Hi Everyone...:)
ARTICLE FOR YOUR REVIEW
WHAT OR WHO IS THE CHRISTIANS FAITH OBJECT…the CROSS OR CHRIST?
Actually, the object of a Christians faith is not the Cross, but rather belief and trust in Jesus Christ and what He did at the Cross.
“ looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith” (1 John 5:4).
Christ is our faith object and the Cross simply symbolizes an instrument of and exposure to death-that is, the very atonement of Christ (Philippians 2:8). Christians kneel before the Cross in remembrance of Jesus’ death and that we are saved from God’s wrath because He did. Thus the Cross is only the place where our Savior and Lord shed His Blood and died representing the “cross road” from death to eternal life.
Ephesians 1:7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,”
Christians believe that they dare not put their faith in the foolish wisdom found in worldly men, but only in the godly wisdom of Christ who saved us at the Cross and who rose again (1Corinthians 1:17). The power and wisdom of God is in the Blood of Christ crucified (v-18). God’s wisdom is manifested in the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus (v-30; Romans 1:4,16; Colossians 2:3). Thus we preach Christ crucified at the Cross.
The Cross represents the place where Christ’s power defeated Satan and death- that is, no longer is Satan and sin the curse of eternal death upon Christians (Romans 6:23). And because of what Christ did at the cross and by resurrecting back to life Satan and death will one day be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26,54; 2 Corinthians 1:9; Hebrews 2:14). What Satan intended for the torturous cross of rejection and death to be, Jesus victoriously made His Cross a place of Redemption so that His people could be set free.
The cross is a place where Christ atoned for the sins of the world so that His people may be forgiven and reconciled with Father God no longer under the curse of His wrath (Ephesians 2:16; Colossians 1:20). It was a place where salvation became a reality for those lost to Satan and the world. A place where man’s legal demands of religious law were nailed, fulfilled, and abolished as requirements for salvation.
The Cross represents the burden and suffering Christians bear as we pick up our cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23; 14:27). This meaning that if a Christian is going to share in Christ’s glory they must also share in His suffering (Philippians 3:10).
What is most important though, is that on the third day Christ resurrected as promised and ascended back into heaven from where He came (Hebrew 12:2). And it is because of His resurrection that we can be assured He alone died at the Cross for the divine purpose of being glorified and to save His people. Because of His resurrection He is our faith object who we can trust as the only Way, the Truth, and the Life for our eternal salvation (John 14:6). End
Comments are welcome... What say you?
God bless,
Bro Dan
