Canceled at the Cross: the Best Canceling in History

This blog post is an excerpt from my new devotional download, Will God Cancel Me: What the Bible Says about the Assurance of our Salvation. You can get your copy of the full study at kelseyleewrites.com/shop.

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14 (NASB95)

We usually think of being canceled as a bad thing. You know, like people getting banned from social media, or losing a job over a dissenting opinion, or hoped for plans falling apart last minute. But there was one time in history where being canceled was a good thing (and no, I’m not referring to that time you really didn’t want to go to that one relative’s house and, much to your relief, plans changed and you didn’t have to go. No – something much better than that!). We’ve talked about creation, the fall, and how sin has infected all of our world and every human being, including you and me. We can’t escape it. We can try to cover it up, pretend we’re okay, and pretend we’re good enough to the people around us. But no amount of pretending fools the God of the universe who is all-knowing and can see into our very souls Isaiah 64:6 tells us that our attempts to cover up our sin with good deeds are like a filthy garment before God, which, if directly translated from the Hebrew into modern English, would actually be the equivalent of a used tampon. Gross! But seriously, imagine trying to offer the judges of the supreme court a used tampon to cover for your treason against the United States. How well do you think that would go over? Yeah, I don’t think it would go over well, either. But that’s exactly what we’re trying to do when we try to pretend that we’re good people and then tell God He has to let us into heaven because we’re better than most people. Compared to God’s holiness and perfection, we don’t stand a chance.

Remember in the last chapter that I promised you that when we understand the bad news, we can understand the good news – and that good news is really, really good? Well, here it is:

The best canceling that ever happened was at the cross.

God knew that we could not save ourselves from our sin; the chasm between our sinfulness and God’s perfection was too wide for us to cross. So God crossed it for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. From Genesis 3:15 all through the Old Testament, the Lord promised over and over that He would send a Savior who would rescue humanity from their sin. This Redeemer came two-thousand years ago, the Son of God being born to a virgin named Mary. Jesus grew up and lived a sinless life, and at age thirty, He spend three years in ministry, traveling around Israel declaring that the kingdom of God was at hand. He amassed a large following of Jews who were sure that He would overthrow the Roman empire and become the new king of Israel. But God’s design was far greater than overthrowing the current world empire; Jesus came to overthrow the empire of the devil, sin, and death. Jesus proved Himself to be the Son of God by fulfilling hundreds of prophecies made concerning the coming Messiah. He healed the sick, walked on water, fed thousands of people using one serving of food on more than one occasion, and even raised people from the dead. He taught with authority the Scriptures and how the people of God ought to live. And through it all He claimed to have come from God and to be one with the Father.

Then, three years into His earthly ministry, one of His closest followers, a man named Judas, betrayed Jesus to the Jewish authorities. Jesus was arrested and tried before a kangaroo court. He was found guilty before the Jewish leaders and then the Roman court, and the very people who had followed Him cried out for His crucifixion. And through it all, the Son of God, who had the authority to call a legion of angels to His rescue, stayed silent. He went to the cross willingly, because He knew this was the Father’s plan. This was for justice.

Jesus came onto the scene during the time when crucifixion was at its height in Rome; the Romans had perfected the art of crucifixion to cause the most amount of suffering for the longest amount of time. After being whipped and beaten, those being crucified were nailed to a cross in their feet and wrists. You had to push up with your nailed feet for every breath you took; eventually, after a long time of suffering, the victims died of asphyxiation (not being able to breath). This is the brutal death that Jesus willingly went to. Not because Jesus was a masochist; He prayed and asked His Father just before His arrest that if there was another way to bring about justice, then to let this cup pass from Him (Matt. 26:39). He went willingly to the cross because He loved His Father and because this was the only way to satisfy God’s justice. The penalty for sin was death; Jesus, the only Man to have ever lived a perfect, sinless life, went to the cross in the stead of all who would believe in Him in order to pay their just penalty for their sin. This is often referred to as the great exchange – Jesus exchanges His perfection for our sin. He takes our sin upon Himself; He gives His righteousness to all those who believe on Him for salvation.

Jesus died and was buried in a tomb for three days. Three days is significant for two reasons. First, the Jews at this time had a belief that when someone died, their spirit hovered around their body for a little while, so it was possible they were not truly dead until the third day when their spirit finally departed.¹ Second, Jesus told the Pharisees in Matthew 12:39-40 that He would give them only one sign that He was the Messiah, and that sign was the sign of Jonah: Jesus would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, and then He would rise again.

For three days, the followers of Jesus wondered how their Messiah could have died. They thought the Messiah would conquer Rome and set up an earthly kingdom to make Israel great again. But instead, Jesus died. He humbled Himself to die on the cross for sinners who didn’t deserve His grace. We deserved judgment; Jesus brought salvation.

Jesus rose from the grave three days after His death. Jesus is alive! Over five hundred believers witnessed and could testify to Christ’s resurrection (1 Cor. 15:6). People ate with Him and felt His body; He was not a ghost, but He was truly alive from the dead. Through His resurrection, Jesus proved He is stronger than sin and death. He fully satisfied God’s justice for those who believe on Him.

When Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, He sent a Helper, the Holy Spirit, to indwell the hearts of believers as a seal or pledge of His promise of eternal life to all who believe on Christ as Savior and Lord when He returns in glory. At Christ’s second coming, there will be no second chances. His second coming will be one of conquering and judgment. And everyone will receive justice: either rightful condemnation for their sin or eternal life to those who have been clothed not with their own works but with the righteousness of Christ. The bad news is that we are sinners, and justice demands that a price be paid for that sin. The really good news is the cross – Jesus paid the penalty for sin, conquered sin and death through His resurrection, and offers His righteousness to all who would believe on Him to eternal
life.

We can have assurance of salvation because our salvation rests not in our good deeds but in the finished work of Christ on the cross. What great news to know that our salvation rests in the capable, nail-scarred hands of Jesus Christ!

With love,

Kelsey

P.S. Want to take this deeper? Check out my new Bible study download Will God Cancel Me: What the Bible Says about the Assurance of our Salvation here!