"...you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. 1 Peter 1:18-20
As we contemplate the fall of Adam and the solution to it procured by God in Christ Jesus, it is important that we understand that the cross was not an afterthought. God did not decide at the point when Adam sinned that He was going to send His Son into the world to die for the redemption of the world, no, the cross was a solution established by God before the foundation of the world. God, in His Omniscience, knew that the man He was going to make in His image and likeness would sin, and as a result of this foreknowledge, He decided ahead of time to prepare in His Son the solution to the sin of man, and that the cross was going to be the means by which fallen man will be redeemed.
The truth is that the cross is the foundation upon which every other doctrine is founded being that it pre existed before sin. It is, therefore, no wonder that Jesus would say that the law and the prophets all spoke about Him. In other words, you cannot correctly interpret any doctrine of the bible aside from the cross. In this sense, the cross is the basis upon which any doctrine can stand; when you take the cross away, you take God out of the equation.
As we contemplate the fall of Adam and the solution to it procured by God in Christ Jesus, it is important that we understand that the cross was not an afterthought. God did not decide at the point when Adam sinned that He was going to send His Son into the world to die for the redemption of the world, no, the cross was a solution established by God before the foundation of the world. God, in His Omniscience, knew that the man He was going to make in His image and likeness would sin, and as a result of this foreknowledge, He decided ahead of time to prepare in His Son the solution to the sin of man, and that the cross was going to be the means by which fallen man will be redeemed.
The truth is that the cross is the foundation upon which every other doctrine is founded being that it pre existed before sin. It is, therefore, no wonder that Jesus would say that the law and the prophets all spoke about Him. In other words, you cannot correctly interpret any doctrine of the bible aside from the cross. In this sense, the cross is the basis upon which any doctrine can stand; when you take the cross away, you take God out of the equation.
This was the stumbling block for the Jews who tried to understand what God was saying to them through the ancient scriptures apart from the cross. So, if your intention is to know God in truth, then, you must put the cross in the front burner of your doctrine, because without the cross, God cannot be known.
Toni
Toni
