The Cross means:

“It is finished.”  Abuse, pain, death, and hell…all of my worst fears, have completely and forever been taken for me by Him, my Lamb, Jesus Christ.  He stepped in and experienced the worst horrors so that every horror can be cast upon Him and off of me.

I am dead to my past, my sin, my selfishness, my debt, my guilt, my anguish, my hopelessness, my despair, my confusion, my shame, my self-hatred, my own efforts, my condemnation, and even the pain and abuse of others.

All of it, all the hell of living in a world that is overseen by the “prince of the power of the air” and the “prince of this age,” is dead to me.

That abuse victim, that neglected child, that rejection, that shame, that orphan  who was identified by failure, inadequacy, and worthlessness, that defiled person who no one wanted, riddled with sorrow and without hope, that person is crucified with Christ.  It is finished.

The Resurrection means:

I am raised with Him in the newness of life.  Immediately, upon believing and confessing, I become…not pretend to become, but actually become, a NEW CREATION.  I become beautiful, able, confident, alive.

I pass immediately into eternity, lifted out of the dirt of this world.  I am given, without earning it, every credential, every attribute of love, all the resources of mercy, unending hope, glory and power, eternal riches, and every resource in Christ.

If yesterday I was a liar, a murderer, and an abuser, in Christ, today, I receive the CHARACTER of Jesus Christ.  I am not a liar, a murderer, or an abuser, I am hidden in Christ, with God, my rags swallowed up by robes of righteousness, finally free to be pure, lovely, real, and fearless.

Through faith I blot out my old identity with the glory of His kindness, mercy, and truth.  If I rejoice in the crucifixion of my worthlessness, I can have value.  If I agree to the crucifixion of my prideful offense, I can have tenderness and trust again.  If I will cooperate with the crucifixion of my fear of man and insecurity, I can REJOICE without constraint RIGHT NOW in the GLORY HE HAS GIVEN ME AS A CHILD OF GOD.  I AM A JOINT HEIR WITH CHRIST OF ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS, no longer a slave to sin, but joyfully and willingly a slave of righteousness!

NOW, TODAY, FOR ALL ETERNITY!

The Gospel means:

That this glory is available at any moment, in any place, at any stage of life, to ANY LIVING PERSON WHO WILL HEAR AND BELIEVE.  It means there is no pain, abuse, or torment to overcome those of us who are in Christ.  We need never hang our heads and wonder what can be done.

The estranged brother in Christ our heart aches for, we can confess to be reconciled even before it manifests because He Himself is our peace, having broken down the middle wall of separation!  The prodigal child, the wayward spouse…the greatest possible pains, we live knowing that in an instant of receptivity, all pain will be more than swallowed up by glory and redemption, every sin forgotten in the bottom of the sea, all restored abundantly!

The moment that we receive we become ambassadors of reconciliation, overflowing with good news…our only pain being those who are slow to hear and believe.  We walk sure-footed among the hungry, desolate, abused, and downtrodden with the news of the King who has ALREADY COME, saying “ONLY BELIEVE, and you will BE SAVED!!!  You can crucify that life of pain and torment on the cross with Jesus and receive a whole new life, if only you will believe!”

This is the Gospel that we preach!  This is the life that we live!  This is why we are filled with joy, even in momentary light afflictions!

¹⁴ But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom^[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  Gal. 6:14

¹⁹ For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, ²⁰ and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. ²¹ And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled ²² in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.  Col 1: 19-23