God's Word For You is a free Bible Study site committed to bringing you studies firmly grounded in the Bible – the Word of God. Holding a reformed, conservative, evangelical perspective this site affirms that God has provided in Jesus Christ his eternal Son, a way of salvation in which we can live in his presence guilt free, acquitted and at peace.

 
 

THE CROSS – ITS IMPACT


According to the Bible Jesus Christ died to undo and reverse the inescapable results of human sin so that the original relationship between God and man can be restored.

As we read the Bible we find the following radical results of the death of Christ:

We who were spiritually dead are restored to endless spiritual life.
We who were enslaved to sin, death and Satan are set free.
We who were cut off from God are reunited to him.
We who were rejected by God are accepted by God.
We who were banned from the presence of God are granted permanent access to God.
We who are guilty and condemned are now acquitted, declared not guilty.
We who rightly expected to have to pay for our sins are now forgiven.
We who lived with a massive sin debt now live with that sin debt fully and permanently cancelled.
We who were God’s enemies are made God’s friends.
We who were alienated from God are reconciled to God.
We who are sinners are called saints.
We who are imperfect are deemed to be perfect.
We who were children of the devil are now the children of God.
We who were afraid of God’s wrath now live at peace with God.
We who feared God now rejoice in God.
We who are disqualified before God are now qualified to live in his kingdom.
We who were trapped in spiritual darkness now live in the kingdom of light.
We who were without hope now have joyful, confident assurance.
We who were bound in an impossible necessity to keep God’s Law are now liberated by grace.
We who were under the domination of sin and death now live under the reign of grace.

Without the cross not one aspect of this multi-faceted salvation would be ours. Yet the cross does not stand alone and cannot stand alone.

The cross has this glorious impact only if the One who died is the incarnate Son of God … only if Jesus Christ is both the eternal God and a real man. And the cross has this glorious impact only if it is followed by the real bodily resurrection of Christ.  By itself, without the reality of the incarnation and without the reality of the resurrection, the cross is just another human death … a sad end to a good life. Nothing more.

Incarnation. Crucifixion. Resurrection.

Let us rejoice in this threefold expression of the power and love of God active for us.

© Rosemary Bardsley 2011