Mighty Is the Power of the Cross

Why did Jesus have to die for my sins?

It’s a question I confess I spend little time thinking about, and probably even less time putting the answer into practice in my own life. From the earliest of early, we are taught in Bible class that Jesus was God’s answer to sin in the world. For, ever since the Fall, humankind has been in a quasi-relationship with God as mediated by a priest. However, at the ushering in of the Kingdom of God in Christ Jesus, everything was flipped on its ear. Suddenly, everyone has full, unfettered access to the Holy of Holies as mitigated by the blood of the Lamb. Moreover, a relationship with the Almighty comes in soft and even tender advancements, rather than the ritual of sacrifice and atonement. Forgiveness in its fullest sense – not a temporary appeasement or short-lived friendship, but a one-on-one relationship with the Creator of the World! That’s why Jesus died – and that’s why the cross has so much power.

Yet, if that much is true, what is the possession of that knowledge doing in us and for us and through us? Do we take advantage of this amazing opportunity to tread where only a few brave souls had walked before the issuance of Christ? As for me, I think not. I, rather, tend to busy myself with all that is God – insomuch as it keeps me at arm’s length from actually being in His presence. Yet as the great prophet Isaiah stood in the throne room and was “ruined,” so too, I know that I will be ruined if I enter into the place that the cross has paved for me to step. And so, I look longingly into the power of the cross in other people’s lives, knowing full well that to claim it for myself, I too must be ruined.

And yet, the Psalmist reminds us in poetic fashion that the Creator of the Universe, the immortal, invisible, God only wise, the Transcendent One knows us so well that “before even a word is on my lips, You know it completely, Oh Lord.” That kind of knowledge, the Psalmist continues, is too wonderful and too lofty to attain – in Chad’s words, it scares the poop out of me! And yet, that’s the good news, isn’t it? That even though God knows us so well that he still would love us and desire a relationship with us.

So what’s the answer? Has the suffering servant come to pay a ransom for many, while I allow myself to keep an appropriate distance from the many? Shall I continue to take advantage of my “heir’s status” with little thought or action to acting like an heir of something great? The church in Corinth was having a similar problem in their midst. The power of the cross, had indeed changed many, but the fleshly side of that power and freedom was causing both division and jealousy. As Paul put it, the cross was being emptied of its power because of the human power struggles within. As it was with Corinth, so it is with us today – do we need/want the power of the cross to change us from within, or will we forever hold the floodgates of that power at bay?

Mighty, Awesome, Wonderful! Is the Holy Cross

Where the Lamb laid down His life to lift us from the Fall

Mighty is the Power of the Cross!

Resounding Themes:
Power of the Cross
Kingship of Jesus
The Full Knowledge of God