After the Cross

In one of Dad's writings he said he was listening to an orchestra play "Jesus Paid It All".  As he was listening it struck him that Jesus really did pay it all. Dad said that the Spirit reminded him that we are not living before the cross.  We are living after the cross.  He realized that as Isaiah had said He would, Jesus paid for all our sin, our pain, our suffering, our sickness...all of it!

Isaiah 53:3-5 (New King James Version)
He is despised and rejected by men,
      A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
      And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
      He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
      Surely He has borne our griefs
      And carried our sorrows;
      Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
      Smitten by God, and afflicted.
      But He was wounded for our transgressions,
      He was bruised for our iniquities;
      The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
      And by His stripes we are healed.

 Dad got out his Strong's concordance and looked up the word "grief" in verses 3 & 4.  He found out that it meant sickness, grief, sorrow, and pain.  He realized that Jesus had confirmed that it encompassed sickness in Matthew 8


Matthew 8:16-17 (New Living Translation)
That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick.  This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said,   “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.”

This prophecy of Jesus is telling us that we are going to have a better life on the resurrection side of the cross with Jesus.  Dad said that the cross is necessary to bring us into the living Christ.  It is Jesus and His work on the cross that makes it possible for us live in the presence of God the Father and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We need to remember that Jesus is no longer on the cross.  He defeated death.  He is our strength and our power.  Dad said that many Christians today live beneath the privilege that Jesus paid for on the cross.  We fail to live in the "newness of life" as Jesus commanded his disciples to do.

Matthew 10:7-8 (The Message)
Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.