The Cross Is Our Protection

The Holy One calls to me today.  The dark days of winter have given way to what seems to be an early spring.  The warmer days couldn't be more welcome as a symbol of the resurrection of new life welling up from the deadness of winter.

My mind floods with the hope that this spring will bring more than symbolic newness.  My hope for resolutions, fresh starts, and renewed vision perks. The Holy One captures my imagination with what springtime brings to mind and that is the celebration of the Passover and the Cross.  He speaks to my heart, "The Cross is your protection".  How easy it is to forget that perspective.

When we think of the cross and the price Jesus paid for us, we don't necessarily think of it as our "protection", but that is precisely what it is.

The eternal reality is that there is a Holy God, who created us in His image.  There was a garden in our ancient past when man and woman walked in fellowship with the Creator.  There is an enemy, a traitor of creation who so hates the Creator that he has declared war on God's Beloved.  Under the enemy's deceptive and hypnotic power, man fell and has been subject to the degrading influence of his evil agenda ever since.

Over 2000 years ago when time was ripe for man to be redeemed, God sent His Son to pay the price that Holiness demands for  rebellion against the Creator:  Death.  A just penalty for sin.

In the most outrageous public display of affection,God Himself paid the only price high enough to atone for the man's absolute depravity and insult to Holiness:  The innocent Lamb slain for the sin of the guilty.

The innocent Blood flowed over all mankind and the sin nature that bound every one of us to evil was forever broken.  On the Cross where Jesus died over 2000 years ago, evil was judged and the wrath of Holiness was poured out.

But just as a gift given is of no benefit unless it is a gift received, the Cross stands embraced by some yet rejected by many.   For those of us who grasp the magnitude and benevolence of the gift of Eternal Life the Savior's death provides, the Cross is our protection.

For those who deny the Cross and the One who died upon it,  the wrath of Holiness against all unholiness with yet be poured out...until all unholiness is destroyed. 


The Cross is the one and only place anyone can hide and be protected from the final wrath of a Holy God, who is justified in His judgement since He alone is the Standard of Holiness by which all men will be judged.   "Be Holy because I am Holy", echoes throughout the history of mankind. 
I Peter 1:16,  "But just as He who calls you is Holy, be Holy in all that you do".

Biblical history reveals that, before God sent His son, Jesus to be the final atonement for the sin of fallen man, God's chosen people were commanded to sacrifice a lamb in symbolic atonement for sin.  Generation after generation, lambs were slain in the representation of the penalty of death for sin.

Until one day on the calendar of man's days upon the earth when God who so loved the world sent:
The Last and Greatest Lamb
The final Sacrifice to be made
The only Blood innocent enough to be shed in atonement for all the wickedness the heart of man can conjure up.

And that Lamb is called JESUS.

The Truth is available for all to see and know.  God's wrath was poured out on THE LAMB on THAT CROSS as a signal that we are welcome to come into the presence of Holiness with the SIN DEBT that separated us from our God, PAID IN FULL.

But the invitation is only for those who stand protected by the Cross and the relationship we have with the Son, Jesus, the lamb slain.  The rest of the world of men who reject the Cross will be called to pay their own debt and suffer the wrath of Holiness upon themselves.  The day of judgement is coming upon the whole earth. The only place of safety is in the arms of the only Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.

The Cross stands as our only protection from the wrath of Holiness:  Lamb slain, Blood shed, Life given in exchange for our own. 

What is the Cross to you?  An event in history or the priceless protection of your eternal soul?

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?