One verse. Three crosses. Can you spot them?
“Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).
There’s the cross on which Jesus died.
There’s the cross on which the world died to you.
There’s the cross on which you died to the world.
The cross on which Jesus died displays God’s love-powered determination to rescue a creation in bondage to futility and corruption. God knows what destroys life and he dealt with it by sending a “grain of wheat” to fall into the earth and die to bring forth new life (John 12:24). Jesus launched the “new creation” on the cross—and ever since, nothing counts but the new creation (Gal 6:15).
The cross on which the world died to you proves that Jesus “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age” (Gal 1:4). Jesus has rescued you from all that is vain and pointless. When you get entangled, it exhausts you—which proves that you have the gift of eternal life. You have no place in your brain for aimless drifting. “The future is the magnet pulling the past and the present toward it” (Scot McKnight).
The cross on which you died to the world stamps the marks of the world’s true king on you. Being crucified with Christ means that you’re under the influence of the indwelling King (Gal 2:20). He’s teaching you how to live by faith and tap into the Spirit’s supply because that is how he reigns (Gal 2:20-3:5). King Jesus reigns through you. You bear the marks of Jesus (Gal 6:17).
It strikes me that there were three crosses at Calvary, too. While one thief said, “Are you not the King?” the other thief said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:38-43). Is this not what Easter is all about?
Jesus is King! And we are living new creation kingdom realities before the Age to Come is fully realized!
Happy Easter, dear friends.
