DAY 6: THE POWER OF THE CROSS

 PHRONESIS DEVOTIONAL

30 DAYS DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM

September 6, 2023.

Topic: THE POWER OF THE CROSS

Bible Reading: John 3:14-17; 1 Peter 2:21-25

Verse for Meditation: 1 Corinthians 1:18 NLT

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.

The power of God as used in 1 Corinthians 1:18 is the same Greek expression used in Romans 1:16.

Romans 1:16 NIV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

What is the gospel? The message of the cross! And Apostle Paul says that that gospel is God’s power that brings salvation. Those who are being saved know that the message of the cross is the very power of God (1Cor. 1:18). So to understand the message of the cross is to understand the power of the cross. What then is the message?

Back to the first gospel message preached by God Himself in Genesis 3, He said, “And I will put enmity… between your seed and her Seed…” (vs. 15). The woman does not have any seed; she receives seed from the man in order for fertilization and conception to take place. So what then was God preaching? He was announcing the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. For Jesus to be born without sin, He must be born without the corrupted seed of man.

And God went on to prophesy about what the woman’s Seed will pass through, “… He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

The heel is the lowest height of an upright man, but the head is the highest height of an upright man. Meaning the devil will crucify the Christ and thinks he won, but the Christ will ultimately conquer him, his cohorts, hell and death.

1 Corinthians 2:8 NLT

But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would never have crucified our glorious Lord.

Now why the cross? And what is the power behind it? Jesus Christ had to die on the cross because first of all it was a prophecy that must be fulfilled (Deut. 21:23 cf. Gal. 3:13. Isa. 53:4-5 cf. 1Pet. 2:24).

Secondly, it was the worst kind of death given to the most wanted kind of criminal. So for Jesus to die the worst kind of death; being flogged by the Roman soldiers and nailed on the cross, which no normal human can ever survive. And he arose on the third day, is a sign that he conquered death because death could not hold him bound (Acts 2:23-24). Therefore, the revelation we now have should give us victory and a hope for rapture (1 Cor. 15:51-57).

And dying the death of the most wanted kind of criminal is a sign that He died for all, no matter how great the sin was. By observation Jesus died, but by revelation we died with Him on that cross (2Cor. 5:14; Gal. 2:20; Col. 2:20a; 3:3). And if Christ is raised from the dead, so are we (Rom. 6:5; Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 2:12-13; 3:1).

So the power behind the cross is not the cross itself, but the message, or rather the revelation of the cross. Because the message of the cross is the very power of God (1 Cor. 1:18). And the power of God is what brings salvation (Rom. 1:16). Hence, the power behind the cross is the salvation that was wrought for us.

The penalty of sin has been paid! The power of sin has been dealt with! And the presence or influence of sin has been taken away from our lives! Because of the power of the cross! Glory!

PRAYER:

THANK YOU JESUS FOR DYING FOR ME AND AS ME. AND THANK YOU FOR THE POWER OF THE CROSS THAT HAS BROUGHT ME SALVATION.

DECLARATION:

SIN HAS NO HOLD OVER ME BECAUSE OF THE CROSS!

Bible Reading Plan: John 5:25-6:14; Romans 6; Proverbs 6