The cross is the holy altar of God.

Ex. 40:10 –
……and the altar shall be most holy.


There Jesus died to save all men. No man took away His life from Him. He laid it down on His own. God sent His Son to die to save us because of His great, great love.


John 10:11 –
I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

John 10:15 –
…………I lay down My life for the sheep.

John 10:17-18 –
For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative.


John 15:13 –
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends

1 John 4:10 –
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.


The cross was God’s will. There was no other way to save men.

Luke 22:42 –
"Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done."


Men crucified Jesus out of the wickedness of their hearts but God meant it for good. As Joseph told his brothers,

Gen. 50:20 –
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.


So Jesus died.


Rev. 2:18 –
I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermoe……

_________________
Jade

ADD:


Jesus went to the cross of His own accord. No man had any authority over Him. He could have called on His Father and there and then He would have had more than twelve legions of angels at His command.

Matt. 26:53 (NIV) –
“Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

John 19:10-11 –
So Pilate said to Him, "You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?"
“You would have no authority over me at all,” Jesus answered him, “if it hadn’t been given you from above………”



No man killed Jesus. He gave up His life of His own accord.

John 19:30-33 –
Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.



The events that took place were not orchestrated by men. God was fully in charge. All that took place happened as prophesied. OT scriptures were exactly fulfilled and establishes beyond doubt that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Matt. 26:54 –
How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?

Mark 14:61-62 –
Again the high priest questioned Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”
And Jesus said, "I am; and you shall see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN."

Luke 22:70 –
And they all said, "Are You the Son of God, then?" And He said to them, "Yes, I am."

Luke 24:25-27 –
And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures."


There is no other way.
Only the death at the cross can open the door to resurrection life.
This is the way we must travel, in Christ.

_________________
Jade

AMEN..

There is no other way.
Only the death at the cross can open the door to resurrection life.
This is the way we must travel, in Christ.

ADD::Galatians 2:20 King James Version (KJV)
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.


Sister
Frannie

_________________
Frannie

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:5-8 NASB)

"And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.'" (Mark 8:34-35 NASB)

"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:7-11 NASB)