Focus: Under the Cross

Text: Galatians 3:13

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."

The cross is God's decisive and final answer for the curse that man incurred on himself as a result of the Fall in Gen.3.

By the eternal covenant God introduced the cross to deal with the curse and restore the blessing. The covenant, the blessing and the cross are eternal; the curse is not. Christ's shed blood and death on the cross has taken care of the curse divinely imposed on man when he sinned against his God and against himself, resulting in the Fall.

Man failed his creator, and as a result, he fell from grace. God created and blessed man at the beginning, but after he sinned against his creator, he was cursed. Paul writes, "For as many as are of the works of the law are UNDER the CURSE: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal.3:10). From that awful moment of the Fall in Gen.3, Christless and sinful humanity has lived under the curse of God ever since.

But by virtue of Christ's death on the cross, the believer in Christ is no longer under the curse. He is now under the cross. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law through the cross.

Looking at the cross, all that the natural man could see was the weakness and foolishness of God. Paul says, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (1Cor.1:18). The word 'preaching' is 'logos' in the Greek. It refers to the word, message or logic of the cross. He says in verse 23, "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness." Man looks at the cross and thinks that God was being weak and unwise, but the opposite is the case - God was displaying His strength and wisdom. 

In verse 25, Paul asserts, "Because the FOOLISHNESS of God is wiser than men; and the WEAKNESS of God is stronger than men." God makes no mistake. Man is the stupid one here, for Paul says, "Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1Cor.2:8). Ignorance happened to them. They lacked understanding. They made a silly mistake. At the cross, God was being wise and powerful. God's seeming weakness was indeed power in action. God's seeming foolishness was indeed wisdom in display. 

God used the cross to nullify the Curse, remedy the Ruins, remove the Offense, end the Slavery to sin, Satan and death, and end human Suffering.

So through the cross God has redeemed us from the:

*Curse

*Ruin

*Offense

*Slavery

*Suffering

Child of God, you are now under the cross, not any more under the curse. The yoke of slavery is forever broken and buried. That is your eternal reality. You are free indeed.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter