WORDS

The symbol of the cross versus the symbol of the victory

Understand the symbol of the cross and the sacrifice made for us

17/08/2017

By: Apostle Valdemiro Santiago

In Luke 23, Jesus was carrying the cross in the direction to Calvary. In the past, some used to say that the cross was the symbol of victory, but the cross was used to kill and what is used to kill may not be a symbol of victory. Unfortunately, most church leaders disagree with me, but I keep the Words of God, and I can`t say an instrument used to kill may be a symbol of victory. The symbol of the victory that knows is not physical, it`s in I John 5 it`s faith, and when you have faith, it`s impossible not to have victory. What represents the victory for you is the faith in Jesus Christ. In Deuteronomy 21: 23, three thousand years before Christ, Moses said that God should curse the one who was hung on a stick. Figure out a father making his son cursed to rescue someone. God Father gave His Son cursed to save all of us. While Jesus went towards the Calvary, the women who got along with Jesus complained. They were hopeful to see Jesus change the world, but they saw Jesus tied carrying the cross on His shoulder, hurt, falling, being beaten and full of pain with the weight of the cross, all of that overcome by the lashes.

Jesus looked at them with the cross on His back and asked them not to cry for Him. They felt pain watching the humanity`s hope vanishing without the revelation of its necessity. With the cross on His back, Jesus prophesized that barren women would be happy. That`s a paradox because every woman is born and is educated, prepared to be a mother.

Jesus said that mothers would suffer a lot for their sons. Nowadays, it`s almost impossible to find mothers and fathers who never suffered because of worries about their children. Raising them in this spoiled world is already concerning. Jesus said that because what He was going through aimed at removing the suffering of men, His suffering was due to the unbelief of human beings Instead of feeling the pains from lashes or the weight of the cross, Jesus felt the pains caused by the unbelief of humanity, the rejection of Christ. Our incredulity and rejection make Him more painful than carrying the cross. Even after His sacrifice, the world continues the way it is, people being killed a lot. We took Jesus to the Calvary. He didn`t need to die at all. It was our fault, because of us. He never committed any crime or sin; our sins took Him to the Calvary. When we recognize the greatness, majesty, and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we stop being guilty of Jesus`s death. When we sin, we become guilty again. When we regret, we cease to be guilty. The one who pursues the ministry, who treat the ministry wrong, who plans against it is guilty for the death of Jesus so pays its price. No one but your regret may be absent from paying it, no one escapes, just those who regret and come back to Christ because they become innocent again. If the world treated Jesus that way, figure out how they treat us. That`s why we have to be mature spiritually, we have to have the wisdom of God and understand that being a Christian is not a wonderful world, but makes us grow because His presence disturbs wherever you go, and He will bless all places where you pass by. You need this consciousness, or you won`t resist when the church undergoes sufferings like the moment when Jesus was arrested. When Jesus was with the disciples, He said He would die and resurrect on the third day. Jesus was with them fulfilling His promise, but they didn`t know about it. The deception was clear on those men`s faces. Even when we know God, we become frustrated at some promises due to our hope. The evidence that He never lies is that even being dead, He was among us to fulfill His promise. Everything that God promised us, even if we can`t see it, and it doesn`t come under the deadline that you and I were waiting for, it will come under the deadline of God because no one is able to prevent God from fulfilling His promises. It may not be satisfactory to you, but what you are waiting for will come under God`s deadline. On the Way of the Cross, that terrible path, Jesus suggested us to cry for ourselves. All the evil condition produced by the world cause evil to itself. God looks after the church, but who looks after those who plan against the work of God? Jesus walked carrying the cross, which was His instrument of death, and two more malefactors were together with Him. He practiced good things and was sentenced to be dead. Jesus told a political authority that there was no power over Him but from Heaven. Those who want my death may kill me, but the church of Jesus will never be dead. Jesus was clear about coming suddenly, with no warning as a thief. Jesus who came first was bleeding on the cross, with His mouth full of vinegar, bile instead of water. When He comes now, He won`t have pity. Today, He is compassionate, but not later. The cross was His death sentence, and it belonged to us. That`s why I don`t carry a cross because Jesus took it for me. Carrying the cross means taking unsolvable problems, being sentenced. We were sentenced to an anguishing death of constant suffering. Everyone watched Jesus suffering. The authorities mocked Him, as we still have authorities that do the same today. However, man`s power is temporary. Jesus was mocked even by one of those men who would die together with Him on the cross. The other thief saw a humiliated man, bleeding, and sentenced and recognized He was God. That`s faith. Many of us believe in Him after seeing His works, but that man saw a defeated man and recognized God in Him. Church, Gospel is bigger than anything you can imagine. It shows us that even in death we have a solution in Christ. The true Gospel just exists to deliver us from death, from the eternal death. There was no way out for that thief, who was judged and sentenced to physical death and after that, the spiritual death in hell. But, when he recognized Jesus, that man found the exit. Hell was made for the devil. Everyone belongs to God, but we can choose if we want to go to Heaven or hell. If you believe God has a Kingdom, there is Heaven and Hell, and it`s there where you will dwell. The strength of a prayer is not related to the time you have been Christian, much less to the words. Praying means talking to God, and that thief made a strong prayer recognizing that Jesus was the Son of God. That`s what takes you to Heaven, recognizing Jesus as God.