6.2 The Cross
© 2018 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
The Cross of Jesus Christ is your Doorway, right now, into all the LIFE of God, into living inside of all that Christ is and means. The Cross is for STEPPING THROUGH.
The Cross of Jesus Christ is the mighty barrier between you and all that is sin and death barred out by an impassable and unassailable fortress and kept far away from you. The Cross, entirely behind you now, is for your PROTECTION.
My goal in this lesson is to increase the size of the cross in your perception. That increase will continue until your body is swallowed up by life. The cross is larger than the universe, larger than all created things in heaven and earth together, but in a specific way.
Fulfilling the Law. What really happened upon the cross? In order to answer that question, we must look through outward appearance, that is, a Man hanging bloody, naked, and unashamed upon a cross of Roman execution; we must look into the substance that is God.
God gave the law through Moses for one primary purpose, and that was to magnify in our sight the cross of Christ. Here is what Jesus said about that law. Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-18).
Shall Die. Here is the strongest expression of the law, an absolute found in every jot and tittle of it. Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them (Galatians 3:10 & Deuteronomy 27:26). James said it this way. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10).
And here is the strongest testimony of the prophets. The soul who sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:20). And then – At that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth (Jeremiah 25:33).
You, dear reader, have broken the law; the law must be fulfilled.
You Are Guilty. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God (Romans 3:19). You are guilty, dear reader, and there is no recourse. Never speak about your old self ever again. Never defend your old self before God. Never try to fix yourself. The law and the prophets must be fulfilled. You are guilty of all wickedness, and you must die.
It is my purpose to fix in your heart that terrible day of slaughter prophesied by Jeremiah in which God put to death all humans who have ever lived. God puts everyone to death; God slaughters all.
All Died. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died (2 Corinthians 5:14).
The Cross of Jesus Christ is the execution of all, of the entire creation, all things in the heavens and all things in the earth. All died. All, all, all. All broke the law. All are executed.
The Cross is the fulfillment of the law.
But you have a problem, dear reader, and that is that God NEVER forces Himself on anyone. The knowledge of God, Christ Jesus, comes only through your faith, through your express permission. Will you accept your execution upon the cross? It is a personal decision, something only you can do for yourself.
Coming to Terms with the Cross. You see, the space in front of the cross is filled with millions and millions of people, all who refuse to accept their execution, convinced that they can still live by fixing themselves. Those who accept the Cross discover that the Cross is a wide-open Doorway leading into –? What is beyond that Door must wait until the next lesson.
Here you must come to terms with the Cross (from Romans 3). There is none righteous, no, not one. – You, dear reader, are NOT and never will be, not if you “try” for 10 million years. There is none who seeks after God. – No, dear reader, you do NOT seek God’s will; you never have, and you never will. Stop lying. Close your mouth.
Crucified with Christ. I AM crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20). – For you died (Colossians 3:3). – Our old man was crucified together with Him. – Also consider, reckon, speak yourselves to be truly dead (Romans 6:6 & 11). – Having already been symmorphosed [sharing the same form] with His death (Philippians 3:10).
Nothing in all the Bible is more FINISHED than your death.
Nonetheless, the question is not “what is true,” but, “Do you KNOW what is true?” And that knowing comes only through faith, through believing that God is telling you the truth against the sight of your eyes and against all human judgment.
A Broken Record. You have an enemy, and that enemy is like a broken record, saying the same stupid thing over and over, yet always heard and believed. God says that YOU ARE crucified with Christ. And the serpent whispers in your ear, “You can be crucified with Christ, if you try really, really hard (loser).”
Do not regard him. All those millions piled up in front of the cross, trying so hard to “put themselves to death,” are listening to the evil one and not to Jesus. They will not step through the Cross to enter into Christ. Yet God loves them, just as He loves you, and He has already placed them into Christ, just as He has done with you. For that reason, God gives us all Romans 7:7-25.
Come unto Me. In the first part of chapter 7, Paul establishes that the cross, by allowing us to enter into marriage union with Jesus, has made us free from the law of sin and death. In the first part of chapter 8, Paul establishes that the life of Christ in us has made us free from the law of sin and death. But in Romans 7:7-25 Paul presents a “what-if” scenario. What if it’s up to you to rid yourself of sin in the flesh? As you would expect, such a path goes straight downhill into the agony of “Who will deliver me from this dead body of sin in the flesh that still clings to me?”
Here is Jesus’ answer. Come unto Me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).
Christ Dies No More. The Cross is your entrance into that rest of which Jesus speaks, but only as you step through the cross into full union with Christ. To remain before the Cross in the unnecessary agony of a hopeless “struggle against sin” is refusing to come to Jesus.
Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus is on the other side of the Cross. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more (Romans 6:9). Never place Jesus back upon the cross in any present tense; Jesus has nothing more to do with death. And neither do you.
Consider, reckon, speak yourselves to be truly… living and alive towards {connected to, fused together with} God inside of Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11).
Step Through the Cross. Now, consider this assertion of Paul. Many desire to put on a good show in the flesh… For me, however, never may it be that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom the cosmos has been already crucified to me and I to the cosmos (Galatians 6:12 & 14).
Every negative verse in the Bible, every speaking against sin in the flesh, is God exalting and magnifying the cross of Christ. God’s intention is not that you should quiver before the cross, hoping to prove God wrong, hoping to “put on a good show in the flesh,” but that you should embrace the absoluteness and the finality of your already completed death. If One died for all, then all died.
For only as you step THROUGH the cross, entirely by faith, do you enter into the life God has given you, that is, knowing Jesus as He is.