The cross is so vital that God spent centuries painting a picture of it, trying to help us understand its magnitude. Every time an animal was slain, the shadow of the cross hung thick over the scene until that glorious day when Jesus, the innocent Lamb, laid down His life as the ultimate sacrifice. The fulfillment had arrived. The shadow was needed no longer.

When Jesus shed His blood for us, He accomplished four magnificent, life-changing, chain-breaking realities that we live under every day: atonement, redemption, justification, and reconciliation.

First, on the cross, Jesus accomplished our atonement. He satisfied the justice of the Father.

Read Romans 5:12. According to Scripture, we are all born sinful and in great debt. This spiritual debt that we all have, these wages of sin, cannot be paid by good works, good conduct, good effort, good education, or good behavior. Death is the only payment for this inherited debt (see Romans 6:23).

God is a just God, a fair God, a good God. We had a debt of sin that would cost our very lives. In order for justice to be done, these debts must be paid. But because God loves us, He paid the debt Himself. God’s justice needed to be satisfied, so God’s love satisfied His justice.

Secondly, every day, we live under another life-giving reality Jesus accomplished at the cross: redemption.

As sons and daughters of our first parents, we were born slaves to sin. We were destined to spend our lives in chains to sin with no choice but to struggle. At the cross, Jesus gave His life as the ransom for our freedom. Now we have been set free from the clutches of sin. By grace through faith in Christ, you are free to sin no more—to choose to follow God’s perfect ways.

If you are a believer in Christ and Satan reminds you of your sins, remind him of what Jesus accomplished at Calvary. You had a spiritual debt, yes, but it has been paid. Jesus atoned for you at the cross. When Satan tries to enslave you, remind him that he has no business doing so because, at the cross, Jesus redeemed, ransomed, and freed you.

You have been bought and paid for by the most precious blood of Jesus Christ. Live in the freedom that Jesus purchased for you. Cling to that old rugged cross.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for setting me free. Help me to live dead to sin and alive to You in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11).  Thank You for the precious gift of life through Your Son. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“‘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).

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