The Cross.

Well here goes, my very first blog post, where I hope to learn, share and understand this incredible inheritance we have in Christ. So why not start at the cross! To some the cross is a mere symbol but to those who believe it is salvation.

One of the most wonderful moments ever lived was the moment when Jesus on the cross said,"It is finished." It was not only the great moment for sinners and their needed salvation, but it was a long expected and needed moment for all who believe in the Scriptures. The most crucial moment in God's eternal plan had come to a finished conclusion.

What exactly was finaished? Certainly the ordeal of His death was finished. But that was not what so important. He was born to die. His earthly living and the persecution He had endured here was finished. But that was not what prompted the words "it is finished". What was behind the statement "it is finished" were two most important events; in fact, possibly the two most important events in the Father's eternal plan.

Both of these events were prophesied in a time before the world was created, before there were humans, before there was a devil working against God's plan and before there was sin.

The first of these events is stated by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians, chapter 1 verse 4: "According as He (the Father) has chosen us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world." This event could not take place until Christ died and finished the work that would be necessary for the Father to place humans in Christ.

Finished were all the other methods God had used in the Old Testament to get people saved and holy before Him. Now, in one moment, Christ had made it possible for the Father to put Christ in humans and have the kind of family He had always wanted. All other means for humans to please God were finished.

The other event that was finished was what Christ accomplished by His death on the Cross. This event was the second thing that was prophesied before the world was created (Peter 1:19-20). No more sin offerings had to be made by humans; no more self -improvement would be acceptable to God. The sin of Adam was finished once and for all, never to be passed on from one human to another. The work of Satan in lying and deceiving humans that they had to pay for their own sins was finished, done away with, banished and nullified.

The final blood offering had been made and now there was eternal life for all who believed. The power of death, Hell and the grave were finished and the two major factors in God's final gospel were complete. The cry of Christ on the cross,"it is finished," is the ultimate victory for every human who believes. The simplicity of salvation for hell bound sinners is to simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved (Acts 16:31).

Believe what happened at the cross! The cross is good news! We preach Christ crucified. (1Cor 1:23)