The Cross and the Resurrection

[HKHaugan]

When Jesus declared on the Cross -‘It is finished (Jn.19:30)’- He was declaring that everything He came to do was completed, done, accomplished. The Resurrection is the proof. Everything from His birth, all through His life and into His death had been fulfilled. Every thought behind every action, every motivation in every next moment, had pleased His Father. He lived to do His Father’s will and died for Him. “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work (Jn.4:34).”

He knew His Father’s will was to be His will. He had done it and done it successfully. It was He alone who could have come as a picture, an image, an exact representation of God in the flesh (Heb.1:3) to be the way of faith, the truth of faith and live the life of faith. And this not just for Himself but for all who would have faith in Him from that point on. The Resurrection gave mankind the assurance that the work of God had been done as no other person could have done it.

Just what was His ‘work?’ To define it here would take a commentary on the entire Bible. So let’s just look at one important aspect to begin with. It was to show a lost and separated humanity that we were spiritually created to function spiritually. We are first spiritual beings. We are spiritual products of a spiritual God. “God is Spirit (Jn.4:24).” We are created in His image and likeness (Gen.1:26). This is the ‘wake-up call’ that comes in Jesus Christ. For each of us that is the single most important reality Jesus shows us. It is the ‘jump-start’ for becoming what we were intended to be. Having a spiritual identity is the foundation upon which He builds a new character, a new personality and a new future. The Resurrection was the seal on His work.

We were created with three built-in support systems that reflect the relational nature of God, our minds, our hearts and our spirits, the image and likeness of God. Jesus shows us that He, the Father and the Holy Spirit are One, that we are made to function in the same balance of the Three. It is in our heart, mind and spirit that Jesus comes to each of us and says, “I am the way, the truth and the life (Jn.14:6).” He gets us to focus on Him so that we can experience in Him a spiritual way to live, a spiritual truth with which to think and a spiritual life beyond our biological life. We focus on His mind, His heart and His Spirit in action. The Resurrection guarantees His presence.

Here is something else the Cross shows us, we were meant to live in a personal relationship with God. When we accept Jesus as our personal Lord, we begin the rebalancing of our three functional parts as His Spirit directs. His work becomes our work. It is a relational work. Jesus says it this way, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent (Jn.6:26).” We were meant to think like Jesus, to trust like Jesus and to have faith like Jesus. This is why He says He is the gate for the sheep (Jn.10:7), the good shepherd (10:14) and the leader of the sheep (10:3). Not only that, His personal attention is recognized by the watchman who opens the gate for Him, the sheep who hear His voice and the fact that He calls them each by name (Jn.10:3). The Resurrection of Jesus guarantees our security in Him.

In one of His Resurrection appearances Jesus meets the disciples in an upper room and tells them, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you (Jn.20:21).” He is our personal peace, He is our personal work, He is our mission and He is our personal destiny. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Mt.16:23).” It is the shadow of His Resurrection that falls across each of our crosses assuring us that faith in Him is the way for the heart, truth for the mind and life in the Spirit.