Monday, 19th May 2008
Two days ago, I blogged about why Jesus had to become a man, and that was in order that He could qualify to be our kinsman-redeemer.
Yesterday, I blogged about why Jesus had to die, and that was in order to become the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins.
God is just, and that means that sin has to be punished. Proclaiming that gospel of grace does not mean that God has gone soft on sin. Quite the opposite. God hates sin, and sin has to be judged. And sin has been judged, but in the body of another. That took place 2,000 years ago. God's righteous fiery judgement fell on the body of Jesus. At that moment, God had to treat His Son as though He was the worst sinner, and that was why Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" (Matt 27:34).
Okay, so now we know why Jesus had to die. But why did He have to die on the cross? Could He not die by being stoned, the way Stephen died? Or be slaughtered, the way the bulls and goats were offered under the Leviticus system?
For the answer, we have to go back to the Old Testament again. In Deut 3:23, we read that "... anyone that hung on a tree is under God's curse."
Paul makes reference to this verse in Gal 3:13, and adds this to it, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, by being the curse for us"!
By dying on the cross, Jesus has taken upon Himself the curses that were meant for us. The missiles that were supposed to end up on us were diverted onto His body when He hung there on Calvary's tree.
And that, my friend, is the significance of the cross.
So, the next time you hear a sermon on Deut 28 telling you that unless you keep all of God's commandments, the curses listed in there will fall upon you, reject it in Jesus' mighty name, because Jesus has not only kept all of God's commandments on our behalf, He also died on the cross to take those curses upon Himself on our behalf.
The next time you hear someone talking about "generational curses", reject it also in Jesus' name because that is Old Covenant teaching and does not take into account the finished work of Jesus. In the New Covenant, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse for us, so there is no more curse left for us.
As a New Covenant believer, there are only blessings that continue to be upon us. Curses have been diverted away for good. Amen?
8 comments:
let me humor you. firstly, to understand biblical salvation, you need to understand what went wrong from the beginning. fair? now why? christ obviously came to undo or rather, correct the error( a natural order base on the teaching of corinthians as i would like to see it) that was committed. to do that, we need to reexamine the picture or story in the book of genesis. since you are familiar with the bible, we shall go straight to the two trees. what are trees? trees are symbols of who we are suppose to be( go study typology to learn more about symbols). when god gave the command which persona( tree) we should take on, he warned against the tree of knowledge of good and evil. it is obvious that that tree represented religious knowledge or religious laws or the religious person( this is portrayed in the religious jews who lived by religious laws - remember, not by laws but by grace?). one instance in the gospel clearly depicted the garden of genesis is when jesus rebuked the devil behind the religious leaders. the serpent, also known as the devil, wrapped itself around the tree of knowledge of good and evil. when eve, a type of the church, submitted herself to the devil charm, it is a picture of men given into the religious mind or legal mind. jesus being the second adam going to the cross is a picture of bringing the old man, a religious body or temples or religious institutions, to death. the tree was cursed because god said if you be like that tree, you will die. that's the curse you mentioned. so when christ was crucified on the tree, it is a picture of those who will die to the religious order under the influence of the devil.
the old adam represented the old religious body. the second adam represented the new creation. problem here is, the old religious order still exist today.as long as someone wants to HEAD( the devil) a body, the curse remains in that body.
if you'll to recall, christ HEAD was pieced with thorns of crown as a symbol of rejecting HIGH PLACES/ Crowned. he became a servant leader and the foundation of a building we are to become instead.
all religious body has a HEAD. that body is cursed! christ brought in a new paradigm shift. a new order of life and relationship. it is a political order we are looking at here!( to cut the long story short). christ has shown that the people need to know that they been liberated from the old order/body/man/tree.
in the new body, depicted in christ resurrection, or order, the people rule...not leaders who sit in HIGH PLACES.
get it?
i have no time to go into ALL the relevant scriptures to support what i had written. all i can tell you is, the theologians had the gospel all wrong!
i hate to puncture your romantic notion of the gospel. but do remember your lord did died under the hands of politicians and religious leaders. furthermore, you are talking about bringing god's kingdom down on earth as it is in heaven. fyi, kingdom means a political body! that's why jesus was persecuted and so were his disciples. many paid for their lives to walk the cross life.
in the false gospel, there is no such persecutions. in the false gospel, it embraces MAMMON!
the gospel changed to ALL ABOUT YOUR SALVATION...a personal salvation. not true. it is the salvation of a COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE IN THE NEW KINGDOM BODY!
that's where LOVE is practiced...not self love and all about your problems and personal blessings!
you walk into your kind of church on sunday, you just walk out the same day all praising the MAN IN THE PULPIT!
friend, you are LIVING IN SIN
only if you know what that SIN means!
sorry to burst your bubble but i think, you probably go on SINNING!
Wow! you have written a good piece ... the trick is to write something most would agree then finish it off with confusions & controversies!
You have written as if you have got it ALL right, that your doctrine and interpretations are the correct version ... then with such "truth" I assume you should be HEADING a huge congregation, or at least a group of followers ... then by your own admission, your group must be cursed!
To state that the theologians had the gospel ALL wrong is too strong! I do agree that some may have gotten it wrong, afterall they are not God, otherwise that man would have been the fourth person of the 4-in-1 God! We are all learning, and it's a journey, isn't it?
Your statement of people rule .... not leaders who sit in high places ... pardon my lack of political know-how, perhaps you could enlighhten on how people can rule .....
hard to digest huh? nevermind. ask some relevant questions for a start. what was the curse on the serpent? the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of his seed? head is the seat of authority isnt' it? how does he rule? go back to the tree again. what was the lure? how was the woman subdued? she wanted to be like god didn't she? through what? knowledge of good and evil which leads to the formation of the laws isn't it? how are we ruled today? by laws? why be like god? to have power and control? go back to the curse of the serpent again. which part of his body shall be bruised? the head? the power part of the body? the control center?
who is head over you? who interpreted the book for you? where did you learn grace and laws from? where did you learn salvation from? where did the idea come from if not the 'head which you have been submitted to? if you go to a different church, the story may also be different. there are countless stories of jesus or jesus being framed. but the followers are not the head isn't it? in the body concept, you are below the neck.therefore christ is the head and the body is the church isn't it?
what is my point here? look at the power structure, isn't it obvious? you have the head, you have the medium of control and lastly, those who are being controlled. would it be fair to say the evil one uses the laws to subdue the body? take a look around you. what is oppressive or abused? now ask, why did paul teaches not under laws but grace? what was he really talking about? your personal failures in keeping the laws?
do you think preaching overcoming personal failures will get paul crucified? do you think preaching successful living will get paul crucified? will preaching charities get paul crucified? praying and having your personal sins forgiven, will it get paul cruicified! will pleading the blood, healing, speaking in tongues and fasting get paul crucified?( btw, pls be reminded the romans wouldn't communist)
but if you bruise the HEAD, you will risk being literally crucified.
the i am crucified with christ and taking up the cross( crucifying the old ruling body) will bring you the same fate as paul because, no power over you would let you off that easily.
however, if your head teaches his 'mystical' version of laws and grace; his version of salvation in christ; you will not be a threat to the head.
but you will take on the woman's curse. you will remain in the first adam. you'll not be her SEED that bruise the head of the serpent!
now, that is in the bible. the difference? i have no intention to rule over you in a building and living off your income - religious or not!
Hi Mal,
My favourite sermon is "The Significance Of The Cross" by Pastor Prince. I had been a Christian for over 30 years but never thought about why Jesus had to die on the cross - I just knew that He died to pay for my sins and because of that, I can go to heaven.
After hearing that sermon, my eyes were opened. I now know that Jesus has taken over all my curses and I have the right to enjoy heaven on earth because of His finished work on the cross. Praise God (not the man in the pulpit)!
I have chatted with quite a few Christians at my stall who, like I previously, do not realize or even think about why Jesus died on the cross. I have given away copies of the sermon to many of them (who are anonymous to me cos we just chatted and did not exchange names).
I thank God (not the man in the pulpit) that my Christian life now is not about what I can do for Christ but rather what Christ has already done for me. Amen!
Well, you sound like Korah & his followers in the book of Numbers challenging God's chosen leadership, which was one of the items kept in the Ark under the mercy seat as a reminder to Israel for their rebellion against God's chosen leadership.
Guess if you were one of the Israelites in old testament, you would probably have cursed & sweared at Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, the kings and the prophets!
From the way you have expounded, for one moment I really thought I was actually reading a parable! Thank God this parable's not in the Bible.
You sound like my professors in the university, always talking to giraffes, full of knowledge but can never bring simple points across.
When the leper came & asked Jesus if He is willing, THANK GOD Jesus did not give him a parable, or ask him why he was like that or what sin has he committed or was it his parents' sins!!! Jesus touched him, saying, "I am willing, be cleansed." Thank God there's hope for simple people, like myself, who can just come to Jesus.
Your dad ruled over you when you were young, in a building, unintentionally? and if you are filial, he lives off your income and still to a certain extent rules over you, unintentionally!
My conclusion: you are so bitter, probably badly hurt by people in the past. Honestly you need a touch of His presence, to heal and be restored.
the sin in the garden wasn't disobedient as popularly taught by leaders. the sin in the garden was wanting to be LIKE GOD. but how is it that they were blind to that? if they had seen it from that perspective, the structure of the church would have been very different today and it probably would have changed the church bloody history. in fact, the world would have been a very different place if we had spotted the dangerous trait and had prevented the rise of megalomaniacs. sin, the serpent's natural predisposition , wants to sit in places and in whatever organization/house/temples to preside over people's lives. it wants to rule in and out of church domain. it wants to be loved, worshiped, revered and feared. and you won't have the sin of idolatry if no one had sought high places. now why is idolatry condemned in the bible? idolatry is condemned because it leads to the tyranny of the minds and souls of men. idolatry is enslavery! idolatry exploits the weak and the poor that jesus came to liberate. however, true leadership is not idolatry. true leadership shun earthly crowns and the adulation of the masses. true leadership never lingers around for metals after metals. he does his purest work and dissappeared in the clouds and that's what we should all imitate! however, false leadership keeps you under all the time so you become reliant on them, their teachings, instructions,commands and even living off you etc.
that's the reason why god condemns Nicolaitans.
Rev 2:5 Therefore remember from where you have fallen( the sin), and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent.
Rev 2:6 But you have this, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
nicolaitan came from the Greek, "nikao", "to conquer," and Greek, "laos", "the people," or "laity.
which means...to conquer the people or followers.
when you submit to that order, the people become IMMATURE and DIVIDED. with egos so fat( wanting to be gods), it destroys the true spirit of love. in return, you get fake copies of the divine and its attributes!
anon, appreciate your writing tips. comment is not meant to be a researched piece which i am far from adequate. rule by the people must be better defined. we already seem samples of what the people are capable of in the present information age. i am still watching development and is promising.
this is just the tip of prophetic language in the bible but a very important starting point. now if the starting is off, everything goes wrong. and it has led to serious, very serious repercussion which led to wars/conflicts/deaths of millions throughout the history of man. the false gospel has also invited the wrath of the gentile world on us. sad. so when i say the theologians had it all wrong, i was referring to the starting point amongst other things. remember, they are of the 'good and evil' knowledge seed so obviously, they have not been all wrong otherwise, how to deceive? that said, the biblical political model is New Jerusalem( your 4 in 1 - bravo!). the west got that wrong and that's why there is so much trouble in the middle east now.
yes, we are all learning and when the new jerusalem becomes clearer, i will share more. over and out.
and as for me detractors :). if you can hear, fine. if not, move on where ever you are. it's alright.
Dear anonymous posters
I have no problems if you guys want to post anonymously.
It would however help if you gave yourself a pseudonym at the very least.
There are 6 such comments posted on this particular topic, and the points of view, however well supported, lose their impact when readers are unable to tell one poster from another.
It will be no wonder then that Stan's stands out from among the rest :-)
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