Stephanie J. Wright
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WHY DID JESUS DIE ON A CROSS? and WHY IS THE CROSS SO POWERFUL?

WHY DID JESUS DIE ON A CROSS?
The CROSS is referred to as a TREE,Galatians 3:13. That TREE (CROSS) was the tool Jesus used to defeat the power of sin. Jesus did thedefeating of sin but, the CROSS was the tool he used
to defeat it. So, what tool was used by man to give sin its power? Read Genesis 2 and 3. The TREE in the Garden of Eden was the tool Adam and Eve used to give sin its power over man because they sinnedwhen they disobeyed God and ate from the TREE of the knowledge of good and evil. That Garden TREE was the tool used to give sin its beginning, so it isfitting that the Calvary TREE – the CROSS, was the tool used to defeat sin and give back to man the power
he relinquished in the Garden of Eden.

WHY IS THE CROSS SO POWERFUL?
The CROSS is the only thing we need now for forgiveness from past, present, and future sin, failings, shortcomings, whatever! God forgives us because Jesus defeated all sin on the TREE-
the CROSS! This is why the CROSS is so powerful. Before the CROSS, man’s redemption for sins againstGod was in some Bible accounts connected to the type of sin committed. For example, in Luke, Chapter 1, Zacharias prayed with his mouth and asked God for a child even though he and Elizabeth were viewed as being too old to have children. But, when the angel Gabriel told Zacharias he and Elizabeth would be having a child, Zacharias used that same mouth to speak doubt against God who promised him the child. So, what did God allow to happen? God struck Zacharias mute. Why didn’t God blind Zacharias? Because the tool Zacharias used to ask
for the blessing (his mouth and ability to speak) was the same tool Zacharias used to doubt God, so God took away his ability to use that tool until after the child John was born.

We see the juxtaposition of:
1. Blessing God (speaking blessing);
2. Sinning against God by doubting him (speaking doubt);
3. Punishment for the doubt (not being able to speak; and
4. Redemption for the sin (speak again).

Another example is Numbers 21:4-9, The children of Israel once again sinned by speaking against God and Moses and God allowed fiery serpents to attack them. In order to save them from these serpents, God told Moses to make a brass serpent and place it on a pole and whoever looked on the brass serpent was healed. (Again, we have a juxtaposition of (1) sinning;
(2) punishment; and (3) redemption.)

As an aside to this presentation, the brass serpent had to of course be elevated or lifted up before the people could be healed. This is what is implied by it being on a pole. This lifting up of the serpent on a pole was referenced by Jesus as being representative of Him. John 3:14-15. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (Note: the word “pole” is only used twice in the KJV of the Bible and it does not indicate what the pole is made of, it is used to indicate the act of lifting up.)

So, this is why the CROSS is so powerful. It covers all of our sins, our failures, our shortcomings. We no longer need one-on-one redemption (Zacharias needed redemption for his failure to believe God would give him a child; the children of Israel needed redemption for their failure to trust God in the desert, so a brass serpent was made for them to look upon so they could be healed from the attack of the real serpent; the Jewish people had hundreds of laws they did not have the power to obey-they had one-on-one redemption through the priest who went into the tabernacle each year).

This is what makes the CROSS so powerful. Every sin, every failure, every shortcoming, absolutely everything can be brought to the CROSS, and God through Jesus,
FORGIVES IT.
(P.S. Spoiler Alert: The Tomb Will Be Empty on Resurrection Morning!)

Have a Blessed Resurrection Sunday!