The necessity of the cross? What is salvation?

[Jonathan McLatchie]

Hey folks;

Here is a subject for discussion.
(1) Why was the cross of Calvary necessary for mankind to be redeemed? What happened on that day? How can God - being Holy - acquit the guilty man?

(2) What does it mean to be saved? How is the term "Christian" to be defined?

What do folks think?

JM

[Scribe D'Nucov]

This is a great question Jonathan. I won't attempt to be the final answer in this regard - hopefully some others will join.

This has been something I have pondered deeply for a while. I have read the Bible, and have heard many sermons on the topic of the cross. Yet, it still has made me wonder: "why did God choose this for our salvation??". Why was crucifixion necessary??

There are many reasons. Let's talk about them.

1. It fulfilled scripture. This is the method that was prophesied. Okay, I know, that's cheating sort of, because that just pushes back the why question into an earlier time. But, it is significant to say: Because God fore-ordained it.

2. Because it required endurance and suffering on the part of Jesus. Apparently, God has a lot of symbolism designed in this for us. Jesus had to endure. He endured not just that one day, but every day of his life until then, knowing that he would have to suffer the way he had seen countless others do for over 30 years. That's serious endurance! Imagine if you know you were going to be crucified for 30 years and saw countless thousands experience it during your life! You could go insane, if you didn't have a very concrete faith in God!

3. Because it required him to accept powerlessness. Much of the life of faith requires that we learn to accept the things we cannot change. The serenity prayer is very appropriate for all of us, but consider how Jesus modeled it. He accepted his destiny and endured the cross (as Hebrews 12:2 says). He accepted that he would be powerless in front of wretched sinful humanity. Jesus overcame the world by embracing the most feared form of capital punishment that had ever been invented. In prayer once, Jesus spoke to me that the two thieves had to be held down and forced on the cross, but that He willingly put his hands and feet on the cross for us. Jesus "embraced" the cross and allowed them to nail him to it.

4. Because crucifixion was a spectacle. God has a flair for drama. You have to admit it! Jesus was on display for everyone to see, for miles around. It drew people to him. I suspect that the crowd got pretty big that day, just to watch him. You wouldn't have that with another kind of death.

5. Because it allowed him to speak openly to people. God wanted Jesus to be heard above the crowd. That's a lot easier when you are several feet above them. Some of the most important things Jesus ever said, were spoken from the cross.

6. Because his blood sprinkled the people below him. This one is perhaps the most significant. Understand, Jesus was a bloody mess, from the scourging and the crown of thorns. He was literally a fountain of blood, that was dripping and spurting off of him. Crucifixion forces the victim to writhe and shake as he gasps for air and shudders from the nerve damage - the pain is so intense that they had to invent a word for it - "Excruciating". So, he was shaking and sprinkling blood over the people around him. Why is that significant? Well, that is exactly what the priests did from, under the covenant of Moses, at the temple on Passover (or the earlier tabernacle). In fact, that is exactly what the priests were doing at that very moment at the temple - sprinkling the blood of spotless lambs, over the heads of the people who came to worship on Passover that very day. So, this was a symbolic fulfillment of that.

7. Because it pleased God to make him suffer. God was showing the fullness of his majesty in Christ that day. Jesus obeyed the father, despite the torture that was to come. He did not sin before the cross, and he did not sin on the cross. Remember the two thieves? They said to Jesus, basically what Job's wife said, "just curse God and die!!" But, Jesus wouldn't do it. His character was so pure, that even in such suffering, he did not sin. This, I think, is one of the chief ways we can know that Jesus was truly the son of God. (just like the Centurion did). We see that he was observed to be of such pure righteous character, that we know he was sinless. You couldn't make him sin!!

8. Because his body was left in tact. This was important for the resurrection - they could see that he was a man who had been crucified, by the marks. But, not a bone was broken. Sure, God could have resurrected him if he was beheaded, but the marks of crucifixion showed that he was tortured to death publicly.

9. Finally, I think it was so that we would have a great and awesome symbol for remembrance. Isaiah 11:10 says "...
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples". There is nothing quite as universally and uniquely understood to represent Jesus as the cross. You would not have such a powerful and evocative symbol with any other form of death.

[Hellofull]

In Ephesians 1:7 New King James Version this is what is written:
"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace"

What redeemed man is the blood of Christ and not the cross that was used to crucify Him.

We can read in gospels of Christ according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John regarding what happened on that day.

And it was not God who sacrificed himself but Christ as stated in Ephesians 5:25 ibid.
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,"