Yesterday we dove into the deep truth that the cross is not just about substitution, but it’s also about identification. It’s not just that Jesus died for us, but it’s also that He died as us. It’s that our sinful nature, which used to rule and reign over our lives, was put to death as our faith was placed “in Christ.”
That, in and of itself, is wonderful, but we need to take it one step further. The cross isn’t just the place where sin’s power and dominion ended, it’s also the place where something new began…our new life in Christ.
Keep the parallel in perspective: Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected in a glorious demonstration of God’s power. Likewise, our old sinful nature died on the cross, and our lives were resurrected and given a new life as a demonstration of God’s power. It’s at the cross that life emerges from death, a life of faith in the Son of God:
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NKJV)
The cross simultaneously serves as a death certificate for our old life of sin and a birth certificate for our new life of faith. A double stream flows from it—a stream of death that terminates the power of sin, and a stream of life that empowers us to walk by faith and to be alive to the things of God.
Only someone as creative as our Creator could make a place of execution and death a place of hope and life.
Think about it…
What does this passage reveal to me about God?
What does this passage reveal to me about myself?
Based on this, what changes do I need to make?
What is my prayer for today?
Share with your friends