The Power of the Cross

Scripture: Colossians 2:8-15, "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

Observation: What does all this jargon mean? What does it mean that we have our sins forgiven? Here in Colossians Paul says that "He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." The language used here is legal in nature. It says the he forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code with its regulations. That written code is the law, it wars against us and is opposed to us. We cannot keep it no matter how hard we try. It keeps beating us down because we cannot follow the rules. But here Paul says that Christ took it away and nailed it to the cross. We were dead and now we are alive with Christ through the power of the cross.

Application: There is great power in this passage. Through the cross, we have the power to say no to sin and yes to Jesus. Yet, so many times I say yes to sin and no to Jesus. But Christ has taken it away and has nailed it to the cross, having victory over it so that it no longer has dominion over me. I must learn to trust the power of the cross to live a new life in Christ by the power of the cross through his grace. Horatio G. Spafford got it right when he wrote these words: "My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"

Prayer: Blessed Lord Jesus, before thy cross I kneel and see the heinousness of my sin, my iniquity that caused thee to be "made a curse", the evil that excites the severity of divine wrath. Show me the enormity of my guilt by the crown of thorns, the pierced hand and feet, the bruised body, the dying cries. Thy blood is the blood of incarnate God, its worth infinite, its value beyond all thought...Yet thyt compassions yearn over me, thy heart hastens to my rescue, thy mercy bore my deserved stripes. Le me walk humbly in the lowest depths of humiliation, bathed in thy blood, tender of conscience, triumphing gloriously as an heir of salvation"

The Precious Blood, Taken from The Valley of Vision