Christmas: A Prelude to the Cross

 

It is safe to say that the Christmas season is upon us.  It began officially for us the day after Thanksgiving by decorating the house with stockings, nativities, lights and of course trimming the tree.  It began unofficially the week before when the girls put out all of their Christmas goodies for the dessert tasting.  Now we have moved into the advent readings and this Saturday there is a Christmas concert.  All this activity is great but is only a prelude to the main event – the cross.  

 

This week in preparation for our Sunday evening group I have been sifting through the multiple and wondrous reasons for the cross.   They are amazingly awesome and humbling, for instance: 

·         We have forgiveness and abundant freedom because of His blood spilled out on the altar of the cross. (Ephesians 1:7)

·         Our rescue from this evil world came through His sacrifice for our sins. (Galatians 1:3-4)

·         The wealth of God’s love and grace is evident through His Son’s sacrificial death for us when we were of no use whatsoever to Him.  (Romans 5:8)

·         On the cross Christ absorbed a self-defeating cursed life by taking it completely on Himself.  (Galatians 3:13)

·         When we were at our worst, God reconciled us to Himself through the cross. (Romans 5:10)

·         By embracing death Christ destroyed the Devil’s hold on death so that we do not have to go through life fearing it. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

·         The cross of our Master, Jesus Christ, became the ground for all of our boasting.  (Galatians 6:14)

 

These are striking and powerful statements.  Of course to enter into them fully we cannot simply dabble in them.  We do the cross a massive disservice if we only outline it’s advantages and collect intriguing facts.  The cross is to be entered into fully.  Out of it flows the well spring of life that continually transforms and heals, reshapes and frees.  It was given to be lived.

Our 2012 ornament - an aspen leaf from Estes Park, Colorado