Tuesday, April 18th, 2023

With Good Friday still in recent memory, it is worth examining one aspect of Jesus' death in particular. Paul wrote to the Colossians to help them clearly understand who Jesus Christ is so that they would not fall for false teaching about him. Part of his letter deals with teaching the effect Jesus’ death on the cross had for believers. He wrote, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” This echoes his writing in Romans 5:8, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (we did not deserve nor earn our forgiveness ourselves). Paul elaborates in Colossians what this means though: we are made alive with Christ, but also, each of our debts of sin unto God is cancelled. The word cancelled in the Greek literally means to smear away wax. In this time, they would write the accusations for crucified men on wax, and nail them to their cross for all to see. For instance, Jesus’ accusation was that he was the “King of the Jews.” But what Paul is saying here is that Jesus’ death smeared away that wax (not just erasing, as like a pencil that one can still see indentations on the paper or faint traces of the graphite, but completely gone, smoothing over wax as if it was never written in.) This, Paul says, leaves the rulers and authorities of our days nothing left to accuse us of because we stand justified before God because of our faith in Christ. Jesus’ death completely cancelled, smeared away, our debt of sin, while we were still sinners, and now, by faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we stand redeemed before God. Today, do not let accusations of this world weigh you down; your sins have been smeared away by Jesus and nailed to His cross, the one we were all rightfully due. Praise the Lord Jesus for what He has done!

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” -- Colossians 2:13-15 NIV