The second day of the retreat was a dazzling moment in the presence of God and a buildup of the first day of the retreat. After a joyous moment of praise in God’s presence, a solemn moment of prayer, everyone decentralized to their various bible study class.
The topic of the bible study was “The Work of the Cross” (John 19:13-18). The Bible study explained that the phrase, “The work of the cross” simply means the work that the cross of Christ accomplishes in the lives of the believer (Hebrews 12:2).
Wonderful works of the cross include:
The sacrifice on the cross brought about our salvation/redemption (Titus 2:14).
The power of the curse of the law that was hanging against man was removed through the work of the Cross (Galatians 3:13).
Faith in the work of the cross makes the believer righteous before God (2nd Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus disarmed the rulers, authorities and powers of darkness and put them to an open shame (Colossians 2:15).
The cross produces in us the crucified life and a crucified world (Galatians 6:14; Galatians 5:24).
By the cross, the power and bondage of death was destroyed (Hebrews 2:14-15).
The power of the blood of Jesus Christ opened access to God for us. The curtain of the Temple tore into two from top to bottom as Jesus died on the cross (Matthew 27:50-51).
Afterwards, with joy and expectation, everyone was attentive as the last Easter message of our founding father of blessed memory, Apostle G. D. Numbere was played. In his message, he said Easter is about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Easter took place in three days and in four places which are first in Heaven, secondly on Earth, thirdly under the ground and finally again in Heaven.
Easter Began in Heaven: Easter began in heaven and ended in heaven, God created angels the same way He created man. Angels are powerful, holy and they are Spirits (2 Peter 2:11). The seed of Abraham (man) is sinful, weak and dust (Genesis 2:7, Genesis 3:19). Angels and Men were lost entities because both man and angels sinned against God (Romans 3:23; Jude 6). Now God had to make a decision on whom to save, the question is who would God choose? Praise God, He chose to save the seed of Abraham (man). Apostle G. D. Numbere asked a thought seeking question, “If an individual was asked to choose between good and bad, strong and weak, holy and sinful, which would he choose?” He would definitely go for the good, holy and strong. God however, chose to save and reckon with the bad, sinful and unholy man (Hebrews 2:16). Easter is about making a choice, the decision/choice to save the seed of Abraham (man) was made in heaven and that was where Easter began.
On Earth (Hebrew 10:5)
No sacrifice could save any man so Jesus took the nature, the body of man (dust and ashes). Sacrifice and offerings cannot wash away sin, even the blood of animals (Hebrew 10:4), cannot wash away sin, hence the decision made by Jesus, to take on the body of man. This body that God put Himself into is what came in at Christmas. During Christmas, Jesus came in as a Human being (Hebrews 10:7).
Why did Jesus take a human body? (Leviticus 17:11)
The life of the animal is in the blood because it is the blood that make us live. Jesus took the human body so that he could carry blood. It was this body with the blood that was born on Christmas day. This blood was given to make an atonement of the soul of man.
Jesus made Himself humble and took the form of a servant, He made himself of no reputation, he was made in the likeness of man. Christians should be like minded, to have the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). He made Himself as nothing and was made in form of man. Whoever must be great will be a servant(Philippians 2:5-8). What Jesus did is mind blowing that he lowered himself to the level of man. The bible admonishes us to humble ourselves because if Jesus humbles us them we are dead. Whoever must be great must be a servant. Imagine the one who created man, think about how big heaven is, the one who created heaven and bigger than heaven and earth reduced Himself to the form of the man that he created, there is nothing worse than that.
Afterwards, the International Director, Pastor Isaac V. Olori gave a talk on the topic: “What is finished?” (John 12:31-33). Excerpts from his teaching can be found below.
When a person is about to die, people pay attention to the utterances of that person at that moment. “It is finished”, was the last statement Jesus made at the cross. Everything that has to do with our redemption is finished so the Christian owes the devil nothing. The believer is a new person, his matter has been settled, everything has been paid for.
The Defeat of Satan
Satan was permanently defeated when Jesus declared “It is finished” on the cross. Satan is the God of this world. There are two kingdoms on earth (Ephesians 2:2), the kingdom of darkness and kingdom of God. When God takes dominion over the life of the believer then the kingdom of God is on the earth (Colossians 1:13). Satan was judged on the cross, God determined his status in life and he is under the feet of the believer. His rule over humanity was taken from him and he was cast out. The dominion of the devil over the life of the believer is finished.
On the cross Jesus accomplished bringing God’s kingdom down on earth (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Every unbeliever who is not born again is under the kingdom of darkness but for the believer, Satan has been cast out because the believer is of the Kingdom of His dear Son. By the work of the cross, the believer is a citizen of heaven, of a different heritage. Therefore, the light of the kingdom of heaven should affect the believer (Ephesians 2:2).
How Jesus Defeated the devil
Jesus disarmed the devil. The laws were given as a temporary provision to direct man and lead him to Christ but there was no man that could keep it. (Colossians 2:4-15)The blood of Jesus is a blotter that cleans all of the sins of man and the records of sins.
Jesus canceled the reign of death (Romans 5:12-21). If Jesus had not come, there would not bey resurrection. Adam spread sin to everyone (1 Corinthians 15 :10,12-14, 2 Corinthians 3:6-15, Hebrew 2:14-15) but Jesus came to take away sin (Romans 6:9, Romans 8:2).
When Jesus defeated the devil
Jesus destroyed the power of sin (Romans 6:2).
The believer gained access to the holy of holies (Hebrews 4:16).
The cross provided healing, deliverance for all (Matthew 8:17, James 5:13-16).
Jesus became a curse for the believer (Matthew 8: 17)
The work of the cross opened a way for the believer to be endued with the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit.
There is provision for healing on the work of the cross. All the believer needs now is to claim their healing (James 5:13-16).
The work of the cross has opened a way so believers can be redeemed with the power and anointing of the Holy Ghost.
The believer has the capacity to carry the anointing of the Holy Spirit (Joel 1:28; Joel 2:29; Galatians 3:13-14, John 7:37-39).
In conclusion, the devil recognizes what has happened on the cross, he knows that he has been defeated so he brought a strategy to conceal the truth about His dethronement (Matthew 28:10-15; 2 Corinthians 4:3-4). One of the strategy of the devil is to blind the heart of the believer and unbeliever so that they do live in ignorance and not know the truth about the mystery of the cross. The work of the cross will not have effect on those who do not believe, ignorant and blinded (Matthew 13:15).
