Crossed Out part 1
I want to spend the next few day exploring some of the aspects of what was accomplished on the cross. I don't think I fully understand ALL of it, but writing helps me get a better handle on things. So... ok. The first thing I want to look at is Colossians 1:13, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." Because I think this is significant. We seem to think the cross transformed us into something God could finally love. Like... before the cross we were evil, but after the cross we were good. But the truth of the matter is: Jesus didn't come to make evil people good. He came to make dead people alive. He came to save us from our sins. To deliver us from the power of darkness that kept us in darkness. To shine the light of the world and show us who God really is. And by showing us who GOD really is He showed us who WE really are. He brought us out of the world, and into the Kingdom. Made us kings and priests equipped and empowered to rule and reign on the earth. And He did all of this by taking us through the second death--the first death was when Adam ate of the tree of death and died--so that we could have a new birth. So that we could rise again as new creatures. As one New Man. Jesus. And here's the difference between Adam and Jesus: Jesus possessed the Holy Spirit. He knew who He was. He knew His Daddy loved Him. Look at Genesis 2:7, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." God gave man life. But Jesus came so that we might have life and have it MORE ABUNDANTLY. Jesus, AFTER THE CROSS, "...breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John 20:22). See that? The breath of life before the cross which made man a living SOUL. And then the breath of the Holy Spirit after the cross filling us up with the ability to receive (and release) God's love. That's what the Holy Spirit is, after all. He's our love receptor. The problem was never, "You're evil and God doesn't love you." That's how we felt before the cross. And that's how a lot of people still feel even to this day. The problem was, "God's love seemed too good to be true so we tried to earn it instead of just believing it." We were God's enemies in our minds because of our wicked deeds. We THOUGHT God was mad AT us when really He's always been mad ABOUT us! So, in order to show us His love, He gave us His only begotten Son. So that we might be transformed into that same Son! So that we might enter into that same Father/Son relationship. So that we might stop trying to earn what is freely given. The old man, and his old way of thinking--good vs evil, do good and be rewarded do evil and be punished--was crossed out on the cross. The old, obsolete Law of Moses (that, once again, was never given to us Gentiles in the first place) was nailed to the cross. It was fulfilled. Put away. And a New Covenant came forth. That New Covenant's name is Jesus. That's New Covenant's name is love. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. The old man died and the New Man came forth to walk in newness of life. An abundant life of love!