As we now come to consider the cross, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus, we should note how much space in the Gospels is given to the different accounts of these events and how much space in the New Testament as a whole is given to explaining their meaning. From this we can see how important these events are - they form a major part of Gods foundation.
We need to be on our guard in these days when there are so many false prophets. We can easily distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of error by simply noting how often reference is made to the blood, the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, the exaltation and the second coming of Christ. Even so, as with the Person of Christ, so it is with His cross and resurrection countless false ideas are taught that are quite contrary to New Testament teaching and which stand in stark contrast to the faith witnessed in the New Testament, the faith of Jesus and the born-again children of God. True Christianity is not a religion - it did not originate on earth, as did the religions of this world. True Christianity is from heaven and is the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.
What happened at the cross? Why was it necessary? Why is Christ crucified the very heart of the Christian gospel? On this we shall expand later, but for the present we shall concentrate on two important points.
Firstly, God must solve the problem caused by what we have done.
We are rebels, guilty sinners, and lawbreakers. How could He uphold His law and yet still provide forgiveness for those who have broken that law? How could He be both just and the justifier of sinners?
Gods wondrous solution was this: He sentenced us to death and banishment from His presence because His holiness and justice demanded it, and then, in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ, He bore the penalty Himself.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Christ redeemed ushaving become a curse for us.
The Lordlaid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Christ bore our sins in His Body on the tree
Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God.
We are far too easy-going about sin. How little we understand the holiness of God and His hatred of sin! We are told by some false teachers that because God loves us, He will simply forgive us and that everybody will eventually get to heaven. The Bible teaches us otherwise. God can and will forgive sinners only because their sin has been punished. God cannot simply overlook sin. If Jesus had not died in our place there could be no one in heaven. He had to die as the lamb of God. Without the shedding of His blood there could be no forgiveness for us. On the cross He bore the consequences of what we are, and of what we have done. He was one with us in our sin, that we might be one with Him in His righteousness.
Jesus our Lordwas put to death for our sins and raised for our justification.iHiH
But let us remember that God did not punish Jesus as, so to speak, a third party, for our sins. God, the One chiefly offended by our sin, in order to uphold His own righteous law, was in Christ, bearing the consequences of our sin, reconciling the world to Himself. The Father, the Son and the Spirit were all involved in the cross. This deep mystery is a wonderful truth.
What hope can there be for those who neglect or reject such love and such a salvation?
That, then, is the first matter that God had to deal with.
The second problem God had to solve concerned what we are as incapable, incurable sinners.
Humanity is riddled with sin and we can do nothing about it. What was God to do about this? It would be no solution to forgive, and yet leave us as the slaves of sin. We need salvation, not only from the guilt of sin, but also from the power of sin.
What was needed was that we should die and somehow start again with a new and incorruptible life, a life incapable of sin. Yes, and this was precisely how God solved the problem through the cross. He put this fallen race to death in the death of His Son and made a new beginning in His resurrection.
He finished with this sinful race - it had no future. We may not like to face up to this fact - it is unpleasant certainly, but it is also true.
Jesus identified Himself with us and died on the cross. From Gods viewpoint, we all died in Him when He died. He made pardon possible by dying as our substitute, the righteous for the unrighteous. He made deliverance from what we are possible by dying as our representative. Paul writes, I have been crucified with ChristChrist lives in me, and to Christians he writes, You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. These two aspects of the cross go inextricably together. Not only did Christ die for us, but we also died with Christ. We are united with Him, both in His death and in His resurrection. He died and rose again as the beginning of a new humanity, and to create in Himself one new man.
Now He is risen and glorified crowned with glory and honor as the One in whom all the Fathers purposes for man are realized. He is far above all the powers of heaven and earth and hell, a victorious, risen Lord and Savior, seated at His Fathers right hand on the throne of the universe. He is the living Head of His church, giving to it His own life through the Fathers promised gift of the Holy Spirit, that His church may be included in His resurrection and exaltation. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Christians are one with their Lord in His cross, resurrection and exaltation, and will be one with Him when He comes again to reign.
He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)
All things are yoursand you are Christs, and Christ is Gods. (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)