The Meaning of the Cross, Day 6

Welcome to our second week, and, our sixth day of our “40 Days of the Cross” series. Each day we are taking just a few minutes to look at a word which will help us better understand the meaning of the cross.
 

Today’s word is Shadow. I mentioned Friday that the Old Testament sacrificial system was a shadow of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. When you stand between a light and a wall, your shadow will be cast on the wall. Now that shadow is not you - it has the basic form of you and it may remind people of you, but it is not the real you. In the same way the system of sacrifice for sins in the Old Testament, where the blood of an animal would be shed upon an altar, was the basic outline of what the cross would be. It placed the idea of sacrifice into the hearts of people so that they would recognize the reality of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
 

Just as the shadow of the cross falls back upon the Old Testament, if also falls forward upon all of us as we live under the covenant of the New Testament. Everything we see in the New Testament is shadowed by the cross. In Paul’s letter to the Galatian Church, he explains his salvation to them. And in Galatians 2:20, he says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Paul is saying that the crucifixion of Jesus had cast its shadow upon him, that Paul has sacrificed his own self for the cause of Christ. The old man, the old heart, has been put to death, and now Paul’s new life is the risen Christ living in him.
 

The shadow of the cross falls upon us as well. Jesus’ sacrifice paid the price for our salvation. His sacrifice paid for our healing, our access to God, our joy, our strength; everything we are able to receive from God is the result of Jesus’ sacrifice upon the cross. The shadow of the cross falls upon all of us, every day. And it is an example for us in our lives. (We’ll talk more about example tomorrow.)
 

After we close in prayer, I encourage you to spend a little time in meditation and prayer thinking about how the shadow of the cross continues to fall upon us as believers.
 

Heavenly Father, my very ability to come to you in prayer today is the result of Your Son’s sacrifice on the cross. The shadow of the cross rests heavy upon us. Help us to remember that, help us to be thankful, and may our meditation draw us closer to you. In the name of Your Son Jesus, Amen.
 

Continued tomorrow