Invalidating the Cross
This section is divided into two parts. The first part addresses false doctrines and the
second part examines scripture and biblical doctrines.
Part 1.
It is a serious offence to demote Christ or to reject Him as He has revealed Himself in
scripture. Let’s begin by looking at Psalm 2:
11 Serve the LORD with fear, And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is
kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
In spite of this warning, false teachers proudly demote Jesus Christ. This in itself is bad
enough, but as we will see, they take it a step farther. They belittle and invalidate the
cross as they deny that it is our way of redemption. The Bible has this to say about the
cross in 1 Corinthians 1:
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to
us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The Bible also says that the cross reveals the power of God. In spite of this, Word-Faith
teachers declare the cross itself is useless in our salvation. Here are some examples:
"It wasn’t physical death that paid our penalty on the cross - it had to be more than
that. If it was physical death, any man or prophet who died over the last 4,000
years could have done it."
The thing that redeemed us was not Jesus being nailed to the cross. His spirit and
soul went into Hades. He walked into the door of Hades... And they wrapped
their grimy hands and the chains of hell itself around Jesus and they confined
Jesus into one of the cells in the Hades section of the underworld...Jesus sat their
immobile not doing anything except serving our sentence". - Fredrick Price
Kenneth Copeland declared that the Spirit of God revealed to him that Jesus was "an
emaciated little wormy spirit" who suffered in the bottom of Hell. He then goes on to
explain that any man could have redeemed mankind if they had the knowledge Jesus had.
Spirit of God spoke to me. A twice born man whipped satan in his own domain. A
born again man defeated satan. You are the very image and a copy of that one.
You can’t mean that I could have done the same thing? Oh yes. If you had the
knowledge of the word of God that he did, you could have done the same thing
because you are also a born again man - Kenneth Copeland
Joyce Myers declared that unless you believe that Jesus suffered in Hell, you cannot be
saved.
"There is no choice of anyone going to heaven unless they believe this truth I am
presenting. You cannot go to heaven unless you believe with all your heart that
Jesus took your place in hell."
"For three days He was alone paying for our sins as "only a man."
Kenneth Hagan explains that Jesus had to taste spiritual death for every man and had to
be reborn in Hell:
"Why did He [Jesus] need to be begotten or born again? Because He became like
we were - separated from God. Because he tasted spiritual death for every man
and because his spirit and inner man went to hell in my place. Physical death
wouldn’t remove your sins. He’s talking about spiritual death. Jesus was the first
born again man. Why did his spirit need to be born again, because it was
estranged from God." - Kenneth Hagan
This Word-Faith doctrine does not come from the Bible, but comes directly from pagan
religions. Reverend Sun Myung Moon who founded the pagan cult known as the
Unification church and its followers were once called the Moonies taught exactly what
Word-Faith teachers are now teaching. Moon declares himself to be the Messiah. For
those who are unfamiliar with the Moonies, some of Rev. Moon’s quotes should clarify
his pagan position:
"The whole world is in my hand, and I will conquer and subjugate the world."
"So from this time of peak every people or every organization that goes against
the Unification Church will gradually come down or drastically come down and
die. Many people will die -- those who go against our movement."
"The true sovereign is not the American president nor the English king, but the
Lord of the Second Advent." (Which, by the way, is the title Rev. Moon claims
for himself).
(Here is a supposed divine revelation given to Moon from Christ)
"Bring in the flocks. Bring in the sheep and bring them to the throne of your True
Parents. Bring them to the throne of our True Parents, the mighty throne of
heaven. And I will place the Crown of Glory on our True Parents’ head. I will lead
them. I will show them that the Lord of Lords and the Kings of Kings and the
King of Glory is our precious Lord Sun Myung Moon and his beloved bride Hak
Ja Han. They reign as king and queen of the entire universe. And that I, Jesus of
Nazareth, known as the Christ, bow in humility before them. I bow before them.
Any who will follow me must do the same. I bow before the name of True
Parents. I bow before our precious Lords, our True Parents, Sun Myung Moon
and Hak Ja Han."
We can see clearly that if Moon claims that Jesus will bow humbly before him. He is
challenging God by claiming to be God. The Bible pulls no punches; everyone in heaven,
earth and under the earth will bow at Jesus’ feet when He is revealed in all His glory.
This includes Rev. Moon. I presented these quotes to show that there can be no mistake;
Rev. Moon’s doctrine is pagan to the core. In spite of this, Word-Faith doctrine adopts
some of his teachings. Consider this doctrine from Moon:
"When Jesus uttered his last words on the cross, saying, ’It is finished’ (John
19:30), he did not mean that the whole purpose of the providence of salvation was
attained through the cross. ...Therefore, Jesus meant by the words ’it is finished’
that he finished establishing the basis for the providence of spiritual salvation
through the cross, which was the secondary providence of salvation." Sun Myung
Moon in his work, "Divine Principle" pages 151 and 152.
Moon is claiming that Jesus’ proclamation ’It is Finished!’ was not a declaration of
victory, but miscommunication. In Unification doctrine, Jesus’ death on the cross was
only the beginning of the plan of redemption. Now lets look at the Word-Faith doctrine:
"When Jesus cried, ’It is finished!’ He was not speaking of the plan of redemption.
There were still three days and nights to go through before He went to the throne
... Jesus’ death on the cross was only the beginning of the complete work of
redemption." - Kenneth Copeland
The Bible says the cross is our redemption, but Word-Faith teachers say it is not. Kenneth
Copeland, Joyce Myers, Kenneth Hagan, Fredrick Price and all other prominent Word-
Faith teachers have doctrines that agree with Sun Myung Moon, but how do they measure
up to scripture? As we shall see, they all fall far short of what God declared was an
acceptable sacrifice. The points raised by Faith teachers are: Jesus must suffer in Hell so
man will not; physical death cannot atone our sin; Jesus was separated from God; Jesus
lost His divinity; and the cross is not enough. I will attempt to answer each of these
objections with scripture.
Part 2.What the Bible says about the cross.
Is Spiritual Death Necessary?
Word-Faith teachers boldly proclaim that Jesus’ physical death on the cross could not
redeem mankind. Why? What scriptural reference supports this claim? The Bible says
just the opposite. Look at Colossians 2:
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which
was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the
cross.
How were our sins taken out of the way? They were nailed to the cross. Look now at
Colossian 1
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now He has reconciled
22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and
above reproach in His sight --
We were reconciled from our wicked works in the body of His flesh through death. If
Word-Faith doctrine is true and we can’t be saved unless we believe that Jesus suffered in
hell, why hasn’t spiritual death been mentioned? Romans 10:9 says, "if you confess with
your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the
dead, you will be saved", and Word-Faith doctrine says, "You cannot go to heaven unless
you believe with all your heart that Jesus took your place in hell". The Bible says that you
must believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and Word-Faith says you must believe
that Jesus suffered in hell. Which version of the gospel has more credibility?
Romans 8:3 tells us that Jesus Christ condemned sin in the flesh. 1 Peter 3 says:
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit
The Bible says that Jesus’ death was in the flesh but His spirit was made alive. If the
Bible teaches that death was physical and the Spirit was and is life, how can anyone
claim that Jesus had to die a spiritual death?
You cannot find anywhere in scripture where it is even remotely implied that Jesus
served man’s sentence in hell. In fact, there is not a single implication that Jesus suffered
beyond the cross. Everything in scripture points directly to the cross as the victory over
sin and death. In Word-Faith theology, Jesus suffered spiritual death and was then
revived by God in Hell. He was born again with a new spiritual nature and he then
emerged with the keys of hell. They point to the Apostle’s Creed as evidence that the
early church believed the same things they are teaching. The point in the Apostle’s Creed
in question states:
[Jesus] Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He
descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead
Where is spiritual death in this statement? Where is suffering in hell in this statement?
There is no question that Jesus descended into hell because scripture clearly states this,
but it does not say He suffered. The confusion comes from the KJV use of the word hell.
In the Old Testament, the KJV uses the words grave and hell interchangeably. In the New
Testament, the KJV makes no distinction between hell and Hades.
Understanding the word Hell
One basic principle I frequently reiterate is that the Bible is one complete revelation. To
properly interpret scripture, a passage must be taken in light of the rest of scripture. We
will see some examples that show why this is so important as we proceed. The concept of
hell was not introduced until Jesus taught it in the New Testament. Old Testament saints
had no distinction between hell and the grave. Jesus’ teaching is the first glimpse of hell
that God ever revealed. In the Old Testament, the word ’hell’ comes from the Hebrew
word ’sheol’. Psalm 18 provides an example of this word usage:
4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me
afraid.
5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my
voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
In this Psalm, David is lamenting his sorrows. The word ’hell’ is the word ’sheol’. Even
in the context of the passage it is being used, it is clear that the Bible is referring to the
grave. Death compassed me; the sorrows of ’sheol’ (or the grave) compassed me. It
makes perfect sense to say that death and the grave is surrounding me. David was a man
of God; he was used greatly by God and inherited the promise of God. He was the lineage
that Christ would one day descend from. David was not going to hell when he died - at
least not in the sense of today’s meaning. Sheol simply means the grave. It may be
translated as hell, but it did not mean to be separated from God and tormented.
Look at Psalm 88:
3 For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
Sheol has now been translated as the grave in the KJV. It is the exact same word and used
in the same context, but this time it is called the grave. Now let’s move to a passage that
is used to show that Jesus descended into hell. Psalm 16 says:
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in
hope.
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One
to see corruption.
Is this passage foretelling of Jesus’ separation from God, or is this prophecy pointing to
His death, burial and resurrection? The apostles save us the confusion and interpret this
very passage for us. Look at Acts 2:
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also
will rest in hope.
27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One
to see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in
Your presence.’
29 "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he
is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 "Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to
him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the
Christ to sit on his throne,
31 "he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His
soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
32 "This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
Only the KJV translates this as hell in verse 27. The word ’hell’ comes from the word
’Hades’ which means ’the abode of the dead’ or the grave. We will examine three Greek
words that the KJV translates into the word hell. We will examine this in more detail
shortly. To the English reader it comes across as the same word, therefore it is assumed
be the same meaning, but this is not so. It is understandable that the Old Testament never
addresses the issue of hell. Sheol is always used. The grave (or death) can be but is not
always judgment. As we have already discussed, the concept of torment in hell was
unknown in the Old Testament because Jesus revealed this in His teachings. Before Jesus
came, the grave was a dark unknown to the Old Testament saints. The New Testament
reveals a lot about hell. Understanding the different references will clarify much of the
confusion about Jesus’ descent into hell.
There are three primary words translated into the word ’hell’ by the KJV. Hades, geenna
(or gehenna), and tartaroo are translated without distinction in the King James Version of
the Bible. Hades is translated into the grave and hell in the KJV. Hades means the
underworld, grave or place of the dead. Acts 2:27 is an example of Hades:
For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to
see corruption.
The KJV translates this as hell, but the Greek word is Hades. The KJV translates the
exact same word as grave in 1 Corinthians 15:55
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The prophecy of Jesus not remaining in Hades is talking about the body. Jesus’ body did
not remain in the grave, nor did His body see corruption (or decay). This is a reference to
His resurrection.
The word Gehenna is also translated into hell. Gehenna was a valley of Hinnon just south
of Jerusalem. This was a wasteland where animal corpses were dumped and burned. It
was a horrible place that never quit burning and the fire could not stop the decay. Jesus
used this as a word-picture for hell fire and judgment.
Matthew 18 is an example of this word:
9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for
thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell
fire.
This word is intended to represent eternal judgment and torment. The Bible never
mentions Gehenna as being the place of Jesus’ destiny after the cross.
The last word for hell is Tartaroo (or Tartarus). This means the deepest abyss of Hades.
This is where the Greeks believed the wicked dead were cast when they died. 2 Peter 2 is
an example of this word:
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and
delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
The Bible is teaching that angels in rebellion are cast into the deepest abyss to await
judgment.
Putting it into perspective.
Now that we can see the different words used to describe death, the grave, hell and the
abyss, let’s go back to the question of Jesus’ descent into hell. Was Jesus condemned to
hell? One Word-Faith teacher put it this way, "the demons threw a net around Jesus and
dragged Him into hell to torture Him". This would imply that Jesus was defeated on the
cross and Faith doctrine does teach that Jesus was later rescued by God. (This would also
imply that Jesus was not God.) Jesus did not suffer in hell when He died. His body went
to the grave, but His spirit was fully alive. Jesus made this clear in John 2:
19 Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up."
20 Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will
You raise it up in three days?"
21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
It was the temple of His body that would be destroyed, not His spirit. When Jesus died,
He was immediately in the hands of the Father. Of course we don’t know the exact events
or when they occurred, but we do know that after this He descended into Hades. We will
discuss this in-depth a little later. Jesus’ own words give us a small glimpse. On the cross,
one of the thieves repented and asked Jesus to remember him. Jesus responded in Luke
23:
42 Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your
kingdom."
43 And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in
Paradise."
Faith teachers make a great effort to discredit this verse. Joyce Myers offered her
explanation of this passage. She said that Jesus did not say, ’I say to you, today you will
be with Me in Paradise’. She claims that the comma is misplaced. It should read, ’I say to
you today, you will be with Me in Paradise’. In other words, "Today I am saying this.
You will be with Me in Paradise". This is reading into the text. There would be no need
for Jesus to tell the thief when this statement was being made. Even so, all we need to do
is read three verses farther and Jesus clears up the issue completely.
46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, ’into Your
hands I commit My spirit.’ " Having said this, He breathed His last.
Faith teachers say that Jesus’ spirit was dragged into hell, but Jesus said His spirit was in
the Father’s hands. The Bible tells us that the first place Jesus’ spirit went was to be with
the Father. In light of what He told the thief and His proclamation of being in the Father’s
hands, we can understand where Jesus went after physical death. We may not know the
exact events that happened after Jesus’ physical death, but the Bible does offer several
pieces to this puzzle. Look at 1 Peter 3
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in
the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight
souls, were saved through water.
Again I want to bring your attention to the truth of scripture. Verse 18 tells us that Jesus
was put to death in the flesh, but alive by the Spirit. After making this point unmistakably
clear, the Bible then tells us that He also preached to the spirits in prison. Word-Faith
doctrine says that Jesus died on the cross and then needed to suffer spiritual death in
order to serve our sentence. They also claim that Jesus suffered silently in hell. At the end
of three days, He was revived by the Spirit of God, born again in the spirit and triumphed
over hell. Faith teachers say that Jesus suffered silently, but the Bible says that Jesus
triumphed on the cross and preached His victory. Word-Faith doctrine attempts to
squeeze all of this in between the lines of scripture. This doctrine is not in the Bible.
Proverbs 30:6 warns us not to add to God’s words or else He will rebuke us and we will
be found to be a liar. Isn’t that exactly what is happening in the doctrine of Jesus
suffering in hell? Teachers are adding to God’s word what clearly is not there. The Bible
always points to the cross as Jesus’ victory over sin and our redemption. The cross is the
message of the gospel. If Jesus triumphantly declared, "It is finished", what right does
any man have to say, "No, the process of redemption has only begun"?
Each of these passages of scripture testifies that Jesus was alive in the Spirit, in the
Father’s hands, entered Paradise, etc. No passage even remotely implies that He suffered
beyond the cross. If there are countless verses that teach that He triumphed over sin and
wicked principalities on the cross and He preached in victory, and no passages say He
suffered spiritually, then doesn’t it make sense to take the Bible at face value on this
subject?
Satan hates the cross and will attack it on every level. Look again at Colossians 2:
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which
was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the
cross.
15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of
them, triumphing over them in it.
If Jesus made a public spectacle of Satan and his forces on the cross and through the
cross He triumphed over them, is it any wonder that satan desperately wants to discredit
the cross? Since the cross is a reminder of Satan’s defeat, we can surely expect that he
will do anything to take attention away from the cross.
Preaching to the spirits in prison
Look again at 1 Peter 3
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in
the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight
souls, were saved through water.
Who were the spirits in prison? Some believe it was fallen angels. I suppose it is possible
that Jesus would proclaim His victory to the principalities that tried to hinder God’s plan,
but I don’t believe this is what is being communicated here. This passage says that Jesus
preached to those who were formerly disobedient while God patiently waited. Fallen
angels (or demons) were not formerly disobedient - they are presently the way they have
been since their fall. They will not change and cannot be redeemed according to scripture.
1 Peter 4 gives more information:
5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
6 For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they
might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the
spirit.
The Bible first identifies those God waited for in the days of Noah and now others are
included. Jesus preached the gospel to those who are dead. They also can live according
to God in the spirit just as we will. I believe that this is the Old Testament saints. Look at
Matthew 27:
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
...
52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen
asleep were raised;
53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy
city and appeared to many.
I want to compare this to Jesus’ explanation of the uncompassionate rich man and the
beggar. Daily the rich man passed by the needy beggar and never even offered a crumb.
Then Jesus continued in Luke 16:
22 "So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s
bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar
off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 "Then he cried and said, ’Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send
Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am
tormented in this flame.’
25 "But Abraham said, ’Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your
good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you
are tormented.
26 ’And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that
those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to
us.’
In these passages, Jesus revealed that Hades had two sections. On one side there was
torment and on the other side the saints were at rest. Now if we take this information back
to the passage of Jesus preaching to the spirits in prison, we can get a better
understanding. Keep in mind that the Old Testament Saints were waiting for their
redemption as well. By faith they kept the law and trusted in God’s redemption that was
yet to be revealed. The Bible pointedly states that the sacrifices of bulls and rams cannot
take away sin. Until Jesus died on the cross, God’s people were still in bondage to sin.
They were not tormented because they were credited as being righteous because of their
faith, but they could not be justified until the debt owed to sin was paid. An animal
sacrifice cannot pay that debt. Jesus alone paid that debt. Once He died, their redemption
was preached and they were released from prison. When He rose, the Bible says that they
were no longer in Hades. A sinful man or woman cannot come into God’s presence.
Therefore, I believe that the Old Testament saints could not enter their final rest until they
were justified by Christ on the cross. Until that time, they were in prison waiting for
Messiah to come. They were not in torment and were not being punished, but they were
still under the debt of sin. Jesus stated that He came to set the captives free. Bondage is
from sin, but freedom comes only through Christ.
Man’s Destiny
Word-Faith teaches that Jesus had to suffer in Hell so man would not have to. The
argument is that if Jesus suffered in all ways like us, that must also include our suffering
in hell. As we have seen, teachers of this doctrine believe that Jesus served our sentence.
However, the Bible does not condemn sinners to a temporary Hell. Because of sin, we
deserve an eternal hell. Our sentence is not 3 days. Once this life is over, our destination
is final.
Another oversight is that Hell is not man’s intended destiny. Look at Matthew 25:
41 "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ’Depart from Me, you cursed,
into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
Hell was designed for Satan and the angels who fell with him. Only by choice will any
man go to Hell. There is no need for Jesus to suffer the sentence of hell because hell can
only found after salvation through Christ has been rejected. The Bible tells us that it is
appointed for man once to die, after this is the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). The Bible tells
us that man is appointed to die, but no where are we appointed to hell. No one is judged
for their sins. We are judged with our sins if we choose to cling to our sin and choose to
stand in account ourselves. We will only pay if our sins remain at our judgment. Because
Jesus died for past, present and future sins, we can only stand to be judged if we reject the
cross of Jesus Christ and refuse to make Him our Lord. The debt to sin was either paid on
the cross, or is due at judgment. Jesus paid for those who put their faith in Him, man pays
only when Jesus has been rejected.
Did God Forsake Jesus
It is commonly taught that Jesus became sin for us on the cross, therefore God had to turn
away from Jesus. The Word-Faith doctrine takes this misassumption to a new level. In
this section, I hope to clarify this issue by examining scripture. Here are two examples of
this doctrine:
Frederick Price -"Why did Jesus say on the cross, ’My God’? It was because God
wasn’t his father anymore. Jesus took on the very nature of Satan."
Kenneth Hagan
"Why did He [Jesus] need to be begotten or born again? Because He became like
we were - separated from God. His spirit ...was estranged from God."
It isn’t only the Word-Faith doctrine that teaches that Jesus was separated from God.
Most Christians would side with this idea simply because Jesus said, "Why have you
forsaken me" on the cross. I also once believed this. Scripture itself convinced me that
this is not so. For our sakes, I am thankful this is not true. When Jesus cried, "My God,
My God, why have You forsaken Me", it was not because He was separated from God. It
was not because God wasn’t His father anymore. It was not because God turned His back
on Jesus. It was a proclamation that scripture was fulfilled.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, certain events were exacted solely so that scripture could be
fulfilled. Jesus said that of the 12 disciples that He handpicked, none would be lost except
the one who was the devil. This was Judas. He was picked to betray Jesus so that
scripture might be fulfilled. In John 19, the Bible says that the soldiers gambled for Jesus’
tunic ’so that scripture might be fulfilled’. Jesus said, ’I thirst’ so that scripture might be
fulfilled. For the same purpose, Jesus cried out ’My God, My God, why have You
forsaken Me’ so that we could identify the prophecy that He was fulfilling. As I stated
earlier, this does not mean that Jesus did not suffer. I believe that Jesus truly experienced
the agony of feeling separated. However, human emotions do not override reality. Now
let’s go to the prophecy that Jesus was quoting.
Psalm 22 begins with Jesus’ declaration that we just quoted from the gospels. Because of
this, we know to go to this prophecy to see what God was doing. Not only do we see that
this quote was a fulfillment of this prophecy, but we also see the deep thirst foretold by
the phrase, ’My tongue clings to my jaw’. We see His bone’s out of joint, His hands, feet
and side were pierced. In exact detail, the crucifixion of Jesus was foretold thousands of
years before this horrible punishment was invented. Even the mockery was perfectly
described. Compare these two passages:
Psalm 22
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head,
saying,
8 "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He
delights in Him!"
Matthew 27
42 "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him
now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.
43 "He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He
said, ’I am the Son of God.’ "
Because Jesus has pointed us to this passage, it only makes sense to take this passage into
account when we proclaim the gospel of salvation. On the cross, we are only getting an
external view, but in prophecy we are given a small glimpse from Jesus’ perspective.
Jesus makes it absolutely clear that He was never estranged by God. Look at Psalm 22
again:
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He
hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard.
God has not despised. God has not abhorred. God did not hide His face. God was
watching, listening and enduring the suffering. Isaiah 53 says that ’we’ hid ’our’ faces
from Him, ’we’ esteemed Him stricken - we rejected Him. This has been twisted into
God’s rejection of Christ instead of man’s rejection of Christ. Scripture does not say that
God rejected Jesus on the cross. It is just the opposite. The Bible says that God was
pleased with Jesus on the cross. If Jesus is God as the Bible claims, how could He
become estranged from God? Can a God who cannot change be torn apart? Can an
infinite God that the universe cannot contain divide? To think so is irrational,
contradictory and unscriptural. Jesus was never forsaken by God on the cross. However,
the Bible clearly says that He suffered like us so that He could understand our sorrows.
Look at Hebrews 2
17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be
a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make
propitiation for the sins of the people.
18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those
who are tempted.
This does not even remotely imply that He suffered spiritual death. As we discussed
earlier, spiritual death can only come after rejecting God’s mercy. Man is not appointed
to hell. Man was created for God. According to scripture, Hell was created for Satan and
his angels. Man can choose hell, but it comes only after we have sealed our fate. For this
life, hell is irrelevant, therefore there is no need for Jesus to suffer in hell in order to
identify with our suffering. Emotional pain is another story. Emotionally, the weight of
the sins of the world were unbearable. Jesus did not shield Himself from the feelings of
anguish, separation and rejection.
God does not reject man. Man rejects God. People feel lost, rejected and abhorred by
God, but are they? The Bible says, no. The weight of sin makes me feel rejected, but the
Bible says that I am free to come before God to lay down my sin. If we look to the
beginning, Adam and Eve felt ashamed and hid from God. God did not reject them, they
hid from God. God came to them, sacrificed an animal and used it to cover their shame.
People have this terrible misconception that God cannot look upon sin. The Bible never
says this. The Bible says that God’s holiness will consume sin and God will judge sin.
God cannot be touched by sin and He cannot be tempted. Sin is anything that goes
against God’s character. It is an assault on God. You can assault God all you want, but it
will not affect Him. Sin does not harm God. However, God does have a dramatic affect
on sin. It is sin that is destroyed by God’s presence, not the other way around. Sin did not
attack Jesus on the cross. Jesus attacked and defeated sin on the cross.
What this means to us:
Understanding this truth applies directly with how we relate to God. If we can’t
understand that God loved the Son on the cross, then we can’t understand that God loves
a sinner like me. If Jesus took upon Himself all the sin of humanity - past, present, and
future - and God did not turn away and did love Him, then I can be certain that God loves
me just as I am. A murderer can confidently kneel at the cross and lay his or her sin down
and receive the love that God has always longed to give. An adulterer, homosexual,
prostituted, thief or any other possible type of sinner will only be willing to come before
God if they realize that God not only can look upon them, but can lift the burden of their
sin, cleanse them and make them righteous. Romans 5:8 says,
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
There is no way to misinterpret this passage. God loved us while we were sinners. That
love was demonstrated by Jesus’ death on the cross. God even loves those who hate Him.
However, a sinner cannot receive God’s offering of love without the cross of Jesus
Christ. He may love us unconditionally, but He cannot accept us unconditionally. Sin
cannot abide in God’s presence and every sin must be judged and avenged by God. God
could not even receive the Old Testament saints until their sin was paid. God did not
bypass His law, instead He fulfilled the law in our place. The good news of the gospel is
that every sin has been paid for on the cross. Either we can be judged with our sin, or we
can exchange our sins for the righteousness of God through the cross. Only the cross
avenged sin. Only the cross can pay our debt. We cannot. We can only choose to accept
Christ or reject the cross and stand in judgement for our own sin in place of the cross.
Those who do not understand this principle of scripture will be like Adam and Eve. They
will flee from God out of fear and shame. God calls sinners to come. He paid the debt and
offers His righteousness to all. If God could not look upon sin, then He could not look
upon sinners and we would be hopelessly lost.
Did Jesus Lose His Divinity?
We have already covered this in part as we looked at the Bible’s proclamation that God
cannot change. The Bible clearly states that Jesus never changes - He is the same
yesterday, today and forever. However, to make certain that this is clearly understood,
let’s take a closer look at the Word-Faith doctrine of Jesus losing His divinity and
compare this to scripture.
A serpent is the symbol of Satan. Jesus Christ knew the only way to defeat him
was to become one in nature with him. He did not take my sin, He became my sin.
Sin is the nature of Hell. Sin is what made Satan. He became flesh that flesh may
become like Him. He became death so dying men could live. He became sin so
sinners can become righteous in Him. He became one with the nature of satan so
that those who have the nature of satan can become partakers of the nature of
God. - Benny Hinn
This doctrine is orthodox Christianity mingled with false religion. Almost all Word-Faith
teachers proclaim that Jesus became the serpent (or the nature of Satan) on the cross. The
idea that Jesus became one with Satan on the cross comes partly from the Gnostic
religions. The Gnostics teach that the serpent is the redeemer on the cross. Many of these
teachers point to Moses lifting up the serpent in the desert. This comes from Numbers 21.
When the people revolted against Moses, God sent serpents as a judgment against them.
God also provided healing by commanding Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole. If
anyone was bitten, they could look upon the serpent and live. Jesus pointed back to this
event as a symbolic prophecy concerning Him and His death on the cross. Just as the bite
of the serpent meant sure death, just as the infection of our sin means death. God
commanded the people to look at the serpent lifted up to point ahead to the time when we
who are infected by sin could look at the cross of Jesus Christ to find redemption from
our sins. Just as the people revolted against God and fell under the curse of serpents, sin
is rebellion against God and puts us under the curse of sin.
The serpent in the desert did not represent Jesus himself, but the sin that would be nailed
to the cross. In Jesus’ body, sin was nailed to the cross. He became our sin does not mean
that Jesus became sinful, but instead it means that He took on our sin and paid the penalty
in His own body. Look at 1 Peter 2
24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to
sins, might live for righteousness -- by whose stripes you were healed.
As always, we must compare scripture to scripture to get the complete picture of God’s
revelation. Jesus became our sin in the same way that the Old Testament sacrifices
became the representation of sin that was sacrificed in the place of the person who
actually committed sin. The animal did not literal become sin, but became the stead for
sin or the one who bore the penalty of sin. The animal symbolically bore the sin as a
temporary sacrifice which would ultimately be fulfilled in Christ. Look at John 3
14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of
Man be lifted up,
15 "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
The serpent in the desert was lifted up to show how our Messiah would die - not to show
what our Messiah would become. It was our sin on the cross, not a satanic Jesus on the
cross. It was a symbol of the kind of death Jesus would die. Word-Faith teaches that Jesus
did not take our sin, but the Bible clearly states that in fact, He did take our sin. The
above passage says that He bore our sins. Colossians 2:13-14 says that He took our sins
and nailed it to the cross. So in light of these passages, we can clearly interpret 2
Corinthians 5:21 which says that He was made to be sin for us that we might be the
righteousness of God in Him. This does not mean that He literally became sin nor does it
mean that He took the nature of Satan. It means that He was made to be sin in our place
so that we could be credited with the righteousness of God.
Jesus did not need to be ’born again’ because He is eternally the same. He may have
veiled His glory, but He did not cease from being God. It is unnecessary and impossible
for Jesus to be transformed into a satanic nature or to be born into a new divine nature. In
Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). It is contradictory to say
that Jesus had to be reborn when the Bible says that He was God in the flesh and it
contradicts the Bible’s claim that Jesus has never and will never change. When the Bible
tells us that man is born again, it does not mean that man becomes divine in nature. It
simply means that we have become a child of God and are spiritually alive in His
kingdom. We no longer live for the world and our selfish desires, but we now live for the
spirit looking forward to the day when we will be changed into an incorruptible child of
God (1 Corinthians 15:51-58).
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
