability to profoundly transform my life. This is my testimony, not just what I preached.

Embellishment

Have you ever felt the cross’s transforming power?

1.To absolve you of guilt.

2. To give you a fresh heart.

3. To persuade you that you are cherished.

You may! This is how it goes. Jesus had to first die on it and then rise from it for the cross to have any force at all. The crucifixion’s force is derived from Jesus’ death, burial, and beautiful resurrection.

In the same way, we must likewise die and rise from the cross in order for it to have power in our lives. Our death and resurrection are accomplished in the waters of baptism as we confess our faith in Jesus and repent of our sins. Jesus accomplished this on a wooden cross about 2,000 years ago.

Or do you not realize that everyone who has been immersed in Christ Jesus has also been immersed in His death? In order for us to experience newness of life, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the power of the Father, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death.
Romans 6:3–4.

The renewing power of the cross won’t be felt in the lives of those who haven’t personally experienced death and resurrection in the waters of baptism. Additionally, that power is not a hidden asset. As you can see:

As baptized believers hang on the cross alongside Jesus, repentance.

As Christians endure sorrow and temptation with patience, they carry the cross every day.

As disciples share with a cynical and sinful world the absurdity of the cross.

As saints demonstrate their love for one another via selfless service.

We serve as a living example of the cross’s power to the outside world. If you haven’t already, I pray that the cross’s persuasiveness will lead you to accept the gospel today, and that its influence will be seen throughout the rest of your life.