The Effects of the Cross

The Effects of the Cross:

What did it do for you?

By Holly Bailey

            Standing before the court, he is crushed to hear the sentence has been passed. A jury of his peers has found him guilty of sin. The punishment for sin is dire. The words from the jury, “scourge him and then death by crucifixion,” ring in his ears and cause his head to spin as he is cuffed and lead away.
             

              He looks back over his shoulder at the Judge, his Father. His Father, being the Judge is bound by law to make sure the punishment is carried out, as hard as it is, because it is his son who will have to suffer and die. 

            “But I didn’t mean to,” he pleads with his guards who are to carry out his punishment. “Please, it was only my human nature.”

             The guards laugh, looking forward to carrying out his punishment, they let his pleas fall of deaf ears. The guards chain his cuffs to a post to keep him from running from his punishment. He stands there, unable to flee or stop it; so he just waits for the pain to begin.

 He had heard of these scourgings.

They were more than just a beating.

The tools they used didn’t just leave welts or bruises, they tore your skin, ripped the flesh from your body, leaving horrible gaping holes all over your body: 

                                                                                    

                     your back..... 

                                           sides.....   

                                                          legs....
                                                                       stomach......
                                                                                            chest.

 But the guards didn’t try to keep the scourging to those areas.

People had been blinded, and their faces ripped apart from the painful lashings.

Most of those people died from the beatings and those who did not, wished they were dead.

His heart beat quickens as he realizes the Judge, his Father has walked in.
He looks at the Judge and begging for mercy, he cries out, “Father, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

He hears the sound of the tools clinking behind him, knowing the lashings are seconds away from beginning he closes his eyes and tenses up waiting for the pain to begin. The leather of the tool swishes as they cut through the air.

Right before the tools hit their mark, he felt someone cover him with their body.

Arms wrapped around him, their body protecting him from the lashings; they were taking his beating for him.

Hearing the words “I do forgive you, son. I love you.” He realized it is his Father.

Then the scourging stopped but the last part of the sentence was still to be carried out; death by crucifixion on the cross. The guards remove his Father from over him and unchain his cuffs from the post.

As they take him away to be nailed to the cross, they hear the Judge say, “Stop. That’s my son. I will take his place. And in my death, he will be pardoned because the punishment will be carried out according to the law.”

They remove the cuffs from his hands and place them on the Judge. Watching them lead his Father away, he stands there crying, knowing because of the love and mercy his Father has shown, he is free.

Looking upon his Father’s face as he hangs on the cross, he hears his Father say “it is finished,” declaring the law fulfilled, the punishment carried out, his love and forgiveness for his son and declaring his son free from the wages of sin. 

               That is what happened when the Heavenly Father stepped down out of the glory of Heaven in the form of Jesus to take his child’s place on the cross at Calvary because he couldn’t bear to see his children die a death on the cross that they deserved (Hefling 26). He covered their bodies with His blood, and took the full punishment for their sins on Himself. By going to the Cross of Calvary, Jesus sacrificed himself, as God in the flesh, to keep His children from having to die on the cross, in doing so He provided atonement from man’s sins, and in accepting this sacrifice, many will reap the benefits.  In sacrificing Himself as a substitute and taking the believer’s punishment for sins, Jesus provided effects of atonement, thus allowing for redemption from the every aspect of the curse brought on by the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, returning life to the way God meant it to be before the first sin, gave a way for the Holy Spirit to be accessible by man and provided a way for man to have a one on one relationship with God again.

     
            In the article, “Why the Cross,” Charles Hefling answers several question regarding why

 Jesus going to the cross was required, not only as a way to provide a way to heaven but to give “atonement” for sins. Many effects from have come from Jesus going to the Cross (Hefling 24).

          

         One effect of the Cross was the redemption from the curse was brought on by the first sin. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they directly disobeyed God and listened to Satan instead. This separated man from God, and required payment for sin by the killing of a pure untainted sacrifice from which the blood was used to atone for that sin. The curse covers many issues from poverty and diseases to women having to be ruled by men and men having to labor and toil. Jesus dying on the cross provided atonement and redemption from the curse. When a believer accepts Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that person is releasing themselves from the burden and hardship of the curse. A believer is no longer under the power of the curse, and no longer has to be sick or living in poverty. He or she now is completely redeemed by the stripes Jesus received, at that post, during the scourgings. Those painful lashings coupled with the painful death by crucifixion have given the Believer the direct connection to a life free of pain and burden.

            When a believer receives the redemption power of Jesus’s blood that was shed at the cross as atoning for his or her sins, they are in essence receiving the way life was meant to be before the first sin. When God created life for Adam and Eve it was to be perfect then they disobeyed Him and the first sin caused the fall of man. God intended life to be easy and perfect, with no hardships and problems of any kind. In the Garden, food was readily available and no work was required to receive it; the water was cold and quenched their thirst; the days and nights were neither too hot nor too cold; and life was absolutely perfect. The trees, plants and animals were put in the Garden for man’s enjoyment. Everything was created for Adam and Eve’s enjoyment; just to make them happy. There were no arguments between Adam and Eve; they didn’t even know what an argument was. They were happy and truly enjoyed every moment with each other. They had no concept of right or wrong. Life was good with God. That is how God intended life to be. Because Jesus’s death on the cross redeemed the Believer from the curse; when one believes on the promise offered at the Cross, the Garden of Eden will be manifest in their lives as long as they have the faith that Jesus did deliver them from any and all hardships of the curse.

            Another effect of the Cross is the power of the Holy Spirit being attainable through Jesus’ death to man. Before Jesus died on the Cross, the Holy Spirit was not accessible to man. Once He was crucified and then raised back to life on the third day, there was a connection available for man to access the Holy Spirit (Hefling 27). Jesus then gave all Believers the authority to receive the Holy Spirit and all power that the Holy Spirit can deliver. In principle Jesus’ sacrifice allowed a conduit for the Holy Spirit to enter man and renew man’s spirit. Thus turning man’s spirit from the sinful nature to righteousness in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit is what had the power to bring Jesus back to life after the cross. That same spirit is now residing within the hearts and souls of the Believers giving them power over all the natural realm from God, as the Holy Spirit is God’s very spirit, with faith in Jesus’ redemption death the believer now can overcome the natural body, the power of demonic forces and can perform even more miracles than Jesus did while He walked this earth.

            There are many elements of the curse that the believer was redeemed from by the sacrifice Jesus made by going to the cross, and those elements originate from the main depravity that was caused by the separation of God and man. God is so holy and just, that once man sinned, man could no longer be around Him (Hefling 25). This caused many hardships to fall on man. The prime suffering was that there was no way to get back into God’s good graces and once again walk with the Lord.  However, the Lord loved his children so much that the moment the first sin took place; He set into action the plan to redeem man. When Jesus went to the cross he provided the only road back to the Father. Jesus was the pure untainted sacrifice having lived as a man free of sin; He qualified as the one and only way to atone man from sins (Hefling 25).

           
          There were many causes of Jesus going to the Cross, and although those are important and exceptional causes, the effects, once claimed and accessed are substantially more incredible. God created man of a pure nature but when Adam and Eve sinned, they tainted that pure nature, caused all men to be born of a sinful nature and because of that man has no hope of every changing it themselves. In the promise of the cross, God provided a way for man to come to Him, to return to that pure nature and redeem man from that sinful state because to remain sinful would be an eternal separation from God. Man could never bear all the temptations of this world alone, he simply was not made strong enough or powerful enough to endure all the evils and come out of it whole. Many things try mankind and many things break mankind but with God nothing is too hard to handle. In receiving the forgiveness God offers through the blood of Jesus that was shed at the Cross, the Believer will never be alone. God promised to never leave or forsake man, and once the Believer is born again by accepting Jesus in to their hearts, the Holy Spirit is instantly with in them providing a way for God to be with that person every day of their lives until they reach eternity where they will then be with God until the end of time. From the day they believe what Jesus did for them and ask for salvation, a person will experience many amazing effects that accepting the promise of salvation though the Cross of Calvary provides.

 * (Hefling, Charles. “Why the Cross?” Christian Century 130.6 (2013): 24-27 Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 Oct. 2013)

I invite you to receive this gift YOUR Father is offering, right now. All you have to do is pray according to scripture.

Pray this prayer:

Heavenly Father, I come to You in the Name of Jesus. Your Word says, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). I am calling on You. I pray and ask Jesus to come into my heart and be Lord over my life according to Romans 10:9-10: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” I do that now. I confess that Jesus is Lord, and I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead.

I am now reborn! I am a Christian—a child of Almighty God! I am saved! You also said in Your Word, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: HOW MUCH MORE shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13). I’m also asking You to fill me with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, rise up within me as I praise God. I fully expect to speak with other tongues as You give me the utterance (Acts 2:4). In Jesus’ Name. Amen!

(Terri Copeland Pearsons)

Congratulations you are a child of God and a joint heir with Jesus! Praise the Lord!
Welcome to the Family of God!!!

You probably have questions on what to do next. Email me and Let me know you accepted Christ
and are now born again, AND I will be glad to answer any questions you may have!

Email: holly_bailey83@yahoo.com