Receiving Christ
The cross represents the death of Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind. God created the world and everything that is in it. The first two human beings created sinned against God from the beginning and their sin fell upon all other human beings that were born into the world. Therefore, since we are all descendants of the first two created human beings, Adam and Eve, who sinned against God in the beginning, we were all born in sin. Our sin has separated us from God because He is pure and holy and cannot associate with sin. Because God created us to have a relationship and fellowship with Him and because He loves us all so much, He decided that in order to reconcile us back to Himself, He would offer His own sinless life on the cross for us. Through His pure, sinless and life-giving blood which was shed on the cross, our sins can be forgiven and we can be restored to a relationship and fellowship with Him. Because we are all sinners from birth, God sees us all as spiritually dead and declares us to be indeed spiritually dead. The reason it was necessary for Jesus Christ, the God of creation, to shed His precious blood and sacrifice His life to restore us to Himself, is twofold:
(1) Life is in the blood and it is only the blood of Jesus that can restore us from spiritual death to spiritual life. The fact that our spiritual life is in the blood of Jesus should not be hard to understand because it compares to our physical life being in our very own blood that courses through our veins.
(2) Only the blood of Jesus can wash and cleanse us from sin. Just as it is that our own blood cleanses our organs and bodies from toxins and pathogens that can kill us, so it is that only the shed blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us from the toxins and pathogens of sin that can cause eternal spiritual death and separation from God. His blood cleanses us and makes us fit to dwell in His presence for eternity.
Equally, just as it is that our own blood does so much more for us, so it is that the blood of Jesus also does so much more for us.
The life that is in the blood of Jesus is everlasting. It starts right here on earth when (as soon as) we give Him permission to come into our hearts, wash us from our sins and be Lord of our lives, and it continues forever after that. When we die, the breath of life that we breathe (our spirit) returns to God the life-giver. Our bodies go to their final resting place (the grave or otherwise) to await the second coming of Jesus Christ when the dead in Christ will be resurrected. At the resurrection, our spirit which returned to God when we died will be reunited with our changed bodies. Our mortal, corruptible bodies that were placed in the grave, etc., will be changed to immortal, incorruptible bodies and will rise upon being reunited with our spirit. Thereafter, we shall forever be with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The wicked who died without Christ will be resurrected one thousand years later to face the terrible white throne judgment of God, and they will be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.
Jesus Christ is our only way back to God, as we can see in the following Bible verses:
'Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me' (St. John 14:6).
'For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;' (1 Tim. 2:5).
'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life' (St. John 3:16).
'I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture' (St. John 10:9).
Those are just four of the many verses that testify to the fact that Jesus Christ is our only hope of salvation and restoration to God.
Do you know Hm? Does He know you as His own? Would you like to receive Him as Saviour and Lord today? Then pray:
Lord Jesus, I recognise that I am a sinner by the mere fact that I was born into this world and that my sin separates me from God the Creator and Father who loves me so much and desires to have a relationship with me. I also recognise that You are the only Saviour from sin and the only way back to God. I ask that You forgive me for all my sins, wash and cleanse me from all unrighteousness and come into my heart right now and be Lord of my life. I pray this in Your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.