THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Cross of Christ
Message Four
The Accomplishments of Christ on the Cross
Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 2:24; Heb. 9:26; 2:14-15; Gal. 2:20; 3:13; 5:24; Rom. 6:6; Eph. 2:14-15; John 12:24
I. This wonderful person, Jesus Christ, the very embodiment of God, died on the cross as the God-man—Heb. 9:14: (CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “The Divine Economy,” ch. 7)
A. As our redeemer, He is both the complete God and the perfect man—John 12:23: (1997 WT, msg. 3)
1. He died as both the Son of Man with humanity and the Son of God with divinity—v. 28. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
2. He died in His humanity with His divinity—Heb. 9:14. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
B. His death was the death of a God-man; this God-man is a man having God wrought into His intrinsic nature, and a man mingled with the Triune God—Heb. 9:14. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
1. The three of the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are all involved in His death—v. 14. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
2. The Son died with the Father and by the Spirit—Rev. 1:5. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
II. The blood of Jesus is the blood of God; God is righteous in the blood of Jesus His Son; the blood of Christ has fulfilled God’s righteous requirements so that He may forgive us our sins—Eph. 2:13; Heb. 10:19, 22; 1 John 1:7: (1997 WT, msg. 3; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 145)
A. Acts 20:28 says, “the church of God, which He obtained through His own blood” —Acts 20:28. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
B. The Lord Jesus is God; when He died on the cross, He was not only a man but also God—Matt. 1:18, 23. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
1. The One who died on the cross was the One who had been conceived of God and born with God—v. 18. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
2. Because He was a God-man, the element of God was in Him; the divine element was mingled with His humanity—vv. 21, 23. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
C. The blood that the Lord shed on the cross is the blood of Jesus, the Son of God—1 John 1:7: (1997 WT, msg. 3)
1. The name “Jesus” denotes the Lord’s humanity, which was needed for the shedding of the redeeming blood—v. 7. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
2. The title “His Son” denotes the Lord’s divinity, which was needed for the eternal efficacy of the redeeming blood—v. 7. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
3. Thus, the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, indicates that this blood is the proper blood of a genuine man for redeeming God’s fallen creatures, with divine surety as to its eternal efficacy—v. 7. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
D. The blood that the Lord Jesus shed is eternal—Rom. 6:63; Heb. 13:20; 1 John 1:7: (1997 WT, msg. 3)
1. This is the blood of a man mingled with the divine element, the eternal element—Heb. 13:20. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
2. Thus, the blood of Jesus, the Son of God—God’s own blood—is eternal—1 John 1:7. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
III. Christ not only dealt with all the above negative items for God and for us on the cross, but through His death on the cross He also released the divine life within Him into us so that we could become His many members which constitute His Body—Heb. 9:26; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 2:14-15; John 12:24: (Life Lessons, lsn. 11)
A. The first thing Christ accomplished on the cross was to bear our sins on the cross so that we may be saved, passing out of death into life—1 Pet. 2:24. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 1, “Bearing Remaining Fruit,”msg. 12)
B. Through sacrificing Himself on the cross, Christ also freed us from the inward, sinful nature—Heb. 9:26. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 1, “Bearing Remaining Fruit,”msg. 12)
C. “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf”—Gal. 3:13. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 1, “Bearing Remaining Fruit,”msg. 12)
D. Even more, Christ crucified our sinful old man on the cross that the body of sin might be made of none effect, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—Rom. 6:6. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 1, “Bearing Remaining Fruit,”msg. 12)
E. Since our old man has been crucified with Christ, our “I” is also crucified with Him—Gal. 2:20. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 1, “Bearing Remaining Fruit,”msg. 12)
F. Not only did Christ crucify our old man on the cross; He also crucified our flesh with its passions and lusts—5:24. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 1, “Bearing Remaining Fruit,”msg. 12)
G. On the cross Christ destroyed the devil, who has the might of death, and released us from the slavery of death—Heb. 2:14-15. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 1, “Bearing Remaining Fruit,”msg. 12)
H. Since on the cross Christ destroyed the devil, who has the might of death, He also judged and dealt with the old serpent who had poisoned mankind, that all who believe in Christ may have God’s eternal life and pass from death into life—John 3:14-15. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 1, “Bearing Remaining Fruit,”msg. 12)
I. On the cross Christ destroyed Satan the devil, and at the same time He crucified the world organized by Satan and hanging on Satan, causing the world to lose its usurping power on those who have believed into Christ—Gal. 6:14. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 1, “Bearing Remaining Fruit,”msg. 12)
J. On the cross Christ abolished the Old Testament law of the commandments in ordinances, which separated the Jews from the Gentiles, making them one and creating the two in Himself into one new man, which is the church—Eph. 2:14-15. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 1, “Bearing Remaining Fruit,”msg. 12)
K. In His work on the cross, Christ fell into the ground and died as a grain of wheat in order to release the divine life for His divine multiplication—John 12:24. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
1. When the shell of His humanity was broken through His crucifixion, which was the baptism He went through, the glory of His divinity was released—v. 23. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
2. The Lord Jesus fell into the ground and died that His divine element, His divine life, might be released from within the shell of His humanity to produce many believers in resurrection —1 Pet. 1:3. (1997 WT, msg. 3)
3. The death of Christ released the divine life for the divine dispensing to produce many grains to be blended to make a loaf, which is the church, the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 10:17. (1997 WT, msg. 3)