The Empty Cross
๐๐๐๐
๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฉ, ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข. ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ญ, ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ; ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฃ ๐ค๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐จ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ:๐ฑ๐ฌโ๐ฑ๐ฐ
Read also ๐ ๐๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ช ๐ฎ๐ณ:๐ฑ๐ณโ๐ฑ๐ต; ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐ฑ:๐ฐ๐ฎโ๐ฐ๐ณ; ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ญ๐ต:๐ฏ๐ด.
๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ฉ
The cross is the primary symbol of Christianity. Jesusโ death on the cross has forever changed what it originally meant. While it used to only signify torture, suffering, pain, and humiliation, it now carries a message of hope and victory. The true message of the gospel lies in the truth that Jesus was not only crucified on the cross; He was also taken down, buried, and resurrected.ย
The cross of Christ is empty. This means that Jesus really took our place and died the death we should have died. He did not pretend to be dead and then silently came down. He did not escape in the dead of the night and hid so that He could leave His disciples with the message that He is just โsomehowโ dead. People knew and saw that His body was taken down, prepared, and buried. His death signified that He really did what He said He would doโHe really died and suffered for all our sins.ย
The empty cross is also proof that Christโs sacrifice is sufficient and complete. He did not stay on the cross or have to go back to it. His work is done. It is finished! Unlike others who died on the cross, His death was not hopeless or a dead end. Because He truly died but did not remain dead, His cross is a symbol of hope and victory. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ถ๐บ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐, ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฝ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐.ย
This Black Saturday is usually a picture of grief and despair based on the idea that Jesus is dead. But Christโs death was a preparation for the ultimate victory. At the dawn of Christโs resurrection day, He provided the ultimate blow against death and He conquered its sting. Today, we can rejoice and celebrate that the cross stands empty.
โThe Old Rugged Crossโ by George Bennard
๐๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ถ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด, ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ
๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐บ ๐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ
๐๐ฐ๐ณ โ๐ต๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ
๐๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ง๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฆ
๐๐ฐ ๐โ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ถ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด
๐๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ
๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ถ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ
๐๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ค๐ฃ๐
โข Knowing that the message of the empty cross is that Jesusโ death is real, what are the struggles and issues in our life that we need to put to death together with Christ?ย
โข As we reflect on the empty cross, are there times that we feel that our faith is empty and hopeless? Why?ย
โข What are the areas in your past that still bring shame and guilt? How can you live a life of confidence in Jesusโ death and sacrifice at the cross?
๐๐ง๐๐ฎ๐๐ง
Lord, today, remind me and help me understand Your death on the cross. Remind me of how true and complete Your death is so that I can live confidently in You. Thank You because the old has passed away and I am no longer who I used to be. Make me understand that because of the empty cross, Your sacrifice is complete. I no longer need to trust myself and instead live a life of complete trust in You. Amen.ย