“Oh, your blood, bled for me. Oh your blood, In crimson streams. Oh your death, is Hell's defeat. A cross meant to kill, is my victory."
I love the chorus to "My Victory" by Crowder. I love it. I can't say how much I love it, and that reason is because how true all of those words are.
Because blood was shed from the perfect Lamb of God, we have salvation. Christ was slaughtered in possibly the worst possible way to be killed in history, on a cross.
Think of how bad torture is. Think of how bad death in general is. Think of how much of a tragedy it is when someone innocent dies. Now think of an innocent person being tortured to the point of death. Now that is what happened to Jesus.
He was blameless, yet was hated and killed by those He loved. That is a tragedy. Yet God, being who He is, works everything for good, having planned this before the world even came into existence.
The world was a formless void, but the Lord knew what would happen and knew the way to handle it. This death of Christ was predestined before existence. It is a tragedy, yet the Lord turned it in to a victory.
Jesus Christ died. He succumbed to that shadowy void that humanity doesn't like to think about, Death. He succumbed to it, yet in succumbing to it, He triumphed over it. He defeated it. Christ took on our sin, died, went to Hell and He came back to life. The Lord of our life named Jesus Christ conquered death and in doing so, he defeated Hell. The war is already won.
This beautiful victory came from what seemed like His defeat. The Pharisees probably thought, "Oh, this ought to get rid of that teacher, making all of our followers follow Him instead of us." Little did they know that they were doing exactly what the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe wanted them to do. They initiated the salvation of the world, and because of that, that cross that we all see is no longer seen as a torturing way of execution but instead it is a sign of victory.
It is a monument to a battle between Hell and Christ, when our Saviour whooped the Devil's butt and won the war, giving all who choose to follow, the gift of salvation.
Those who have accepted Christ, do not walk around life as if you are a victim. As if the Devil is winning in your life because you sin. Jesus Christ has defeated the Devil. All who follow Him are victors, not victims. Don't let anything take your mind from that.
When we spread the Gospel, we aren't trying to get other people on our side so we have more people to fight the Devil. No, we spread the Gospel to bring people to the side that has won. We spread the Gospel so that they may know that Christ is our Saviour who we are to follow and that they don't have to fight. All they have to do is follow.
The Lord has already won the war. There is no battle anymore when you come to Christ. We are in the winner's circle and looking for others to bring in.
The Pharisees tried to silence Jesus on that cross, but little did they know that the cross meant to kill instead became our victory.
