The Lamb Of God: Meaning And Reasons For The Sacrifice Of Christ
Some people see the sacrifice of Christ as the folly of the cross and it really was. But here we explain to you what is the reason for this difficult process that our redeemer lived through. In 1 Corinthians 1:18, the apostle Paul says that according to “those who perish,” the “word of the cross” is “foolishness.”
Paul builds on this theme in verse 23, saying that the crucified Christ is a “scandal” to the Jews and a “foolishness” to the Gentiles. This ancient Greek word that Paul uses, which most Bibles translate as foolishness, doesn’t just mean lack of wisdom or even stupidity. The word goes beyond this in meaning. More exactly it denotes madness or folly.
The madness of the cross
Many people think that talking about a man who crucified himself and then saying that He is the Lord and Savior we need is utter folly “the folly of the cross.” However, one of the early Christians wrote:
We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and the madness of the Greeks, but to those called, both Jews and Greeks, we speak of Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
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The Cross Why?
At the time of Jesus’ death, four things were accomplished:
1. Redemption
In the Holy Bible, this word means that a sum of money has been paid for the redemption of a slave. It is the liberation of the person who is detained as a slave or in prison. Redemption was practiced among the Romans in the time of Jesus as in ancient times. The very words of Christ show us that his mission in the world was a mission of redemption through a ransom.
Jesus said that he had not come here to be served, but to serve others and to die for them. He saw men bound to Satan, chained by their own desires, slaves of evil. And in an extraordinary way, of which only God has the secret, Jesus paid the price for man’s deliverance by dying in the wood of Mount Calvary.
2. The atonement
Atone or atone is the translation of the Arabic verb “Kafara” (Takfir), which means to cover. Its meaning is wonderful, beyond the reach of the common man. This word means that on the cross Christ responded to the requirements of the moral law for the entire universe and took the sin of men upon himself.
The principle of the law is that evil must be punished. However, although we know that all men have sinned and we have not reached the glory of God, we can be justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
3. Reconciliation
The Holy Bible affirms that all men are enemies of God by nature. However, he goes on to say that while we were still sinners, that is, enemies of God, Christ died for us, so that we could be reconciled to God.
To reconcile is to return to a perfect relationship with God. There is only one condition for us to be reconciled: God calls each one of us to abandon our sin and to accept with all humility that Christ in his love can assure us of reconciliation with God.
4. Justification
This is what God works for us. The Bible teaches that even if God is a God of love and mercy, He is also a God of justice. The man has broken the law; it needs more than forgiveness, more than purification, it needs the grace of a new life. It is necessary that he be placed in the presence of God as if he had never sinned.
That is justification. Being seen as righteous before God is more than being forgiven. The word justification means to me to be as if I have always been innocent. We cannot be justified by our own good works. We are justified only by Jesus Christ. We must believe in Jesus Christ, who has obtained our justification by his death on the cross.
God’s justice has been satisfied by Jesus Christ, and the way to justification is faith in him. We must believe that Jesus actually died on the cross so that we can be declared righteous with God.
For you, the madness of the cross will have its meaning only if you receive Christ as your Savior. You too, in our turbulent world, can possess a peace that surpasses all understanding and joy that cannot be taken away, if you place your trust in the love of God that is clearly made known on the cross.
The meaning of the cross (1 Peter 2: 24-25)
The meaning of the cross may seem a bit theological and impractical, but in reality, there is no more practical topic in the entire Bible. The cross of Jesus Christ is central to the Christian faith. The cross reveals God’s character to us: his love for lost sinners and his perfect justice is found on the cross.
If we want to grow in our love for God, which is the first and greatest commandment, then we must be growing to understand and appreciate the cross, which shows us his great love. If we want to grow in godliness, we must grow in understanding the meaning of the cross, which confronts the most frequent and insidious of all sins, namely, pride.
The cross is the place where all the wounds of sin are healed. If you suffer from emotional problems (guilt, anxiety, depression, anger, or whatever), there is healing on the cross of Christ.
If you are going through tragedy or suffering, there is solace in abundance as you contemplate the sufferings of the Immaculate Savior on his behalf.
Through Christ’s death on the cross, those who turn to Him are freed from both the punishment and power of sin. All of our problems stem from sin, our own sin or the sin of others against us (and our sinful reaction), or the fallen world in which we live. Thus, the solutions to our problems center on the cross of Christ:
1. Through Christ’s death on the cross, those who turn to Him are freed from the penalty of sin.
By using the word “tree” instead of “cross”, Peter undoubtedly had in mind Deuteronomy 21: 22-23, where he prescribes the penalty for a convicted criminal, that his body be hung on a tree: “For he who is hung is cursed “.
When Peter says that Christ bore our sins, he is quoting Isaiah 53:12. The holiness and justice of God demand that a penalty be paid for sin; Christ took that punishment on himself on the cross. By mentioning the body of Christ, Peter calls attention to the fact of his humanity.
2. Through Christ’s death on the cross, those who turn to Him are freed from the power of sin.
Some have wrongly applied the word “healing” to physical healing. But clearly, that is not in the context (neither here nor in Isaiah 53: 5). The power of sin is so great that we cannot get rid of it by promising to deliver a new blade or by sheer force of will, a very high price had to be paid.
3. To be freed from the penalty and power of sin, we must turn to Christ.
If we turn, it is because God gave us grace (Ps. 80: 17-19; Jer. 24: 7). And yet, at the same time, we are responsible for turning from sin to God (Isa. 55: 7).
It involves, according to 1 Peter 2:25, a change from a stubborn life seeking our own way (“straying like sheep”) to a life surrendering to the shepherding and supervision of Jesus Christ.
Make no mistake: true conversion is not just intellectual assent to the truth of the gospel. Saving faith always involves real change.
Why True Christians Don’t Use the Cross in Worship
THE cross is loved and respected by millions of people. The Encyclopædia Britannica calls the cross “the chief symbol of the Christian religion.” However, true Christians do not use the cross in worship. Why not?
One important reason is that Jesus Christ did not die on a cross. The Greek word generally translated as “cross” is stau • rosʹ. Basically, it means “a vertical stick or stake”. What the Companion Bible points out: “[Staurosʹ] never means two pieces of wood placed one on top of the other at any angle. There is nothing in New Testament Greek that implies two pieces of wood.”
In various texts, the Bible writers use another word for the instrument of Jesus’ death. It is the Greek word xyʹlon. (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24.) This word simply means “wood” or “a stick, club, or tree.”
Explaining why a simple stake was often used for executions, Hermann Fulda’s book “The Cross and the Crucifixion” states: “Trees were not available everywhere in the places chosen for public execution. Then a simple beam sank into the ground. In this, the outlaws, with their hands raised upwards and often also with their feet, were tied up or nailed ”
However, the most compelling proof of all comes from God’s Word. There is no evidence that for the first 300 years after Christ’s death, those who claim to be Christians used the cross in worship.
However, this act was not insane, nothing that God does can be identified as insane. The death of Christ was something that our Lord had already planned, something that had to happen so that we could all be saved, since no one is capable of reaching the perfection necessary to obtain salvation, except through the death of Jesus.