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WHAT IS THE POWER OF THE CROSS? CROSS OF CALVARY: THE CORNER-STONE OF OUR FAITH LIVING WITH DIGNITY AND RESPECT
WHAT IS THE POWER OF THE CROSS? Musarrat Nasir Cross
is the sign of acceptance and forgiveness of God and the way of
salvation. There are three reasons that cross was need.
God is Holy and can not tolerate Sin. Sin is the breaking of God’s law. God as a moral judge of the entire universe can not compromise with sinner. If He is to remain just, His holiness demands the penalty for breaking the law. Love is the supreme attribute of God’s nature. He created us with love on His own image. But God’s love does not ignore sin or shuns judgment. Therefore He sent Jesus Christ to take away the sin of the world. Angel Gabriel was sent to a virgin whose name was Mary who was engaged to a man called Joseph, and the angel said to Mary “Behold you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; there, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” Luke 1: 31& 35 Angel
Gabriel also came to Joseph and said “For that which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Spirit, and she will bring forth a Son, and
you shall call his name Jesus, for He will save His people from
their sins.” The purpose of His coming into the world was to pay the penalty of the sin on the cross. The holiness of God demands that sin be punished but love and kindness of God provided the way of redemption through Jesus Christ. John
3:16 is the key verse of the New Testament, {The Period of God’s
grace} “For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting
life.” Christ offered Himself as the sacrifice, a lamb without blemish or spot. He entered into the heavenly sanctuary, God’s presence, bearing the blood of His own sacrifice to cleanse us from our sins and to give us eternal salvation. His blood had to be shed. In Hebrews 9:22 it is written “For without shedding of blood is no remission” Only when we understand the Holiness of God, then we understand the depth of our sin. Sin was never darker than the day Christ died on the cross for us. When we think of that day, we see how drastically God deals with sin. But thank god for His amazing love that He exhibit for us on the cross. The importance of the Cross is forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ. The light of the cross penetrates into our darkness of hypocrisy and hostility. God will not meet us any place but at the foot of the cross. There we see the climax of God’s love and forgiveness But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.Romans 5: 8 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 6:23 CROSS OF CALVARY: THE CORNER-STONE OF OUR FAITH
In this season of Lent, as we prepare ourselves for Good Friday and Easter, we need to focus on the Cross. In one of St. Paul’s condensed statement of Christian truth we read: “for I delivered unto you first of all which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried; and that He hath been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” { 1 Corinthians 15:3 }. In this statement first place is given to the death of Christ on the Cross. “Christ died for our sins” was the fundamental fact of the early Christian message, the corner-stone of its faith. According to the Christian faith, and by way of background for this subject we must turn to the book of Genesis where we are told that after God had created man He established certain moral laws by which man was to be governed, and solemnly announced that disobedience to these laws would bring an awful punishment. As a pure test of obedience man was given permission to eat of every tree of the garden except of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, In regard to that tree he was told: “ In the day that you eat of this tree you will die,” {Genesis. 2: 16-17}. But man deliberately and defiantly disobeyed that command. Through that disobedience he not only corrupted his moral nature, but made necessary the infliction of the prescribed penalty, which was death. Moreover, by his fall Adam corrupted not only himself but all of his posterity, since by divine appointment in this test he acted as their federal head and representative. Had man been left to suffer the penalty alone, he would have experienced not only physical death, but spiritual death as well, which means eternal separation from God and therefore endless progress in sin and suffering? The Scripture teaches that no member of this fallen race was capable of paying the debt owed by any other, since each one was preoccupied with his own sin. Nowhere outside the Holy Trinity, according to Christian theology, was there a person either capable or willing to take the place of another, no one capable of suffering and dying. Nor had man the slightest grounds on which to base a request that he be excused from the penalty of the law. Hence his condition was truly desperate. But fortunately for man here was One both able and willing to perform that service. It was for this purpose that the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, became incarnated and performed for man a double service, discharging, on the one hand, the penalty through His own suffering and death, and on the other, restoring to man holiness and life through His perfect obedience to the moral law. Thus was redeemed a multitude which no man can number. Therefore St. Peter says, “You were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver and gold, from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ,” 1 Peter1:18,19. In Christian theology, the word used to designate the precise nature of Christ’s work of self-sacrifice on the Cross is “ATONEMENT”. In the old Testament it is frequently used to translate the Hebrew word “kapar” to cover by an expiatory sacrifice, and occurs only once in the New Testament {Romans 5:11} where it is translated “RECONCILIATION”. While the work of creation was accomplished through a mere exercise of power an wisdom, the work of redemption was accomplished only at an infinite cost of suffering on the part of God Himself through Jesus Christ. The soul of man is of incomparably greater value than his body, so the redemption of the soul of all men was an incomparably greater work than the original creation of the universe, therefore Christ’s work of redemption must be seen as the CENTERAL EVENT of all history. The redemptive work of Christ on the Cross was accomplished for once and for all mankind. We now have to accept and commemorate it. Living with Dignity and Respect: Dr, Esther Barkat On June 3, 2009 The Washington Post published an article “As the Myths Abound, So Does Islamic Outreach” written by Eli Saslow, a Washington post staff writer. In this article the writer is reporting the efforts of Aida Mansoor in explaining Islam to Americans. The quote at the very top of the article got my attention.“ If we were going to stay, we had to explain our faith. What was the other choice? To live in a country without self respect or dignity?” The reason this statement got my attention is that I grew up as a religious minority in a Muslim country where my extended family still lives. The religious minorities who live in Muslim countries want their self-respect and dignity the same as Muslims are asking for here in the States, but in some Muslim countries we can’t even practice our faith let alone explain it or fight for self-respect and dignity. If we try to explain or practice, it would be considered converting people and that is prohibited. In some Muslim countries, though constitutionally minorities have equal rights, religious discrimination is still openly practiced without any consequences to those who practice it. Many religious minorities live in fear of Shariah (Islamic Law- that means living under the Islamic laws rather than common laws, as obedience to the sovereignty of God) and Blasphemy law (which prescribes a mandatory death penalty for insulting the prophet). The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has noted 13 countries of particular concern that engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing and egregious violation of religious freedom and 11 others are on the commissions watch list. At least 12 of the 24 of those countries are Muslim countries (to read the report please visit uscirf.gov). My request therefore, is for our Muslim brothers and sisters to have empathy for other religious minorities while asking for their own. As Muslim leaders are teaching diversity classes in America and explaining their faith, I ask that they encourage the leaders of the Muslim world to allow these types of activities in their own countries for religious minorities who continuously suffer discrimination: that these groups be given the same rights and opportunities to explain and practice their faith as the Muslims would like to experience. I believe that living with self-respect and dignity is every person’s right and every human being should not be denied this right in whatever country they may call home. Esther Barkat
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