The Cross, Part 12

“Death, Where Is Your Sting!”

By Tammy Lacock

This week, Warren Litzman takes us to the Cross yet once again in the hopes that we can understand who Christ really was, as we live and move in Him now. As we go through Christ’s suffering and death while on the cross, we see a man who still wasn’t thinking about Himself.

Christ was loving and affectionate to His mother and to John, the only disciple at His crucifixion. He made sure His mother would be taken care of by John. He was loving and forgiving to the thief on His one side, assuring him he would be with Him in paradise. And He personified love in His last words when He asked God to forgive those who participated in His suffering and death and said, “They know not what they do.” The only suffering He acknowledged was by saying “I thirst.” Even in His last words on the cross, He didn’t complain. Jesus had no time to think of His pain and betrayal. His death was the epitome of forgiveness. He knew He had to die for our world to be saved, to receive the gift of His eternal life within us. He loved even unto His death.

Through Paul’s epistles, Warren reminds us of the gospel of grace, the only gospel for believers today. He reminds us that by Christ’s death, God poured out His love and grace unto us. We are no longer corrupted by the curse of Satan by Adam. By Christ’s death, our Satan-natures have been uprooted and replaced by His incorruptible seed. By His unconditional and boundless love within us now, death and sin no longer have a hold on us. The Apostle Paul knew this when he said in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

Christ’s death accomplished all things: fulfilled the law, conquered sin and death, and ushered in grace and our new life. By God’s grace, Christ is now literally living within us. We now have His eternal Life and His unfailing love to draw from. Now we are free to enjoy a unique and personal relationship with Christ as we live and move and love in Him.