THE CROSS: A SYMBOL OF DOMINION VI

The Church became weaker and weaker when she began to de-emphasize the message of the cross. The message of the cross has now been consigned to Easter programmes in most Churches. No one can be a true disciple of Christ without the cross. The Church stopped making disciples a long time ago and instead started making millionaires. Let us return to the cross and we will see the move of God again – the raw manifestation of the power of God that will produce better people and we will be better Christians. There are certain things you cannot handle. God’s prescription cannot be ignored. The Church must return to the cross for the Church to continue to be relevant. If God’s prescription for every malady of man is the cross, believe you me, if you remove the cross, you will have multiplication of unsatisfactoriness of things as you have them in the world today.

Pray –

• Lord, help me to focus on what you have done on the cross in Jesus name.

In order to appreciate the import of the cross, study John 3:12-16, “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

The divine prescription for everything that the snake did in Eden is the cross. Study Numbers 21 and you will see how the snake bit the Israelites in the wilderness and how they were dying. Every serpentine seed produces death. The problem of man was both spiritual and physical. The divine prescription for the snake bite in the wilderness was making of a bronze serpent and hanging it on a tree so that whoever looked at it would be healed. Anyone who looked at the snake lived. Everything in the Old Testament was a foreshadow of what was to come. The real manifestation is in ‘whosoever believeth’. The connecting rod is faith.

The exchanges that happened at the cross according to Isa. 53:3-6 – are you despised, sorrowful? The prescription is the cross. For your rejection, you are accepted in the beloved. Are you despised? You will be celebrated when you go to the cross. You will exchange your sorrow for joy. For your grief, you will have his comfort. For your affliction, you will have perfect health. For your wounds, you will have healing. There are limitless exchanges you can make at the cross.Celebrate what Jesus Christ has done. This is the greatest manifestation of love. Give him praise. Everything we lost in Eden, the dominion that we lost was restored at the cross. That is why the cross, not the lion remains the emblem of comprehensive dominion. The only way you can have dominion over this age is the cross. That is why the Church has no option than to return to the cross.

Pray-

• Lord, help me. In any way that I have wandered away from you, I return. (The cross is a symbol of return).

Song 1

There was a time when I couldn’t tell what’s right from wrong;
There was a time when I couldn’t tell which way to go.
I went to the world looking for pleasure, far away from God.  Lord, I’ve turn around, I’m coming back to you.
Lord, I’m coming back to you, please take me back.
I’ve seen the way shining so bright,
Jesus is the way shinning so bright.
Yes, I’ve seen the light. Yes, I’ve seen the light.

Song 2

On the cross you took my sins away,
Thank you Jesus,
On the cross, my debt you paid for me,
Thank you for taking care of me.
For my salvation, on the cross you died,
Thank you Jesus,
My Lord, you rose up from the dead,
Thank you for taking care of me.
Thank you Jesus, thank you, my Lord,
Thank you Jesus,
Thank you for taking care of me.