Holy Bible Online 
The cross is the most distinctive symbol of Christianity. It represents the great love God showed by sending His Son, Jesus, to the world, so that through His death, we may have eternal life. On the cross, Jesus bore the punishment that each of us deserved for our sins and He did it out of love. Through Jesus' death on the cross, God gave us the opportunity to access eternal life with Him.
And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
- Hebrews 10:10
What Does the Cross Represent?
It is believed that it wasn't until the 4th century that the cross began to be used as a symbol of Christianity. In the culture of the early Christians, the cross had a negative connotation, as it was the symbol of the execution of the worst criminals. Christians used other symbols, such as the image of a fish, to recognize and identify each other.
Today, there are people who like to wear a cross as a pendant for protection or as an amulet. However, the cross is just a symbol of something powerful that happened upon it. The cross itself has no power. Its power and significance come from Jesus, God incarnate, His death on the cross, and His resurrection.
Let’s look at some of the things the cross represents. Let us be encouraged and give thanks to God for His immense love in giving His life on the cross, for you and for me.
1. The Immense Love of God for Us
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- Romans 5:6-8
When man sinned in the Garden of Eden, a barrier was created between him and God. The friendship and fellowship they had enjoyed before sin entered the world were lost. But God's love for humanity was so great that He could not let it remain that way forever.
God decided to provide the way Himself to restore that friendship. Thanks to Jesus, we can be saved and dwell eternally with Him. Because of sin, humanity would never have been able to repair the damage done. The only completely pure and acceptable sacrifice before God was the one He Himself provided: Jesus Christ, God made man, who died and rose again so that we may have eternal life.
2. The Punishment We Deserved
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,through the shedding of his blood - to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness
- Romans 3:23-25a
We are all born with a sinful nature, and even though we may believe we are good enough, we must acknowledge our natural tendency to sin. A small lie here, a burst of anger there... we deserve punishment for our sins, as justice demands: when someone wrongs, they must face the consequences.
However, God decided to show grace to us and gave us something we didn’t deserve. And what did He do? He justified our sins (He made us innocent) through the redemption by the blood of Jesus. Someone had to pay the price for the sins committed. Someone had to take the punishment so that we could be freed from the slavery of sin. Jesus paid the price and took the punishment for us when He died on the cross.
3. The Sign of the New Covenant
19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
- Luke 22:19-20
During His last supper with His disciples, Jesus said something very important. He explained that His sacrifice on the cross would mark the beginning of the new covenant between God and mankind. He used the bread and wine as symbols to help them understand.
The blood Jesus poured out on the cross at Calvary established a new beginning - a new covenant between God and humanity. Through His broken body and His shed blood, we are cleansed from our sins. He was the perfect, spotless Lamb who came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29; Isaiah 53:7). When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are granted the cleansing and forgiveness of our sins. All by grace...
4. Jesus’ Victory Over Sin and Death
9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
- Romans 6:9-11
Christ died for all of humanity and then rose from the dead. He defeated death and lives forever! When we receive Him as the Lord of our lives, that victory becomes our inheritance. Even though our physical bodies may die, we will have eternal life with Him, living for God throughout eternity.
But Jesus didn’t just secure victory over death for us. Thanks to His sacrifice, we also receive the power to overcome sin. We are no longer slaves to sin. It is one of the freedoms we have in Him. God fills us with His Holy Spirit and gives us the strength to overcome the temptations that come our way each day. Christ lives in us, and by putting our faith in Him and allowing ourselves to be led by Him, we experience victory over the power of sin. We live for His glory!
5. Jesus Defeated the Devil and the Power of Darkness
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
- Hebrews 2:14-15
When Jesus died on the cross, He showed once and for all that God reigns over everything, including the devil and spiritual darkness. Nothing and no one has more power than God. At the moment Jesus died, the earth shook, the temple veil was torn, rocks split, and tombs opened (Matthew 27:50-54). Nothing was indifferent! At that precise moment, a new beginning was marked in the spiritual realm. It was the moment when Jesus won our access to eternal life and defeated the enemy of our souls.
Other verses to meditate on the power of Jesus and the cross:
Hebrews 10:19-20
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
- Hebrews 10:19-20
Galatians 3:13-14
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
- Galatians 3:13-14
Romans 6:6-7
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin - 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
- Romans 6:6-7
Colossians 2:13-15
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
- Colossians 2:13-15
1 Peter 2:24
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
- 1 Peter 2:24
Matthew 16:24
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me."
- Matthew 16:24
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
- 1 John 1:7
Philippians 2:5-9
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.
- Philippians 2:5-9
Revelation 5:9-10
9 And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,and they will reign on the earth.”
- Revelation 5:9-10
1 Corinthians 15:55-57
55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 15:55-57
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