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The True Meaning of the Cross

by Marci Ferrell
Christian Living Evangelism

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I’d love to help you simplify your meal planning. Check out my new menu planning course here.

*A note from Marci: I'm sharing an email by permission we received by a dear brother in the faith.  It is a response he wrote to an email he received regarding the facts of the crucifixion that are historically accurate but void of the true meaning of the Cross.  Take in the full message of the Cross as believers, those who have repented and put their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, celebrate the fact the Christ has risen from the dead – The Gospel is good news – it is the best news!

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ~ 1 Corinthians 15:3-4



The four Gospels focus very little time on the gruesome realities of the execution of Jesus Christ.  Isaiah 53 that was written around 700 years earlier covers more detail than all of the four Gospels combined.  The reason that the Holy Spirit revealed to us so little of the details of the historical reality of the crucifixion is that the glory of the cross does not so much lie in Jesus Christ’s physical suffering on the cross.   

At the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry the Roman Empire crucified thousands of people every year.  His suffering and death on the cross was crucial to our salvation because through His death He paid the penalty that our sins deserved which is death.  [“The wages of sin is death…”(Romans 6:23); “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”(Heb. 9:22; Lev. 17:11)]  The reference to blood is used throughout the New Testament to refer to the death of Christ.  But the reason Jesus’ “soul was very sorrowful, even to death”(Mark 14:34) and that He was sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane and crying out to His Father in prayer the night before and that the sun was darkened for three hours while He hung on the cross was that he was bearing the full and infinite wrath of God for our sins.  This is most clearly seen in Romans 3:23-26 where it says that God put forward Christ “as propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith”.  A “propitiation” is an atoning sacrifice that satisfies God’s wrath. 

There is only one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5)  And only Christ Jesus, the Son of God could have been our substitute and reconciled us to God because He was and is both God and man.  He needed to be man so that God could “condemn sin in the flesh”(Rom. 8:3).  And He needed to be God to be able to bear the infinite wrath of God which our sins deserved.  And He needed to be God to be able to defeat Satan and conquer death.  

In our rebellion we have offended an infinitely holy and worthy God so the punishment that we deserve is infinite and an eternity in hell would still not satisfy God’s justice for our sins.  And part of God’s wrath on the cross included Christ being forsaken and alienated by God the Father as He turned His back on His Son because He is so holy that He can’t even look on sin (Habakkuk 1:13) and Jesus was bearing all the sins of all the people in the history of the world who would come to believe into Him.  

Jesus acknowledged that He was being forsaken and separated from His Father, who He had perfect fellowship with for eternity, when He quoted from Psalm 22:1 which says: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?…”  Psalm 22 as well as Isaiah 53 and many other prophecies in the Scriptures were promises from God that pointed forward to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and Jesus fulfilled all of God’s Word that referred to His first coming, and when He returns to consummate the kingdom of God on earth He will fulfill the rest of the prophecies and promises of God exactly and completely.

God is holy and righteous so He could not just forgive sin without His justice being satisfied; otherwise He would be violating His very nature and would cease to be God.  But in God’s infinite wisdom and according to the riches of His mercy and grace He delivered up His Son to be our substitutionary sacrifice so that He might be just and the justifier of those who by God’s grace are united to Christ and are “in Christ” through the miracle of saving faith in His name.(Rom. 3:26)  This is what many refer to as the “Great Exchange”.  The sins of all of those who would come to trust in Christ were counted to Him on the cross, and His perfect righteousness was counted to them through the miracle of saving faith.  

Abraham is the example and father of all those who are saved by faith in Christ alone.  Abraham didn’t just believe that there was a God, he believed God and trusted in all His promises that pointed forward to the Messiah, and God counted that faith to him as righteousness.  But even Abraham’s faith was a gift of God’s grace (Eph. 2:8-10).  Unless by God’s grace you are born again and given a new heart from God above (John 3:3; Titus 3:4-7) you will consider this message foolishness (1 Cor. 1:18).  But God’s Word is powerful and all sufficient to save through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit.  Salvation belongs to God from first to last so that He alone might receive all the glory by putting His mercy and grace on display through saving unworthy and lost sinners.   

The true meaning of the cross is the heart and glory of the gospel.  And God in His infinite wisdom summed up the entire gospel in one glorious verse:  “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”(2 Cor. 5:21)  

So I finish with a doxology borrowed from the apostle Paul who launched into a crescendo of praise as he completed his treatise on the doctrines of grace in Romans 1 through 11 through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

~ Tom Vann

“It is at the cross where God’s Law and God’s grace are both most brilliantly displayed, where His justice and His mercy are both glorified. But it is also at the cross where we are most humbled. It is at the cross where we admit to God and to ourselves that there is absolutely nothing we can do to earn or merit our salvation.”~ Jerry Bridges



Related Links:
The Gospel
Tom's Favorite Gospel Tract
Granted Ministries



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Marci Ferrell
By affliction, Christ . . .⁣ shows us our empti By affliction, Christ . . .⁣
 shows us our emptiness and weakness,⁣
 draws us to the throne of grace,⁣
 purifies our affections,⁣
 weans us from the world,⁣
 and makes us long for Heaven.⁣
~ J.C Ryle
This simple free eight-page guide is meant to help This simple free eight-page guide is meant to help you think through your summertime schedule for your family. As you walk through it you'll determine what your family loves to do, leave room for spontaneity, and put together a simple daily routine to help your days run a bit smoother. ⁣
⁣
There are some summertime meal planning tips and a printable with ideas to put on your family's bucket list for summer and maybe spark new ones of your own! ⁣
⁣
Come download your free 8-page summertime guide here and get access to our whole library of printables when you do.
Such a good conversation with Dale Partridge from Such a good conversation with Dale Partridge from @relearnhq about his new Gospel Project called MailtheGospel.org. You can get the gospel to anyone anywhere.
So appreciate @reagantrose (I do recommend you fol So appreciate @reagantrose (I do recommend you follow friends if you don’t yet!)- link to the podcast episode we talked about Homemaking to the Glory of God in my profile @thankfulhomemaker 

Repost from @reagantrose 
Godliness > Your Plans⁠
The Church is not a gallery for the exhibition of The Church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school for the education of imperfect ones.⁣
~ Henry Ward Beecher⁣
⁣
Come listen to EP 32: Preparing Our Families for Sunday Morning Worship at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)
How many times does Sunday morning roll around and How many times does Sunday morning roll around and you find your heart in a state of chaos instead of calm to worship the Lord?  How many Sundays do you arrive at church and realize you haven’t taken the time all week to pray for your pastor or your church family? ⁣
⁣
I want to share with you some simple steps we can take to prepare our hearts and the hearts of our families for Sunday morning worship to the Lord. ⁣
⁣
The hope today is to get you to understand the purpose and the mission of the local church and then to move on toward how we can proceed with some simple steps to prepare our hearts and the hearts of our families for Sunday morning worship to the Lord.⁣
⁣
Come listen to EP 32: Preparing Our Families for Sunday Morning Worship at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)
"Home is the true wife's kingdom. ⁣ ⁣ Very lar "Home is the true wife's kingdom. ⁣
⁣
Very largely does the wife hold in her ⁣
hands, as a sacred trust, the happiness ⁣
and the highest good of the hearts that ⁣
nestle there. In the last analysis, home ⁣
happiness depends on the wife. ⁣
⁣
Her spirit gives the home its atmosphere. ⁣
⁣
Her hands fashion its beauty. ⁣
⁣
Her heart makes its love. ⁣
⁣
And the end is so worthy, so noble, so divine, ⁣
that no woman who has been called to be a wife, ⁣
and has listened to the call, should consider any⁣
price too great to pay, to be . . .⁣
 the light,⁣
 the joy,⁣
 the blessing,⁣
 the inspiration, ⁣
of a home. ⁣
⁣
The woman who makes a sweet, beautiful home, ⁣
filling it with love and prayer and purity, is doing ⁣
something better than anything else her hands ⁣
could find to do beneath the skies.⁣
⁣
A true mother is one of the holiest secrets of ⁣
home happiness. God sends many beautiful things ⁣
to this world, many noble gifts; but no blessing is ⁣
richer than that which He bestows in a mother who ⁣
has learned love's lessons well, and has realized ⁣
something of the meaning of her sacred calling."⁣
⁣
~ J. R. Miller, "Secrets of Happy Home Life"
Friends 😊 - I'm so excited to share a conversat Friends 😊 - I'm so excited to share a conversation all about the Gospel with Dale Partridge from @relearnhq⁣
⁣
Please join us on IG live tomorrow (June 21st) at 5:30 PM CST/ 3:30 PST and learn about Dale's new project to help equip us to share the Gospel with anyone, anywhere!⁣
⁣
Please join us!
Summer is a natural time for me to get off my rout Summer is a natural time for me to get off my routine of menu planning. In the winter, we're more apt to stick to a schedule, but summer brings about a more flexible and changing calendar. ⁣
⁣
I'm sharing some simple tips that have been a help to me and hopefully, they'll help you in planning your summertime meals. Menu planning is a time and money saver, and I don't know about you, but I would sure like to have more time to enjoy my summer months.⁣
⁣
Come listen to EP 77: Simple Summertime Meal Planning Tips at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)
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