THE DEATH OF THE CROSS

THE DEATH OF THE CROSS
by C. R. Stam*
*

There are four words which every one of us should consider in connection
with Christ's death at Calvary if we would fully appreciate what our
Savior did for us there.

CRUCIFIXION

It is doubtful whether man has ever conceived a more cruel and
humiliating way to execute even the vilest criminals. The physical agony
alone must have been horrible beyond comprehension. The criminal was
nailed to a tree and left to hang there, writhing in the most intense
pain until, fevers wracking his body, he died. And then think of the
humiliation as he hung there, stripped and naked, to suffer shame and
disgrace before the public gaze. Little wonder Phil. 2:8 says that
Christ humbled Himself to become obedient "unto death, even the death of
the cross."

SUBSTITUTION

We have not even begun to understand the cross if we do not understand
that Christ died there as our Substitute, paying for our sins.

"Christ died for our sins" (I Cor. 15:3). "His own self bare our sins
in His own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24).

REPRESENTATION

But Christ was more than our Substitute; He was our voluntary
Representative at Calvary. He had taken on Himself human form that He
might represent man before God and die as Man for men.

"As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,
so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many..." (Heb. 9:27, 28).

"[He] was made... lower than the angels... that He by the grace of God
should taste death for every man" (Heb. 2:9).

IDENTIFICATION

It follows from this that if Christ represented me at Calvary, He became
identified with me there, and I am identified with Him as I accept this
by faith. Hence Paul exclaims:

"I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me"
(Gal. 2:20).
Be much with the solid teachings of God's word, and you will become
solid and substantial men and women: drink them in, and feed upon them,
and they shall produce in you a Christ-likeness, at which the world
shall stand astonished. C. H. Spurgeon


Our Purpose and Mission

The ministry of "Grace and The Truth" has the purpose of encouraging
Christians to believe what God says.

We are dedicated to helping Christians to a fuller knowledge of Him, and
the Grace of God. Until we all come into the Unity, Ephesians 4:13 "Till
we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ:"

OUR COMMISSION IN THE AGE OF GRACE IS:

2Co 5:16-21 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea,
though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we
[him] no more. Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new. And all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by
Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To
wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not
imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God
did beseech [you] by us: we pray [you] in Christ's stead, be ye
reconciled to God. For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no
sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
*GraceNTheTruth@ COX.NET*