What's in the shop window?

"Some years ago I was with a Christian coworker in Singapore. During the course of our coversation he remarked, "The Church has so many items in her shop window that the cross is no longer noticed."

"I realized my friend had put his finger on a major defect in the contemporary Church. Today you can go into a Christian bookstore and find a book on almost any subject - how to have a better marriage, how to raise godly children, how to understand your own personality, how to keep a better house. There is almost no limit! Many of these books have merit, but none would be effective without the cross. The cross is the only source of grace and power to make all the other good advice work. It is time the Church put the cross back in the center of her shop window."

(From "The Atonement" - by Derek Prince - copyright 2000 - ch One - "One All Sufficent Sacrifice" - 16-17.)

Good Word!

The Cross is a pivotal point in God's plan of redemption.

There is another which I deem just as important, that is; God the Father has put the Cross Crucified Son, by rebirth, "you must be born again", That Son rebirthed in the Believer. What is just as important as the Cross is, this rebirth of "Christ in you the Hope of Glory" of whom my life is His life and the "life I now live I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me".

"The fulfillment of the Word of God"

Colossians 1:25-29 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

His Working, His Faith, His life in me, the greatest most powerful thing that could ever happen to one of God's creations. Not deserving anything but the damnation to Hell.

Galatians 2:20 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.

Christ liveth in me. His Spirit and Faith now lives in my flesh, making me a son of God by birth of the Spirit of Christ and His life is now my life. I am a "fellow heir with Christ", alive for evermore to our Father.

In Christ: Phillip

I see the point of what you are saying but still the cross comes first then comes the indwelling or Christ in you the hope of glory. That's not really meant as a correction or whatever. You are right about what you say as being vitally important but even it does not come about with the PIVOTAL POINT OF THE CROSS in the plan of redemption coming first. Everything before the cross headed to it and all the benefits of redemption afterward come from it. But we're on the same page. I appreciate your comments.

Thank you.

What the cross does for us:

Nine Divine Exchanges

1) Jesus was punished that I might be forgiven.

2) Jesus was wounded that I might be healed.

3) Jesus was made sin with my sinfuulness that I might be
made righteous with His rightsousness.

4) Jesus died my death that I might share His life.

5) Jesus was made a curse that I might receive the
blessing.

6) Jesus endured my poverty that I might share His
abundance.

7) Jesus bore My shame that I might share His glory.

8) Jesus endured My rejection that I might have His
acceptance.

9) My old man was crucifiedin Him that the new man might
come to life in Him.

What the cross does within us:

1) Deliverance from this present evil age

2) Deliverance from the Law

3) Deliverance from self

4) Deliverance from the flesh

5) Deliverance from the world

(Taken from "The Atonement" - by Derek Prince - ch 12 - "Deliverance From This Present Evil Age" - copyright 2000 - 135-137)

I'm not trying to preach here folks but just sharing.

God told the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land that when they built an altar, they were to put no other objects around it.

In Exodus 20:24-25 God gave the Israelites specific instructions about the kind of altar on which they were to offer their sacrifices.

An altar of earth you shall make for Me...And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use yout tool on it, you have profaned it."

Their altar was to be made only of materials in their natural condition, not modified in any way by man - earth or unhewn stone. Anything added by human hands would defile it.

Further on, in Deuteronomy 16:21, the Lord warned His people: "You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God."

There was to be nothing that would distract the attention of the Israelites from the altar on which they were to offer their sacrifices. There was no place for human art or ingenuity that would divert their attention from the crude, stark simplicity of the altar. That is a lesson for us. too. We are not to surround the cross with anything. We are to put nothing on the cross or in front of the cross that would in any way obscure it. The cross is stark, just as the crucifixion of Jesus was a stark and horrible scene.

I doubt whether any human artist has ever depicted adequately what took place when Jesus died on the cross. If he should succeed, we would divert our eyes. Yet the cros is at the center of our faith, unique to Christianity. No other religious system - not Islam nor Buddhism not Hinduism nor any of the countless cults - popssess anything that corresponds to or even remotely resembles the cross.

(From "The Atonement" - by Derek Prince - copyright 2000 - ch 1 - "One All Sufficent Sacrifice' - 17-18.)