In The Cross

Jesus, I want to be near the cross
Jesus keep me near the cross
There a precious fountain
Free to all, a healing stream
Flows from Calvary's mountain

In the cross, in the cross
Be my glory ever
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river

Take a look can you see it?
It's just beyond the river

Near the cross I'll watch and wait
Hoping, trusting ever
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river

In the cross, in the cross
Be my glory ever
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river
Rest beyond the river

Keep me near the cross
I'll be watching, I'll be waiting
For my hope is in Him
I'll be trusting near the cross
It's free to all
It's free to all
It's a healing stream
Keep me near the cross.

"Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." (John 19:25)

"The angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city." (Revelation 22:1-2)

What does it mean to be “in Christ?” This short phrase occurs seventy-eight times in the KJV New Testament. What does it mean in the New Testament that some people are “in Christ” while others are not? Where were these persons before they were “immersed into Christ?” What does it mean to be outside?

Jesus died sins of the whole world but only a small percentage come to Jesus and become identified with Him by water baptism in His death, burial and resurrection. 

1. We are Baptized into Christ and Baptized into his Death

“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:3-14)  

2. We Walk in Obedience to Jesus who is our Trailblazer.

"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

Brothers, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself." (Philippians 3:7-21)

I say again, let no one think me a fool. If otherwise, at least receive me as a fool, that I also may boast a little. What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were, foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast. For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise! For you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face. To our shame I say that we were too weak for that! But in whatever anyone is bold—I speak foolishly—I am bold also.

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.“ (2 Corinthians 11:16-33)

4. Jesus in us is a hidden treasure not recognized by the world.

But we have this treasure (Christ) in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed

— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you.

And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:7-18)

In a previous article,  Six hours in Eternity on the Cross, the crucifixion of Jesus was examined from an external vantage point -- as a reporter on the scene for the news media might have written it all down.

Jesus' Death: Six Hours of Eternity on the Cross--the crucifixion of Jesus on April 15, 32 AD-- lasted only six hours according to Earth clocks and calendars. At the en, when His great work was finished, Jesus voluntarily “dismissed his spirit” and time traveled home to heaven.  He returned alive and well on the third day after He died -- to the utter amazement of his disciples.

Those six hours in Earth time are really a Portal, a connection, leading outside of our present space-time domain into the vast unseen world of the spiritual. From what we are told elsewhere in the Bible concerning events “out there” we know Jesus did way more than merely die for all the sins of mankind since Adam.

From 9 AM until Noon our Lord was our Great High Priest interceding for us.

From noon until 3 PM the priest became the sacrificed victim— the Lamb of God. 

When Jesus died on the Cross, to pay for your sins and mine, we were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad. How could my entire history be transmitted from the history to that unique date in history? How could detailed records of every person who lived thousands of years before Jesus was born, affect this ordinary Jewish teacher.

It is reasonable that 100 billion persons have been born, lived, and died since Adam. (The present world population is about 8 billion). If the sins of that many persons were teleported to Jerusalem and placed on that man on the cross, in only three hours, the "data transfer rate" was enormous. Only by assuming that Cross is a huge portal between this life and the next can we even begin glimpse the reality of the universe as seen by God. The crucifixion of Jesus is most important event in all history. 

Now we can begin to understand why the Bible says of Jesus that He is “the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) 

In Revelation 5 Jesus is seen as the one unique man in all of history qualified to be entrusted with the title deed to the earth:

And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.“ (Revelation 5)

Another set of keys to a deeper understanding of what happened in the cross is how the Bible talks about substitutionary atonement.

But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as (all who are) in Adam all die, even so (all who are) in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:20-28)

Everyone was born a descendant of the first man Adam. Adam sin and all of Adam’s descendants have sinned leaving everyone who has ever lived guilty and lost (“original sin”). Everyone descended from the first Adam is invited to come “into the family of the Second (or “last”) Adam by trusting Jesus—and thus be completely be remade.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; (kainos ktisis) old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation (hilastērion) by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)

Note: The Mercy Seat: "the lid or cover of the ark of the covenant," signifies the Propitiatory, so called on account of the expiation made once a year on the great Day of Atonement, Hebrews 9:5. For the formation see Exodus 25:17-21. The Hebrew word is kapporeth, "the cover," a meaning connected with the covering or removal of sin (Psalm 32:1) by means of expiatory sacrifice. This mercy seat, together with the ark, is spoken of as the footstool of God, 1Chronicles 28:2; cp. Psalm 99:5; 132:7. The Lord promised to be present upon it and to commune with Moses "from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim," Exodus 25:22 (see CHERUBIM). In the Septuagint. the word epithema, which itself means "a cover," is added to hilasterion; epithema was simply a translation of kapporeth; accordingly, hilasterion, not having this meaning, and being essentially connected with propitiation, was added. Eventually hilasterion stood for both. In 1Chronicles 28:11 the Holy of Holies is called "the House of the Kapporeth."

Through His voluntary expiatory sacrifice in the shedding of His blood, under Divine judgment upon sin, and through His resurrection, Christ has become the Mercy Seat for His people. Expiation, a related word, is about paying back a debt that was owed so it is paid in full, and therefore a just transaction. Propitiation suggests paying back a debt owed but paying more than what was owe

Jesus is our sinbearer--He has carried all the sin, evil, death, sorrow and grief outside of our present space-time domain. This work Jesus accomplished once and for all on the cross. God sees the Cross as a done deal--thus we can speak of "The Finished Work of Christ." Nothing more needs to be added. The Cross can therefore be considered the Center of the created universe. We can neither add to nor extract from the finished work of Jesus on the Cross.

“...As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

”Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 

”For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

“...And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross.” (Colossians 1:9 - 2:15)

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.“ (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

If you are "in Christ" and "Christ is in you" there is no evading your calling (and mine) to die to self daily. While Christ alone is our sin bearer we are called into the "fellowship of Christ's sufferings."

When we are drawn by the Spirit into deeper union with our Lord, our subjective experience of time often slows down--as it did for Jesus on the cross. As noted, His six hours (according to earth time) were really an eternity according to the clocks of eternity.

Not that I have already  attained, or am already  perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I  do,  forgetting those things which are behind and  reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of  the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore let us, as many as are  mature,  have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise,  God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the  degree that we have already attained,  let us walk  by the same rule, let us be of the same mind." (Philippians 3:12-16)

Newsletter #44 May 2022
Newsletter #45 October 2022

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