JUDGEMENT - OF THE CROSS

The Judgment of the Cross

• The Cross was a Final Judgment of God

Isa. 53:6, 10a "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,"

Zech. 13:7 "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones."

2 Cor. 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Gal. 3:13 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:"

Matt. 27:46 - "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

 

Either he was forsaken or he wasn't. If he was, Why did God forsake him? Does God forsake good men when they die? No! Therefore we conclude that he was being held responsible for sin.

Heb. 9:26c-28 One death - One judgment joined together. "For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."

•  The Cross Involved a Three-fold Judgment

l. of sin - by imputation Christ was not guilty; sin was imputed to him.

Rom. 8:3 "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:"  in Jesus.

2. of the believers - by identification (God counts us as if we died)

2 Cor. 5:13 A.R.V. "One died for all; therefore all died."

   Gal. 2:20 A.R.V. "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live."

   Rom. 6:3, 5 "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:"

3. of the world and its prince - by implication

John 12:31 Refers to His death. Viewpoint is before Calvary. "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out."

John 16:11 Viewpoint looks back to Calvary. "Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged."

Sin of man - proof is unbelief in Christ;

Righteousness of Christ - proof is Ascension

Judgment of Satan

•  Results of the Judgment of the Cross

As to sin: John 1:29 "Taketh away the sin of the world."

Heb. 9:26 "Put away sin" - disannulled. Must refer to guilt of sin.

Heb. 10:26-31 "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

 

As to world and Satan: sinful world system which is utterly opposed to God.

1 John 5:19 A.R.V. Both are completely doomed, because Christ died. "And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness."

1 John 2:15-17 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

John 8:44 Why both are irrevocably sinful. "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."

As to the believer: Law has no jurisdiction over a dead man (Rom. 6).

Rom. 7:6 From the dominion of sin - delivered - Cleared. "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."

Rom. 8:1 From condemnation. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

Gal. 6:14 From and its doom Rom. 6:6-7 From bondage of sin. "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."

• The Cross Stands as the Supreme Exhibition and Harbinger of all Final Judgment

l. Reveals righteous judgment of God - Rom. 3:25 When Christ chose to bear the guilt of men, divine justice struck him down.

"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;"

2. Separates men into two classes - John 3:14-18 Those who do not believe are already judged.

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."