[The cross of Christ accomplished God’s eternal redemption for us according to the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory to become the basis of our eternal salvation. Hence, we must thoroughly know the cross.]
Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf; because it is written, Cursed is everyone hanging on a tree.” [“Tree” here signifies the cross, which was made of wood. In Deuteronomy 21:23 of the Old Testament, God prophesied in the judgments of the Law that Christ would be hung on a tree, that is, be hung on the cross.]
John 19:15 tells us, “They cried out then, Away with him, away with him, crucify him! Pilate says to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.” [The Jewish form of execution was to stone a criminal to death (Deut. 22:24). However, about sixty years before the Lord’s birth, the Jewish nation fell to Rome. Not long before the Lord was put to death by the Roman governor, the Roman Empire had adopted crucifixion as the form of execution for the most evil persons. Thus, when the Jews sought to kill the Lord, they crucified Him through the hands of the Roman governor, fulfilling God’s prophecy in Deuteronomy 21:23 concerning how the Lord would die. This was done by the sovereign hand of God.]
According to Mark 15:25 and Matthew 27:45 Christ was crucified beginning at nine o’clock in the morning until three o’clock in the afternoon, a total of six hours. [In the first three hours, God did not punish Him in the sinners’ place; rather, men persecuted Him. In these three hours, He suffered for martyrdom, not redemption. At noon, the earth became dark. From this point until three o’clock, men did not persecute Him, but God judged Him in the sinners’ place. In those three hours, He suffered for redemption, not martyrdom.]
Christ accomplished eleven matters on the cross. We can participate in God’s economy because of His various accomplishments.
[The first thing Christ accomplished on the cross was to bear the various sins in our outward actions, that is, the sins committed by us personally, that we may be saved and pass from death into life (1 Pet. 2:24).
On the cross, at the same time, Christ removed the sin in our inward nature, that is, the sin inherited by birth, that we may be delivered from our sinful nature within (Heb. 9:26).
Christ bore our outward sins and removed our inward sin on the cross, receiving the curse which, according to God’s law, we should have received because of our fall and our sin (Gal. 3:13).
Christ not only dealt with our twofold sin on the cross; He also crucified our sinful old man that the body of sin might be made of none effect, that we should no longer be slaves to sin (Rom. 6:6).
Since our old man has been crucified with Christ, our “I” is also crucified with Him (Gal. 2:20).
Not only did Christ crucify our old man on the cross; He also crucified our flesh with its passions and lusts. Here it says that we who are of Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. We can do this based on the fact that the Lord crucified our flesh on the cross (Gal. 5:24).
On the cross, Christ destroyed the Devil, who has the might of death, and released us from the slavery of death (Heb. 2:14-15).
Since Christ destroyed the Devil, who has the power of death, obviously He also judged and dealt with him, the old serpent who had poisoned mankind, that all who believe in Christ may have God’s eternal life and pass from death into life. This is typified by Moses’ lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, which brought the Israelites from death to life (John 3:14-15).
On the cross, Christ destroyed Satan the Devil, and at the same time He crucified the world organized by Satan and hanging on Satan, causing the world to lose its usurping power on those who have believed into Christ (Gal. 6:14).
On the cross, Christ abolished the Old Testament law of the commandments in ordinances, which separated the Jews from the Gentiles, making them one and creating the two in Himself into one new man, which is the church (Eph. 2:14-15).
Christ not only dealt with all the above negative items for God and for us on the cross, but through His death on the cross He also released the divine life within Him into us so that we could become His many members which constitute His Body (John 12:24).]
Galatians 6:14 says, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Those zealous for the Jewish religion forced others to be circumcised in order to boast in others’ flesh (Gal. 6:12-13). However, the apostle Paul, being gained by Christ, did not boast in anything but the cross of Christ.]
God is the One who planned. Christ is the One who accomplished. The Spirit is the One who applies. The Spirit brings to us the reality of what God is, what Christ has accomplished on the cross, and what Christ went through, obtained, and attained. The person and the work of the Triune God has delivered us from all the negative things in the universe and dispenses into us the Triune God Himself. These are the four most crucial things revealed to us in the Bible. When we see, believe, and receive the truth concerning God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the cross of Christ, we are set free to enjoy Him. How wonderful!