Saturday, April 15, 2017

Counteractions on Cross

God gave me grace to write 4 articles in a span of one week. It has been a marathon effort and you may expect a delay before my next article. In this article, we will see a list of stuff that God achieved by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In fact, we cannot cover all the things. But, let's see some of them as I read, heard and understood. There are many problems in this world right now. As in one of my older posts "Is the end times near?", I wrote about the list of issues the world is facing now. There is no peace, people are turning more and more money minded and love is getting lesser and lesser. Famine, Earthquakes and Pestilences everywhere. Nations raising against nations, People against people. But, there is one root cause from the beginning for all these problems and that is SIN. How one root problem of sin becomes source of all the problems, there is one solution, that is the LORD JESUS CHRIST and by His shedding of blood on cross, we have remission of sins. We are awaiting His return so that all these problems are abolished including sin and death and then a new life will be set up on new heaven and new earth. As there are many problems because of one issue sin, let's see what and all Jesus has done on cross to neutralize the circumstances on which the original sin was committed.

I named this post as Counter actions on Cross because Isaac Newton's third law of motion says, Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. I would like to reiterate what and all God given as counters for what has happened in Garden of Eden.

1. The Original sin happened in a garden named Eden. The original solution too started in a garden named Gethsamane.
2. A tree named knowledge of good and evil became the source of the sin. Jesus was crucified on a tree to negate that.
3. God cursed humans that the land would produce thorns and thistles. Jesus wore a crown of thorns to take out that curse.
4. The sin originated in the mind and even now it is the place where satan tempts and makes people to sin. So, the first major injury Jesus had was on his head through the crown of thorns.
5. Adam sinned because of his wife Eve who was taken out of his rib. The final injury of Jesus was on his rib where blood and water came out and from that the bride of Christ, the Church was formed.
6. The eyes of Adam and Eve were opened and they realized they were naked. Jesus hung mostly naked on cross.
7. The curse involved sweat. We read Jesus sweating out His blood in garden of Gethsamane when he prayed.
8. There were three temptations behind original sin. Eve saw that the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make  one wise. Gen 3:6. There are three temptations mentioned in 1 John 2:16, lusts of eye, lusts of flesh and pride of life directly corresponds to Eve's temptations. Jesus in humanity, prayed three times to Father to ask for pardon from cross but then he made up His mind to fulfill His will. He took three nails on cross.
9. An animal was killed by God in garden of Eden to make clothes from its skin for Adam and Eve. Fig tree leaves are not sufficient to cover the nakedness. That directly represents the blood is required to atone for the sins and the good works that we perform is not enough to cover our sins. Jesus became the sacrificial lamb and through His blood covers our sins.
10. Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac on Mt. Moriah, but there was a lamb that was available in place of Isaac so that he could be redeemed. That lamb marks Jesus Christ, the lamb which was crucified before the foundations of the earth by the Father for the redemption of mankind.
11. By the blood of the passover lamb, Israelites got their freedom from Egypt. Same way, by the blood of Jesus Christ, we have deliverance from the sin (Egypt).
12. The brass serpent was raised by Moses on wilderness so that who ever looks on it survived after the snake bite. Numbers 21:5-9 The brass (bronze) represents judgement of sin and satan. Jesus compared himself to that incident in John 3:14.15. He Himself became sin (not a sinner by committing sin but the sins were laid upon Him so He became that sin itself) and His death brought judgement to sin, death and satan.
13. He crushed satan's head, his power, authorities by His death and fulfilled the first prophecy given in the Bible in Gen 3:15. "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Jesus became the seed of the woman.
14. By one man's (Adam) disobedience, sin and death entered the world. By one man's (Jesus) obedience, sin and death will be abolished. I used future tense because the redemption is not yet complete and it will be complete on His second coming.
15. Jesus has made both Jews and gentile equivalent by His death on cross and God is Father for all those who believe in Jesus Christ.
16. Jesus has accomplished what a normal human cannot do. No man can provide remission for sins because every one is a sinner. So, God became a man and accomplished the remission by Himself so that He can become savior, redeemer and Lord for those who believe in Him.
17. The old covenant with Abraham through circumcision was nullified as Jesus created new commandment through His flesh and blood and we partake in it through communion.
18. Jesus was raised from earth so He was hung in between heaven and earth (not touching heaven, not touching earth) making Him a mediator between God and human beings.
19. The stretched out hands symbolize that He abolished old system of Jewish and Israelite tradition as well as fulfilled the law and He created a New creation through Himself so that gentiles and Israelites, man and woman, every one can come to God the Father through Him. The stretched out hands also mean that He removed the sins from us as far the east is from the west.
20. Jesus suffered 5 holy wounds (Two hands, Two legs and Rib) thereby giving us grace. The number 5 symbolizes grace. If God willing, shall write a separate post on this.
21. He fulfilled all the old testament prophecies which were foretold, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Daniel 9, Zeccharia and all the entire OT shadows.
22. Through His resurrection on the third day, He set forth a pattern so that whomsoever believe in Him will resurrect during His appearance if they are dead and those who are alive will get transformed into His likeness.
23. The temple veil got torn into two when Jesus gave up His spirit and that means the barrier between God and Man is broken.
24. As the barrier is broken, now God left the most holy place and started to live inside man through Holy Spirit and through whom we can bear fruits for the glory of His name and through the gifts we can be a powerful testimonies and ministers for the Lord. Psalms 68:18, Ephesians 4:8

I could keep write more and more from New testament versus but I think I mentioned most of the prime points. I didn't give biblical verse references for all of them and encourage the reader to do research to find them. Finally, there are 3 questions which I would like to answer before I complete this chapter.

1. Why Jesus has to shed His blood on cross? If it is just for forgiving sins, then even before sacrificing Himself on cross, He forgave sins of the sick of palsy man in Mark 2:4 and the woman who washed His feet in Luke 7:48. The Son of God has authority to forgive sins without shedding His blood. But, He shed his blood on cross to atone for sins and because of the atonement He can purify us with the blood such that not only forgiving our sins but to give us power over the sins as mentioned in 1 John 1:7 and we are made perfect and complete in purification through His blood. Hebrews 10:14. The entire book of Hebrews is dedicated to explain this.

2. Why Jesus had to die on cross? Is it not sufficient to shed his blood by getting injured? No, it is not sufficient to shed blood alone. To overcome the humanity's greatest enemy, the death, God Himself has to undergo through death such that by resurrection He can overcome that. Without death, He couldn't resurrect and He couldn't overcome it. Not only that, Jesus destroyed the power of the devil by His death and seized all His powers and rendered Him powerless. Heb 2:14,15. In Rev 1:18, Jesus said "I have the keys of Hades and death." But, the keys were held by devil prior to the death of Jesus. But, Jesus took all of them captive when He entered the Hades. He couldn't have entered the bottomless pit without undergoing death. So, to overcome the world and Hades, Jesus had to taste death and not only that whoever believe in Him will also raise from dead.

3. Why Jesus had to ascend to heaven after resurrection? Why not He stayed with us so that everyone could have believed Him? Jesus had to accomplish all the prophecies. Isaiah 52:13 says about Jesus, "Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high." So, now Jesus is exalted and seated on the right hand side of the God, the Father. If He stayed as a person, He could stay at only one place at a time. But, He ascended to heaven so that He could send the Holy Spirit and can indwell among believers as per Psalm 68:18 until all the works are finished and as per all the prophecies are fulfilled. Acts 3:21. It is also said that He is waiting until all His enemies are made as His footstool. It is a prophecy given in Psalm 110:1 and referred at Hebrew 10:12,13 as "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool."

I wish all those who read this a very happy Easter. I pronounce blessings to every true follower of our Lord. His coming is near as we are nearing 2000 year mark from His crucifixion and we await Him eagerly. May God bless you, protect you and keep you in His peace. All glory, honor and praise to God, the Holy Spirit through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

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