WHY GOD DIED FOR
YOU ON THE CROSS
God loves you so much that He took the punishment for
your sins on
the cross. He does not want your sins keeping you separated from Him
for all eternity, which they will, if you don't accept this
FREE GIFT OF PARDON God has given
humanity.
That's some
pretty exciting news, isn't it?!
But perhaps this sounds like the
most ridiculous thing you have ever heard.
But is it really? Maybe
you have or haven’t heard it said that “God is love.”
If God truly is the essence of love, then what does
His dying on the cross to take someone’s punishment have anything to do with
His love, you might wonder?
(Besides … who can prove
that God died anyway, right?
'What a ridiculous statement!' … you might be thinking to yourself).
Understandably.
But let’s flip-flop our reasoning.
Can we prove that God did not die on the cross to take our
punishment? Not really.
The best (worst?) we can do is believe He didn’t.
Consider this
for a moment. Either the following scriptural declaration in 1 Timothy
3:16 (NKJV) is FACT, or it is NOT:
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:God was manifest in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.
Imagine for a moment that you
are God. Imagine that you
created all things. You decided to
create universes, and planets and stars in that universe. On one planet in particular, you decided to create
creatures in your likeness. Your
primary reason for doing so was to reveal your wisdom motivated by love.
These unique creatures would be
unlike any other you had ever created. They
would be created in your likeness in that they would be a three-part being: they
would be given a body, a soul, and a spirit. You would give
them dominion over the other creatures you had created on planet Earth.
In your love, you gave
these created beings called Man and Woman the freewill to choose.
You did not want to force them to serve and obey you like robots.
To make them serve and obey you would not be love at all.
In your infinite wisdom …
these special created beings would be given an extreme high place of
rulership throughout eternity … if they chose to follow the course you
laid out for them. This course
would not be an easy course. This
would be a most difficult course for most to follow.
After all … for these special created beings to deserve the honor of
being placed at an extreme high place of rulership … they would
have to prove their appreciation and their obedience. To
simply give them this privilege and right without them having to pay a great
price for it would not really be wise.
Yet here was a dilemma you
were faced with. In times
earlier, in your love, you had given your angels, which are spirit
beings, the ability to chose as well, and one of the most powerful ones began to
think more highly of himself than what he should.
A third of the angels less powerful than him also desired to see him
placed above you in glory, and so a full-blown rebellion was brewing.
In your wisdom and power you
removed these rebels from your midst. You
confined them to a specific place until final Judgment would be given them for
their wicked disobedience. They
would be confined to planet Earth and surrounding it, until the completion of
future judgment.
YOUR MASTER PLAN UNFOLDS
In your immeasurable wisdom
… your master plan unfolded. You
would allow this angel, who was now called Satan, to tempt Man and Woman to
disobey you. If they weren’t
given the choice to choose to obey you or disobey you – given the choice to
obey what you say instead of what your enemies say – how could they prove
themselves to you that they could be trusted with it?
So you create a special place
on planet Earth called Eden. You
placed Man and Woman there, giving the Man a name called Adam.
Adam named his wife Eve. You
tell Adam and Eve they can eat of every fruit in Eden, except one.
In so doing, you have just given to them your highest expression of
love: Choice.
In due course Satan shows up
in Eden. He entices Eve to taste
the fruit you told her she shouldn’t eat.
Once she has eaten of the forbidden fruit, with Satan’s help, she
entices Adam to eat of it as well. You
had warned Adam and Eve to not eat the fruit, because if they did, they would
die. Satan used his lying powers of
persuasiveness to convince Adam and Eve that they would not die, but
would become like himself. Himself!?
Sure – he just didn’t say it quite that way.
He said that they would become like “God … to know the difference
between good and evil”.
What Adam and Eve didn’t
realize is that they should have first asked you, their Creator, for a second
opinion on the matter before just listening to someone else say everything
was going to be okay.
After they ate of the
forbidden fruit, sure enough, they began to die, just like you promised them
they would. (You just didn’t give them the details of how it would
happen). First their spirit began
to lose the intimate spiritual life you created it to have with you.
Their hunger to fellowship in your presence would diminish from then on.
Their love for the light of your essence would begin a slow death,
and their love for darkness away from the light of your presence would
intensify.
Secondly in their dying,
their soul (mind, will and emotions) now began to experience fear.
They were incapable of experiencing fear of any kind before disobeying
you. In their fear, they now were
compelled to hide from you, rather than desiring to have intimate fellowship
with you as before. Along with fear
came all kinds of other frightful, devastating feelings and emotions they never
would have had to battle had they not disobeyed you.
Thirdly, in many years to
follow, their physical bodies died.
Had they never disobeyed you, their physical bodies would have lived on forever.
Something else happened when
Satan gained legal influence over Adam and Eve. When they had their first child,
their spiritual DNA was passed to that child.
Their now spiritually defective DNA was partly of your nature, but now
tragically partly of Satan’s nature as well.
Satan’s deceiving nature was to try to turn spiritual light into spiritual
darkness by trying to convince everyone that his darkness is the true light.
Because Satan’s fall transformed him into the father of all lies, he is
now totally incapable of telling the pure truth.
His essence for being is to attempt to convince all that the lies he
speaks must become reality … his spiritual darkness has become that
black.
Along with their now partly
defective spiritual DNA was their physical DNA that also passed to their
offspring. Diseases,
abnormalities of all sorts, could and would be passed to their offspring to
every person born thereafter, right to this very day.
In essence, everything good
you created Adam and Eve for was now turned into a defective creation:
Spiritually - emotionally – physically. The
light you had created in Adam and Eve would now begin to grow dimmer day by day
in all three dimensions of their being. Yet
in your wisdom, you had a plan from the beginning of all creation.
In your love for the fallen human race, you were not about to let them
remain under the control of Satan’s darkened influence indefinitely.
You would give mankind a second chance to become all that you
originally created for them to become.
UNDERSTANDING TO THE HUMBLE
It is very difficult for a
mere human to fully comprehend your need for the Master Plan of Redemption and
Reconciliation to be given to the human race, but for those who seek to fully
understand it, you give them the ability to understand and appreciate it enough
to respond properly to it.
Here’s the preciousness of
the Master Plan of reconciliation for the human race. Because
you are God, you have all power. You
always were God – you always will be. You
know all things, from the beginning to the end.
In you, there really is no end. You
are everywhere at all times. Love
originated from you, because that is what you are.
Wisdom originated from you, because that is what you are. Mercy
originated from you, because that is what you are.
Peace originated from you, because that is what you are. Joy originated from you, because that is what you are.
Righteousness originated from you, because that is what you are.
Holiness originated from you, because that is what you are.
Perfect justice originates from you, because that is what you are.
In fact … you are so holy and so righteous and so just that you cannot and will
not stand sin (rebellion -- criminal acts ... against you) in your full presence, which
is why you must implement your Master Plan.
In your vast wisdom, you realized that Man and Woman could not be trusted
with free will to obey you. Adam
and Eve had already proven it. The only
way Adam and Eve would never have chosen to sin against you would to have
never given them the ability to choose between good and evil in the first
place. To have done that would have
made them subservient robots – slaves.
No … it was only right to
give them and their offspring the ability to choose.
But because they chose to
disobey you, which their offspring would also do by the very rebellious nature
they inherited from their parents, your righteousness and holiness and perfect
justice would never allow them to remain in your presence for eternity.
After all … you are The
all-just Judge as well. Wrongdoing against you and others must be judged and
punishment must be executed against the guilty.
Sadly … it appeared as
though you had backed yourself into a corner.
Because you cannot tolerate sin (criminal acts against you and others) in
your presence … Adam and Eve would never be able to be in your full presence
any longer. Tragically, neither would their offspring.
The entire human race would be doomed to be separated from your full
presence for all eternity, because now sin (criminal acts against God) stood between you and
them, just like between you and Satan and the other fallen angels.
Yet in your mercy, you would
give human beings a chance to have your holiness and your
righteousness, which would be like garments that covered their sin. There was absolutely no way they could become holy enough or
righteous enough in their own abilities that you would find acceptable, so you
would lovingly give them yours. In
fact, though it would cost you your very life, with pain unspeakable, you would
give them this holiness and righteousness
free (Click on the following link for expanded understanding:
http://www.precious-testimonies.com/Exhortations/a-e/breast.htm ). All they had to do was believe for it – trust
you for it -because you would pay the price for them to receive it
totally free
of charge, without somehow having to try to earn it by being “good enough.”
THE
GREATEST EXPRESSION OF YOUR LOVE IS: CHOICE
In fact, it would be so
simple to receive that it would seem unbelievably impossible to obtain.
Yet it would be obtainable . . .
to all of humble spirit and soul. Yet
they would have to believe for it. But to have the ability to trust for
it … they would have to obey you and ask you to forgive them of their
sins. (That would be the most
difficult for most – admitting that they were “sinners” to themselves and
others). They would also have to forgive others.
If they refused to forgive others, no matter how much they were wronged
or how great the offense was or the pain experienced by the wrongdoing, then you
would not forgive them of their wrongdoing against you. The wise would appreciate your wisdom in so doing: The
proud and vengeful of heart would refuse
to see your wisdom in so doing. (See:
Matthew 6:14-15 for Bible clarification of the necessity of forgiving others who
have hurt us).
To implement the Father's Master
Redemptive Plan
on Earth to deal with the spiritually corrupt and rebellious, disobedient nature
of mankind (or now simply translated as sin), in your mercy, [because you
always submit your will to the Father], you chose a
small group of people called the Jews to be a people who would be given more
revelation and understanding about you than any other group of people until
after your Master Plan had been totally executed.
Through the Jews, you would
prove to mankind that they were incapable of following 10 holy commandments.
If they did, which you knew they really couldn’t,
(because of being born with the sinful nature passed down to them from Adam and
Eve), you promised them you would accept them back into your holy presence upon
their dying. But because you knew
they wouldn’t and couldn’t keep them … there
would be only one option left for you to allow them to be
reconciled back to you in totally good standing.
YOU
would take their punishment for their
rebellion - law breaking - failure to obey you. Yes!
This was the totality of the Master Plan. Because you are The holy and righteous God, and there
can be no other … YOU would pay the price for them to be
forgiven and made holy and
righteous -- to be in your presence forevermore once they finished the original
course set forth for them, which would be death of their physical body and then
judgment. You would execute righteous judgment upon yourself instead
of them! You would go to
prison in their place so to speak, so they could go free!
What love you have.
What compassion and mercy you have.
But the price you would have to pay to impart your love, compassion and
mercy to the human race would not come cheaply for you.
For those who would believe your Master Plan was the truthful way
for their sinful, rebellious nature to be dealt with, you would grant them
privilege throughout eternity that would stagger their imaginations.
But for those who rejected the costly price you would have to pay
for that privilege – for those who mocked and rejected and made light of this costly
sacrifice of taking your wrath upon yourself
(so they could be freed from receiving it) -- these would be
sentenced to eternal separation from you. These
would be sentenced to an eternity of suffering to different degrees along with
Satan and his rebellious followers, because of the insult it was to you for them
to be so unappreciative of the costly price you would pay to have their
rebellious natures dealt with. No
hell could be so deserving for those who willfully scoffed and rejected the
incredibly costly sacrifice you would give to the human race to deal with
their sinful natures … the
sacrifice of yourself.
So you allow the Master Plan
to continue to unfold. As you wrote
through the hands of Jewish people devoted to you, the Messiah would one
day come forth through the bloodline of one of the kings of Israel.
The Messiah would be the One who would put a face on you.
The Messiah would be none other than Yourself …
albeit it in a uniquely disguised form.
When the Jewish nation had
fallen into so much spiritual darkness that expectation of the long awaited Messiah
appearing in their midst seemed to
be the farthest thing from most of their minds … you showed up on the scene.
(Contrary to popular hu-ha propagated by sugarcoated greed, Santa Clause
did not deliver you from the North Pole in a sleigh pulled by reindeer to a
little manger in Bethlehem). The
Father expression of you willed The Holy Spirit expression of you to impregnate
the egg of a devoted lady named Mary. This was the only way it
could happen for you to be qualified to be the perfect, acceptable sacrifice to
take the punishment of others. You
would have to keep enough of your true essence, otherwise it would not be God
taking mans punishment, (not merely a human being trying to take
their punishment). Yet you would
have to be so much a mere human to know the torment and the inner pain of being
tempted to sin like mankind suffered daily since the fall of Adam and Eve.
Because you have declared of yourself that it is impossible for an all
holy God to sin, (which you truly can’t), then you would have to make yourself
human enough that you could sin, (and know the pain involved while trying
to keep from sinning), though you never actually would sin, because if somehow
you did, your Master Plan would be worthless.
That’s right -- if you gave into temptation and sinned only
once, you would no
longer be the perfect sacrifice for the human race.
HE CAME
TO DIE THAT YOU MIGHT LIVE WITH HIM FOR ETERNITY
What a challenge you set up
for yourself. But in your love,
nothing was going to stop you from executing your plan.
As history records, you lived as a human being for 33 years.
You took the time to record in your holy scriptures that although you
were tempted to sin like every other human being ever has or will be tempted to
sin, you did not once give into those temptations.
Yes, there had been times when it seemed like maybe you were going to,
but because of the pain that it brought to you in knowing that if you did, the
human race would be under the full control of Satan and ultimately would be
doomed to continued eternal darkness and suffering.
You could not – you dare not – give into those temptations. Complete execution of your Master Plan hinged on one thing
and one thing only: You must not sin. Though you were capable of
doing so because you had the corrupt DNA of Mary your mother imparted to you at
birth, you also had incorrupt DNA not from a human being, but from yourself,
which cannot sin because you are perfect obedience to what is right.
In your wildest comprehension
… you had no idea how much pain you would suffer inside yourself as you hung
their purposely on the cross, being willing to take the wrath every human will
experience one day if they reject the Master Plan of reconciliation to God.
Everything inside you was screaming to be freed to leave this place of
torment you had willingly put yourself in.
You didn’t have to be in this torment.
You didn’t have to take your wrath that rightly deserved to be executed
against the disobedient instead of yourself.
You didn’t need to be taking this ridicule of those standing around you –
most of them refusing to believe you were even the promised Messiah -- the One
who would save people from their criminal acts of sin against God (you) and
mankind.
More painful
still, you had the ability to see into the spirit realm as a mere human being. You
could plainly see Satan there at that scene as well, with myriads and myriads of
his demon followers, (whom you had originally created for good) screaming into your mind that you had sinned
at least once, and that God the Father was not going to accept your
sacrifice after all. This doubt was
so real … so penetrating … that you began to literally sweat drops of blood
from your forehead. What if I
somehow HAD sinned once, and the Father refused to accept my sacrifice? What if
… as Satan is now trying to convince me of … that I am sinning by my act of
taking my own life, in affect - committing suicide?
What if I’m wrong in thinking that I’m obeying the Father’s will by
what I’m doing … deceived like Adam and Eve were … Satan having tricked
me?
Worse yet, I can feel the
separation already starting from my intimacy with the Father.
I’m beginning to fear the presence of hell that I will be sent to as
soon as my spirit departs. The
intimacy I’ve always experienced with The Father has now departed from me.
Perhaps Satan is right? Perhaps
it’s an unknown sin I’ve committed that has caused The Father to reject me.
Why do I feel like I am so forsaken by the Father?
Because the Father is
dumping His entire wrath on me for the sins of humanity, the emotional torment
of it is more than I can almost bear.
Because now I AM sin, though I don’t believe I have sinned, I
must have my righteous and holy judgment executed against me because of
that sin. I must also be sent to
hell to experience the torment that others are experiencing there because I
cannot make myself better than Man or Woman.
IS GOD DEAD?
Finally it is finished.
My spirit is released from the torment inside my physical body.
The next thing I realize, I’m in the hell I created.
But something is different about me.
I no longer feel the pain and torment I was suffering moments
earlier on the cross. I have been freed
from it. My man side has now been
shed, and my God side is what remains. According to my Master Plan, I now will minister to departed souls in the
spirit realm.
Many believe
what I tell them, like my disciples did on Earth, but many also scoff and disbelieve.
Those who believe … I am about to free so they can enjoy the fullness of
heaven with Me and My Father and the holy
angels.
Yet before I do, I
must do something to complete the Master Plan.
HAND HIM THE KEY
I walk into Satan’s throne
room
smiling. He is not.
No words are necessary to speak. He
simply hands me the keys of his kingdom. He knows I defeated him in every arena. Literally - I have
won the keys of death and hell.
I have now provided Adam and Eve
and every offspring of theirs' whose names were written in the Book
of Life from the foundation of the world a way to be completely right with the Creator again, because of the
sacrifice I gave. My sacrifice was
so costly, so precious, that no amount of money could buy it.
No amount of their “doing good” would qualify them to be given it.
There would be only one way they could receive it, it was so
costly to me. They would have to believe
for it -- trust for
it.
I did one final act to
complete the Master Plan. It was
imperative that I destroy my final enemy: physical death. (Spiritual death
was destroyed when the sins of the world were
placed on me while I hung on the cross).
Thus I resurrected my dead physical body three Earth days after my dying.
I showed myself to many of my followers my new glorified body: A body
like they would one day receive. I
told them I could not stay with them long, because I needed to go back to my
rightful place with the Father, otherwise the fullness of the Holy Spirit could
not be poured out on them in His fullness to enable them to complete the work I
assigned for them to do … and for the work assigned for the rest of my
followers to do.
You see … I have come to
painfully learn something about the humans I give life to.
In their lost, sinful state that got passed to them all the way back from the
rebellious fall of Adam and Eve, it is easier for most of them to believe a lie
than believe my truth. Though I
have every legal right to execute my final judgment now against Satan and his
demons and the departed souls separated from me for eternity, I’m going to
delay my most severe judgment. I’m
going to let Satan have a little more time to tempt and deceive mankind.
I’m going to see who really wants to pay the price to believe
the truth and show by their actions (obedience) that there is some meaningful
substance to what they say they believe.
To those who really want
to be right with me, I will reveal the truth they need to gain confidence that
they will be with me for eternity upon their physical death.
For those who don’t want to pay the price to believe the truth I
give, or continue to keep on believing the truth I give, though the
struggle to hold onto it may be very painful and difficult at times -- I’ll
allow Satan to give them what they rightly desire anyway, and that is to believe
that lies are truth.
Do I sound cruel?
Not if you knew what I have in store throughout eternity for those who
will pay just a small price during their lifetime on Earth to hold onto
truth and obey me. Some I will
allow to suffer hardship because it will cause them to turn to me.
All will be tested, some even to the point of death if I so allow Satan to
take it that far, simply because they live in Satan’s domain on Earth like I
had to when I lived on Earth for those 33 years. You cannot be devoted to me on
Earth and escape suffering from Satan completely. Some will suffer much more pain than others, simply because in my wisdom,
it will produce in them the capacity to experience greater joy and appreciation
throughout eternity that they would not be capable of experiencing any other
way. It will also qualify them for
some things I am keeping secret yet …
to be revealed in its proper time.
THE GREAT EXCHANGE
It
can hardly be made any more clear than quoting the words of a very
well-respected Bible teacher: "When one is redeemed in Christ's precious
shed blood, which at Calvary was shed as a payment for the sins of every
believer, this burden is taken from the believer and placed on Him.
Christ who knew no sin was made sin for us that, in turn, we might have imputed
to us His righteousness. The first declaration of God, regarding Christ
becoming our propitiation, was not our salvation but rather the declaration of
Christ's righteousness (Romans 3:25-26). Because of Christ's perfect
righteousness, He was able to render to God his Father and our heavenly Father what we could never repay, the
payment for the penalty of our sin. Therefore, in Paul's writing of this
divine declaration, God can declare "just" those who are not so.
We have then, as believers, imputed to us
Christ's righteousness while our sin
is imputed to HIM. The sobering reality that we should see is that Christ
is devoid of all sin and could not possibly have sin in Him, so we are devoid of
all righteousness and can have none in
ourselves. This divine condescension is the miracle of God's salvation for
us."
This mind-boggling,
mind-blowing miracle is referred to as the
"power of God" spoken of in 1 Corinthians 1:18.
What no other created being can do - God the Father accomplished through Jesus
Christ through His death, burial and resurrection. He made
sinners as holy as He is!
(You
may get a better understanding of the imputed righteousness that saves sinners by reading:
The Breastplate of
Righteousness. )
There you have it.
I took the eternal punishment for your sins so you could be freed from
the punishment
of God the Father's eternal wrath against sinners as recorded
in holy scripture. It's was the Father's will that I did (do) so. He
wanted the barrier of sin removed between you and Him ... so you and Him and
I and the Holy Spirit can become your closest friend. We desire nothing greater than for
you to become one of Our closest friends.
And I did something else.
I made you as holy and righteous as I am; as the Father is; as the Holy Spirit
is. (My heart's desire is that you live up to it.)
Thank you
for taking the time to hear the in-depth reason "Why The Cross."
We trust you now have a much better understanding of what the Cross of Calvary
truly represents. It removes the barrier of sin between you and God, so we
can have intimate relationship starting now, if you
want it ... but that's up
to you. It is a decision you must make. All it requires is a
simple little prayer, but you must mean it. We'll help you out by giving
you a simple prayer to follow:
"Dear
heavenly Father, I come to you right now, and I acknowledge that I am a sinner.
I ask that You forgive me of all my sins, so that I can be made in good standing
with You. I do not want to go to hell when I die because of my sins.
I want to go to heaven when I die because I believe You made a way to have all
my sins forgiven. I believe this WAY was given to me and everyone else by
the substitutionary death, burial and resurrection of your Son, Jesus Christ.
I ask and pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."
For the
message of the
cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who
are being saved
("saved" from eternal punishment for their sins, to help people understand) it is the power of God
-
1 Corinthians 1:18
An excellent video we highly
recommend hearing on this same topic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2A5ljUnAzk
(Note:
Permission to link to this document and/or duplicate it in its entirety is fully
granted by the Precious Testimonies staff without contacting them.)
Hakuna maoni:
Chapisha Maoni