The Second Day of Creation-
On the second day of creation, God made the firmament (sky) by separating the waters which were under the sky from the waters which were above the sky. In a similar way, on the cross, Jesus was separated from God (above) and from man (beneath). “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46b). He was “cut off from the land of the living” (Isaiah 53:8). It was not enough for Jesus to be born as the light of the world. He also had to die for the sins of the world.
Just as God purposed t make the sky before He actually made it, so God planned beforehand for Jesus to die on the cross, Jesus was “delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). “It pleased the LORD to bruise Him” (Isaiah 53:10). Christ was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelations 13:8b).
As the sky divided the waters, so the cross of Christ divides mankind. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
How can this second day’s work of creation speak to us?
The work of the cross must apply to our lives. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20a). Sin in our lives must be dealt with by bringing it to the cross. If we are in Christ, we have been crucified with Him. We are dead to sin. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13). Confessing our sin to God brings cleansing, because sin has already been judged on the cross.
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23b). This call to full commitment to God’s will separates those who are true followers of Jesus from those who merely profess to follow Him. True followers are “caught in the middle”-loved by God and their brothers in Christ, but hated by the world who hates Christ. Are you living as one who has been crucified with Christ’s?