The Power of the Cross

In July 1941, 10 prisoners in the Auschwitz concentration camp were condemned to die by starvation. When one of them sobbed, “My wife, my children,” a priest named Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward and took the man’s place. Over the next two weeks, Kolbe and nine other men died slowly of starvation in an underground bunker. The man whose life Kolbe spared survived the war, was reunited with his wife and lived five decades longer.

Only a person of amazing selflessness and compassion would willingly give his life for another. History shows us that there once was such a man. Jesus Christ, the selfless and compassionate Son of God, gave His life for the entire human race.

A Plan, Not an Afterthought

You and I owe a debt we can never repay. It’s a debt we inherited from Adam and Eve—a moral and spiritual debt of sin.

But here’s the good news: We have the power of the cross on our side! As the Apostle Paul wrote, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). When Jesus gave His life on the cross, He paid our debt in full.

Have you ever wondered who put Jesus on the cross? Some say it was Judas, who was paid to betray Jesus to the priests. Others say it was the priests, who delivered Him to Pontius Pilate. Others blame Pilate, who condemned an innocent man to death. And it can truly be said that you and I caused Jesus to be crucified for our sins.

But Jesus was crucified by the will of God, not the will of men. The cross was not an afterthought. It was God’s plan of salvation from the beginning. Jesus, who was God in the flesh, did not come merely to teach us to love one another. Jesus came to die. On the cross, God did not just find a solution to our sin. He became the solution.

The Blessing of Atonement

There are four blessings that the cross gives us: Atonement, Redemption, Justification and Reconciliation. Let’s look at the first blessing of the cross: Atonement.

What does atonement mean? It means the reunification of God and humanity through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The word atonement comes from the phrase at one. On the cross, Jesus enabled us to be “at one” with God.

Because of sin, we were separated from God and subject to His wrath. In the Bible, wrath is not an outburst of rage, but God’s righteous, rational anger toward evil and injustice. If God were not offended by evil, He would not be a God of love and compassion. The wrath of God is inseparable from the love of God. Our loving Father sent Jesus the Son to be our Atonement and save us from wrath.

The Blessing of Redemption

The second blessing of the cross: Redemption. Redeem means to regain possession of something in exchange for payment. We were slaves to sin and Satan, but Jesus paid the price of our redemption so that we could be God’s possession.

When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are no longer slaves to sin—we have been redeemed. Does that mean we will never sin again? No, for the Bible tells us, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). But there’s a world of difference between a slave to sin and a believer who occasionally sins. And there’s a remedy for our occasional sins: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

The Blessing of Justification

The third blessing of the cross: Justification. The cross of Jesus justifies us. When God looks at us, He does not see the stain of our sin. He sees the righteousness of Jesus.

Justification is not the same as amnesty. When a guilty person receives amnesty, he’s still guilty—we simply overlook it. But God does not overlook sin. To overlook sin is to trivialize the cross. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that our sins would be overlooked. He died for our justification.

When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we confess our sins. We admit that we are “guilty as charged.” But Jesus covers our guilt with His righteousness, so that we are no longer condemned. That’s why Paul declares, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

The Blessing of Reconciliation

The fourth blessing of the cross: Reconciliation. Our relationship with God was broken by sin. We and God were not on speaking terms. But on the cross, Jesus defeated sin and reconciled us to God. Through His amazingly gracious act, He gave us the right to approach God and call Him “Abba”—a Middle Eastern name that connotes intimacy—like our use of the term Daddy. Because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, we are brought into an intimate father-child relationship.

On the cross, the body of Jesus was broken so that we could be made whole. On the cross, Jesus was bloodied so that we might be cleansed. On the cross, Jesus was afflicted so that we might be comforted. On the cross, Jesus was cursed so that we might be blessed. On the cross, Jesus died so that we could live forever.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version.

A native of Egypt, Michael Youssef has been the pastor of The Church of the Apostles in Atlanta since its 1987 founding. He is a bestselling author whose Bible teaching is broadcast internationally through the Leading the Way media ministry.