What a Savior

We have just celebrated one of the greatest observances of our Christian faith. For believers in Jesus Christ, Easter celebrates the specific events of Christ’s crucifixion for sin and His resurrection from the dead three days following. It is a time of serious but wonderful reflection on the truths that the Bible speaks of regarding the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. Jesus died on the cross as the “substitute” for sinners so that all who believe in Him will be saved. The word “substitute” means “to take the place of another.”

The Cross

“The cross we preach to others should first crucify us. The word we preach should first burn itself deeply into our life so that our life is the living message. We must let the cross live out of us daily. Then what we preach will be more than a message, but a kind of life which we daily exhibit.” Watchman Nee, The Messenger of the Cross.

As a young person, I remember listening to my father preach about the cross. When he spoke about our personal lives revealing the cross daily, it both frightened and enthralled me at the same time. I was a young person with all the passions a young person has regarding the long stretch of life before them. Of course, my desires were self-focused. They were earthbound and not heavenly-minded. I’m not talking about living the kind of sinful life we might think of when it comes to sin. But I AM talking about the inward life of our self-absorption that we must ultimately yield. In allowing this message to penetrate my soul and spirit, I realized that the life I might have envisioned would not necessarily be the life I’d live.

We must know the life of the cross as well as its death. We die to the old Adamic walk; but, having the life of the cross, we daily live in the spirit of the cross. This means that in our everyday walk we exhibit the Lamb-spirit of the Lord Jesus. “When He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judges righteously.” I Pet 2:23

Death and the Grave Could Not Hold Him

When Peter stood with the eleven, speaking to the men of Judea and all who dwelt in Jerusalem, he prompted them to recall the words spoken by the prophet Joel regarding the outpouring of God’s Spirit in the coming days. He stated that we would see wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath.

Peter went on to affirm that God raised Him up, having loosed the pains of death because it “was not possible” that He should be held by it. Acts2:24

“Was not possible.” Think about it. It WAS NOT POSSIBLE THAT DEATH OR THE GRAVE COULD HOLD HIM. Oh, the victory of the cross and the victory of Heaven over the work of Satan.

It is Not Possible for You to be Denied Victory

Because of what Jesus has accomplished for us on Calvary, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR THE ENEMY TO HOLD YOU DOWN. It is not possible that you live hindered by confusion or intimidation. Heaven does not whisper to you about your inability or lack in any area of your life. Satan is already defeated and he has no right to overcome again. Remind him of his defeat and align your whole being with Heaven, because Heaven wants to use you as a trumpet sound in the earth regarding the victories Jesus died to give us.

For it was of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us, wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in The Lord.” I Cor. 1:30-31

Christ Our Life

God has given Christ to us to be our life!

It is a law that works within us. It is a spontaneous law if we will but let that law be in effect and not struggle with “works.” He has done it all. He paid it all. When He said, “It is finished”, He meant He had accomplished the Father’s will by paying the price to make a way for man to return to God….ONLY on the merits of Christ’s sacrifice and not because of our own righteousness.

What a glorious salvation! What a mighty Redeemer! What an awesome life we have entered into, as we acknowledge and accept all that the cross and His resurrection accomplished for us.

May the cross become our life. May we become a living cross. May we magnify the cross in all things.

I close with a glorious hymn of the church:

Man of Sorrows! What a name, For the Son of God who came,
Ruined sinners to reclaim! Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned He stood,
Sealed my pardon with His blood, Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Lifted up was He to die. “It is finished,” was His cry.
Now in Heaven exalted high. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
When He comes, our glorious King, all His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew this song we’ll sing. Hallelujah, what a Savior!