I have to thank my pastor, John Muratori, for inspiring this Worship Rant on Easter. His sermon was spot on today as always and another good one. You'll be able to check it out on the link at www.calvarylife.us once it's posted.
So, do you ever hear people refer to the work of the cross, or the work that Christ did so that we could have a restored relationship with God. His work on the cross led to the forgiveness of our sins. I always used to just think that His death and resurrection was the work. While that is part of it, I now see there is more to it than that.
Ephesians 4:7-10 states "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men. (Now this expression, 'He ascended,' what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)" (NASB)
These verses tell us that Christ conquered satan, death and sin for us and therefore everything that can conquer us, Christ has the victory over it. When Christ died on that Friday, he just didn't do nothing for three days and then was raised, He had work to do for us in the spiritual realm in order to complete the work of the cross, so that we might have eternal life when we enter into a saving relationship with Him.
Christ has defeated sin, satan and evil. In Revelation 1:17-18, Christ says that He is "the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." If you are holding the keys to something, you have the power and authority to unlock it.
These keys are the keys to unlock the chains of bondage, addiction, slavery, sin and eternal separation from God that governs us if we are not His children. These keys unlock gates so that the gates of hell will not prevail over us (Matthew 16:18-19) These keys give the Church power! Christ was the only one that could retrieve these keys of life and were part of the work on the cross, part of our gift of free life that Christ died for. He died so that we might live and have not only an eternal life, but one that is abundant and powerful when living according to His plans.
There is so much more that Christ's sacrificial death and work on the cross has given us including freedom, power over evil, power and authority to bind and loose, power in numbers as the "Church" and power to have victory over the enemy.
So I know from now on, I will be thinking of the Work on the Cross very differently and not just Jesus dying on the cross, being buried in the tomb and raising three days later. I now see it was much deeper, much more miraculous and much more work on Christ's part and much more meaningful to me now in my attempt to live by God's design and plans.
Easter takes on a whole new and vibrant meaning for me now and it only took just about 40 years for me to see the work of the cross in this light, never to late right?
All the best, until next time, Christ the Lord is risen today, allelujah.
Tim
