On a dark, cruel day, Christ was nailed mercilessly to a cross at Golgotha, a deathly place outside Jerusalem, known as the place of skulls.
Christ died a criminal’s death though He never committed a crime. At the moment of His death, the thick temple curtain in Jerusalem tore from top to bottom. Christians believe it is a sign of the entry to the Holy of Holies seated in Heaven, God Almighty in Heaven.
it was a miracle how the very thick curtain tore from top to bottom, not bottom to top signifying no humans hands tore it. Christians believe in God’s symbolism to humans, He made the way for our entry to the Holy of Holies, unheard of in those times. During the time of Jesus’s death, there was a mighty earthquake and the sky turned black and stormy. Darkness filled the Earth. The men who nailed Him to the Cross thought they were executing a menace of a man who was causing a rambunctious riot in their towns gloating over His death.
They did not realize that the Cross was planned by God Almighty from the beginning of the world. Christ faced the biggest agony was being separated from God on the cross and also had the vices of the world crushing Him because He came to die for the wickedness of humans, as a sacrifice, taking it upon Himself.
Not only did the vices of humans torture him, but demons tormented Him at His death. It was a four-fold agony He suffered, not just physical torture and pain but much more, unlike any other human on Earth! The Evils of the world crushing Him. Demons tormenting Him. Separation from God. Physical pain and agony.
The power of the Cross is a mystery to billions. Yet interestingly, the Cross of Jesus Christ is the centrifugal force of human history. BC and AD equal BC is before Jesus was born. AD comes from Latin Anno Domini meaning “In the year of Our Lord” after Christ.
The Cross points to the moment when the first man and woman sinned, see Genesis 3, and since that moment, God pre-planned rescue through Jesus Christ, His begotten Son (which does not mean God had a wife!), who would come down from Heaven and die on the Cross. Throughout the pages of the Bible, everything that happened was aimed and directed to bring Jesus on Earth in the Fullness of Time.
Scribes and prophets eagerly awaited His arrival, they knew a great Messiah would appear on Earth to save them. Yet no one anticipated that the salvation and rescue would be accomplished on mission Cross.
The Meaning of Good Friday and Christ’s Death on the Cross to Christians
The Cross was the Secret Plan of God
The Cross with Jesus dying on it seemed a foolish weak way to accomplish victory for humankind. The Cross and what Jesus accomplished on it is a spiritual law and truth that only a spiritual soul can comprehend when they are born again.
Christians believe through Christ’s death on the Cross, the Creator God was dealing with every person’s sin, suffering death, and sorrow. Jesus was dying in the place of every individual in the world. Receiving personally what He has done on the Cross brings the answer to all people’s needs.
The Cross reveals God’s Power:
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God” 1 Corinthians 1:18 See also Romans 1:16.
God’s supernatural Love is manifest on the Cross: “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8
Jesus took the punishment for our sins on the Cross and gave us an exchanged Life: “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds, we are healed …We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” Isaiah 53:5,6. He removed our pain and sorrows on the Cross.
“Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted Isaiah 53:4 ” God wants us delivered from sin and healed from our sicknesses all in the same breath. This is His Divine Will for us.
A Beautiful New Relationship with God:
Because God is so holy and righteous, sin separates us from Him. No one with corruption in their hearts is able to dwell in His Holy presence. When Jesus died on the Cross, He made it possible for people to know God personally in a marvelous relationship and to experience the love, peace, and joy that fellowship with Him brings.
Made pure through the Cross:
“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” 2 Corinthians 5:21. One receives forgiveness through the Cross “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”
Become United through the Cross.
People cannot be racial or talk about caste or color or race. People cannot talk about feminism or chauvinism. We cannot speak of male superiority or feminine superiority. This rhetoric of rights is baseless due to the sacrifice of Christ. People are equal and free from curses and bondage. Denominations in Christianity are man-made, which have caused untold bickering. God’s Kingdom culture is divine for all humans uniting people on a foot of equality.
Delivered from the Grip of Demons:
Christ on the cross disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the Cross” All powers of demons were defeated on the cross. Colossians 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’” Deuteronomy 28:15-68. Galatians 3:13.
Delivered from the Judgment:
Christians believe He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Just as a human is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” One is not under the law but under grace in Christ, and not judged as we would have been had it not been for the Cross, where Jesus took our sins to free us from the face of judgment and condemnation.
People are delivered from everlasting death “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” John Christ took our place, we have an exchanged life, are forgiven and delivered and set free. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Christians believe the cross is the place of Love where people get forgiven, justified, and gloriously acquitted as if they did anything wrong! This does not give a person a license to do more wrong but draws them closer to the light to live right through the plan of redemption and deliverance for humankind!
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