Jesus endured the cross to accomplish much!
“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2 NASB)
The following are a few passages of scriptures telling what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
He fulfilled prophecy
- Written by King David 1,000 years before Jesus Was crucified: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. And you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me. A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." (Psalm 22:14-18 NASB)
- Written by Isaiah 700 years before Jesus was crucified: "Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth." (Isaiah 53:4-7 NASB)
- Written 500 years before Jesus was crucified: "And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born." (Zach. 12:10 NASB)
Humbled himself - "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Phil. 2:8 NASB)
Demonstrated the greatest act of love - "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." (John 25:13 NASB)
He laid his life down for us - "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." (John 10:11 NASB)
Bore our sin - "and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." (1 Pet. 2:24 NASB)
Reconciled us to God - "For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." (Rom. 5:10 NASB)
Justified us - "So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men." (Rom. 5:18 NASB)
He became sin - "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:21 NASB)
He finished the atonement - "When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit." (John 19:30 NASB)
Reconciled Jew and Gentile - "and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity." (Eph. 2:16 NASB)
Reconciled all things - "and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven." (Col. 1:20 NASB)
Cancelled out our sin debt - "having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Col. 2:14 NASB)
Rendered the Devil Powerless - "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Heb. 2:14 NASB)
Brought in the New Covenant - "And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it." (Heb. 9:15-16 NASB)
He redeemed us - "knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ." (1 Pet. 1:18-19 NASB)
Died for sins - "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit." (1 Pet. 3:18 NASB)
Propitiated our sins - "and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." (1 John 2:2 NASB)