This is why Jesus speaking proclaims, "He has overcome the world" - Jn.16:33. How could He tell His disciples this when He had yet to go to the cross, die and eventually be resurrected. He is able to do this for two reasons. The first is that He reinforces where His Power comes from saying' "It is the Father that does the work" – Jn. 14:10. The significance of this is we tend to associate Power with the character of God, the Almighty. But Jesus associates this Power with the character of a Father. His Father who is our Father. The second significance of Jesus' statement of overcoming is in reference to defeating the cross. Jesus is expressing confidence that His Father with Power assures Victory over the cross and death. Jesus is now the resurrected Savior and has been granted by the Father to have His name above every other thing named. He is not recognized in Heaven as the suffering curse of sin as He was on that old rugged cross. Jesus is known throughout Heaven and in the depths of hell as the "Lion of Judah" and is revered with every Spiritual knee bowed in submission to Him. Jesus will be seen by the world in His Glorified body when He returns and will not have a dullness to His garment, nor have any blood dripping from Him. He will only have as a reminder, the piercing of His body, wrists, and feet; and His crown will not be of thorns but of an illuminated glow above His head. Jesus will be in full ascension above all that is of this world and of the grave. He is our Victorious Salvation, and Lord over all that is life and death.

​We, the Body of Christ ought to be a reflection of His Glorified body and Victory. For even when He was here on Earth, He did not allow the curse to control His attitude and focus. He had every Faith in the Power that was given to Him with the Anointing and He made sure satan and his minions knew this, to the point without speaking a Word, demons feared just being in His presence saying, "what have we to do with you" – Matt. 8:29. Jesus exercised His Righteous authority and yet was not Glorified for another three years. How could He have done this? He, after all, was just a mere man.

The cross should have a place in the Christian Heart but more than that; the resurrection of Jesus should have more prominence and given more attention. Isn't ironic that most crosses, especially those in religious institutions show the crucified Jesus when in fact Jesus is no longer on the cross and now sits in Heavenly places at the right hand of the Father. This is part of the reason why many of religious doctrines are stunted in their Christian growth because they are still re-living Calvary weekly if not daily. Jesus is no longer at the "Place of the Skulls". If anything, Jesus, our risen Lord, and Victor over death and sin is at the finish line waving and cheering His brothers and sisters in the Word to run their race in the Glory of His resurrection including all things that He paid the price for our use and benefit. Jesus is no longer the suffering and agonized man but the bold and empowered Lord, Savior and Lion of Judah with eyes ablaze with fire. 

8) The cross of itself is not a living thing or a person but is the symbol of the birth pangs from the darkness of death to the light of life, which is Jesus. When man fell, God states from the woman's seed will come Salvation with birth pangs. A woman naturally does not produce a seed but was able to seed birth of man by the Holy Spirit. A natural birth is usually nine months when physical birth occurs. Jesus' "new birth" occurs around the ninth hour when He gave up the physical body and started His new Spiritual life. 

9. In Revelation, when Jesus is presented, He is not the sinned man on the cross but the accepted eternal sacrificial lamb that is sanctified in right standing with God and is not helpless but enabled to defeat unrighteousness. He is vividly described by John is several ways especially as a Victor with eyes like a blazing fire – Rev. 19:12.

​10. The cross is a representation of the darkness (sin) hold on the carnal man which is literally demonstrated by either the binding with ropes of the hands and feet of the crucified person who was hung on it or by the nailing of their wrists and feet. The purpose was not to kill instantly but to persecute, torment and cause excruciating intense pain and discomfort. Depending on technique and health of the individual, death could result within a day or days later. The cross is the metaphor for hell itself, where the sinned soul and spirit is bonded to the grave and subjected to satan's torments.

It is not that God could not have sentenced satan immediately to hell as He did with his excommunication after the rebellion in Heaven. God had to make sure, the divine authority lost with Adam would be reestablished with Jesus. God's goal was not vengeance but justice for His Kingdom and for man. He wanted to ensure that no one else would have to carry the burden of sin and suffer punishment with death on the cross of disobedience. Once Jesus ran the course of sin's burden and proclaimed, "It is finished" to God; the veil was torn into two signifying that the Old Covenant was voided and that sin will no longer be the reason not to walk in the Glory of the Anointing. This Anointing is placed on every new creature born of repentance, Jesus' Lordship over their lives and the receiving of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. God nor Jesus having no more use for the cross has sentenced it to where sin and death are convicted to go. Into the fires of hell. This is why Christians are to Spiritually burn the cross.

​Now, before many of religious minds convict me of being a heretic consider the following.

Mar. 16, 2017.

 
Burn the Cross.

Spiritual Awakening

A crucified cross can keep one in feelings of guilt, which may lead to remorse and ultimately repentance. But to stay in that guilt only keeps open doors for satan to deceive with inadequacies, subversions, and chains that bind leading to mental and spiritual slavery. When the cross was finalized so was Salvation's gift. A one-time allotment of God's will that all would have a birth-right to the Kingdom and its constitution. Where previously, the sin man was a slave and subjected to scrutiny for their thinking, actions, and person. Now, by Salvation, this sin man is a free man under the Grace and Blood statutes of God's Kingdom. Which is the opposite of what a cross indicates, which is a man marked for convictions and crimes against the Kingdom. The cross being a mark for carnal man. When Jesus was placed on the cross, He received six marks as a man marked for death. These includes the three nails through His wrists and feet; the spear's single impaling at His side; the crown of thorns on His head and the sign above His head. Six being the number of a man. When Jesus was resurrected, He received the seventh sign which is His Glorified body or it can be considered His Glorified garment. Seven the number of perfection. This is significant, for even though Jesus was raised from the grave, He still had not completed His perfect transformation and is why when He appeared to Mary, stated, "do not touch me for I have not ascended to My Father" – Jn. 20:17. Later, when He meets the disciples especially Thomas, He allows him to touch His body. By this time, Jesus is a Glorified body, no longer subjected to Earthly imperfections but is now perfected and seated at the right hand of the Father, as in God's perfect example, adjudicator of Righteousness.

Does the cross matter? Not if your focus is to store up Heavenly treasures and be in perfect submission and obedience to God. Consider God's perspective of the cross as a father who watched his son carry the burden of a fatal disease like cancer (sin) and have to take treatments of chemotherapy (the beatings, whippings, and abuse from the Roman soldiers) that only bought discomfort, pain, and torment (the crucifixion). Then by some miracle cure (agape love) puts that disease in complete remission resulting in no evidence that it existed at all, and now your son is whole; full of life and even stronger than before. Which father would want to remind his son or himself of that awful time of darkness (the curse) but rather cherish every moment of joy through thanksgiving for the life now given for a renewed life (Salvation's gift) with the bonds (Blood of Jesus) of a family; living life to the fullest and despite any challenges, overcome them all (by Grace) because having faced death, nothing can prevent you from living and winning.   

Flush it Out! - Follow Jesus leaving your cross behind.

Now, the cross does have a place in history but not in the resurrection. Like with everything in the Bible, it shows God's commitment to His promises but is never used to chain us into burdensome laws that enslave us but rather is the cause for why Jesus came to finalize the freeing of the body, mind, and spirit from the curse, death, and the flesh. It is the resurrection of the son of man from the grave that is our Victory. The cross chained Jesus but the moment He paid the price on the cross; God won the legal battle, the freedom of not only His Son but all His sons and daughters who have freely come to His Kingdom. The cross should not be confused with the sacrifice for sin, which is Jesus. In the Old Covenant, animal blood was laid on the altar for the remission of sin. The cross is the altar and the Blood of, and Jesus; the sacrifice. There is no more physical altar, which has been replaced with Grace. This is why we and the Bible say to offer sacrifices of Praise, Thanksgiving and of our body, mind, and spirit; but no more blood anymore, because God's Grace looks pass our failures and because Jesus is eternal with God, is our eternal living sacrifice and not dead animals. 

When Jesus went to the grave as the curse of the law demanded it. He went not bonded into death but went as an ambassador of God's Righteousness having been made the first of many, the Righteousness of God by His Blood sacrifice and God's Grace. He, satan and all his demons were unable to withstand His presence, because having the Power, proclaimed freedom and triumph as stated, "made a spectacle of them" – Col. 2:15. This resurrection set the stage and started the Father's Grace for all who accepts the Blood of Jesus, so much so that the cross is not remembered by God. But some say, Jesus, sits at the right-hand of God, which reminds Him of the cross and crucifixion. Jesus being at God's right-hand indicates He is in right standing with God and represents, and is the Victor of Truth who will sit in judgment. The cross was that stigma of sin, disobedience, and rebellion, but with Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection, God now avails to us eternal forgiveness saying, "I will not remember your sins no more" – Heb. 8:12. Every time we remind God of our sin once it has been forgiven; it's like we are saying to Him; we don't trust His integrity. This is the same when we remind Him and dwell on the shame of the cross which is the epitome of sin for which Jesus suffered its punishment as our sacrifice so we would not have to because of His Blood. Sin is not a physical offense but a spiritual one which is essentially rebellion and disobedience against the Spirit of God. So the cross, crucifixion of Jesus satisfied God's requirement for His justice of the offense, first in the spirit with Lucifer's rebellion and then Adam's disobedience as a physical man. Jesus' sacrifice which has been accepted is not as a monument for these sins but is the living amendment to legally justify the release from these sins, where Jesus is now the God-man as in ‘Spiritual-flesh", satisfying both Spirit and physical flesh respectively. This to fulfill what the first man failed to do.

1) God states, "everyone who hangs from a tree is a curse" – Gal. 3:13. The cross used by the Romans were made from a tree and why Jesus feeling the full weight of sin, cry out, "Abba, why have you abandoned me" – Matt. 27:46. 

2) The cross of crucifixion was considered for those who rebelled against the world system which at that time was the Roman rule, a prime spiritual seat for satanic influence. Jesus being placed on the cross can be looked on as satan's punishment for challenging his authority in the world. This is also signified by Golgotha as the "skull place" representative of the spiritual hell of condemned souls. Jesus was literally in satan's worldly backyard, with satan fully expecting Him to be translated into his spiritual domain. 

3) The cross used for Jesus would have been reused for the next series of crucifixion or acquired by those of a twisted spirit as a reminder of Jesus' paying the price for challenging the status quo of the time. The cross would eventually be burned, rotten or turned into firewood. It would always be the platform for the curse and symbol for sin.

4) There is no cross in Heaven. God has no special place for it not because there is no appreciation for what it once represented but mainly because God harbors no worldly symbol, especially of sin and never uses the past as a reason for the future. The cross is an Earthly anchor whereby the Spirit; Jesus has been elevated above all things that corrupt, decay and rot including the cross, because of the flesh. 

5) The cross can be looked on as the symbol of death where Jesus before and after the cross speaks of life. In the early days of Judeo-Christianity; after the resurrection, the symbol used often was the fish in reference to becoming "fishers of men" which was Christ's statement to the apostle Peter and is an obvious symbol of life and being fed by the Word (Jesus) of God. 

6) The cross is representative of the pinnacle of the Passover from the law to Grace; the Old to the New Covenant and from the pain of death into the eternal life of the spirit. It is a transition and transformation point of reference. 

7) There is no connection of the cross and the New Jerusalem. Revelations describe God's Throne with living things and the New Jerusalem with precious metals and stones. The Earthly New Jerusalem will be as God's Heavenly Throne with Joy, Praise, Thanksgiving, and Worship. Where only the Glory and Righteousness of God will be displayed and mandated.

Now, to be clear Jesus was born of the Spirit and not from the corrupt seed of a man. For with the curse came disobedience to the will of God in all parts of the body, mind and even the spirit. Adam being the first of his kind enabled this generational curse by surrendering to satan's will and influence. This is why God had to seed Mary with an incorruptible seed to ensure there would be no invasive sin in the man of Jesus. Jesus' blood had to remain innocent of sin. Now, many in the body may think this is a reason to compromise their Blood bought Christian walk, saying God tilted the tables in favor of Jesus to win over death and the devil. This is far from the Truth of God's integrity to send the Word to become the perfect and equitable sacrifice for the sin of man. The Spiritual seed placed in Mary is like the Spirit breathed into the first man. There had to be an equitable substitute for this spirit so that Jesus' temptations would be as equal to the temptation faced by Adam. Adam and Eve were told that they would be as God while Jesus was tempted as the Son of God. God had to set a level playing field so that satan could not claim God's bias with Jesus as a legal argument against Jesus' eternal payment for sin. God prepared and orchestrated a credible "sting" operation against the thief; satan, which held up in court and convicted satan of his capital crime against the Kingdom.

Having been commanded to store up treasures of Heavenly value, (Matt. 6:20) many of the Body still hold onto things that moth, rust, and rot take hold of. We have been freed from Earthly things and lifted up onto Heavenly things. We can throw off the chains of the law and walk in Righteousness as Christ does. His Glory is no longer tethered to the cross of Calvary. When Christ went to the cross and the place of death, known as Golgotha - the place of skulls. He did it knowing that sin was already weighted on the cross set before Him. Because more than likely it was used for others prior to His crucifixion. He did not take ownership of that cross.