Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected. And He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life….No one takes My life from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” (Luke 9:22; John 10:18)
A Great Hymn
Christ shall have dominion over land and sea.
Earth’s remotest regions shall His empire be.
They that wilds inhabit shall their worship bring.
Kings shall render tribute, nations serve our King.
When the needy seek Him, Christ will mercy show.
Yes, the weak and helpless shall His pity know.
He will surely save them from oppression’s might.
For their lives are precious in His holy sight.1
A Village in Danger
In The God Who Hung on the Cross, Journalist Ellen Vaughn retells the true, amazing story of how Jesus’ salvation came to a remote village in northern Cambodia. In 1999, Pastor Seng (not his real name) traveled to an isolated area where most people trusted in Buddhism, demonism, or praying to the dead.
When Seng came to one small town, however, the people warmly welcomed him. He was shocked by their desire to learn all about Christ. Why were these people different? God the Holy Spirit had already been at work! Seng asked about their eagerness, and an old woman (we’ll call her Chan) shuffled forward to answer. Chan said, “We’ve been waiting for you for twenty years!” Then she told about how the God she loved, the One who once hung on the cross, had already saved her life.
From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge (a brutal regime) ravaged Cambodia, killing two million people. When soldiers attacked Chan’s little village, they rounded up everyone and forced people to dig their own graves. When the villagers finished digging, they all prepared to be slaughtered. Some screamed to Buddha. Others prayed to demon spirits or their departed ancestors.
God Takes Action
Drawing on childhood memory, Chan begged for help from the God who had once hung on the cross. Her mother had told her about Jesus, but Chan didn’t remember His name. Still, she prayed to this crucified but resurrected Lord, reasoning that if He had experienced sorrow and suffering Himself, He could have compassion on her at this hopeless moment. Soon Chan’s neighbors joined in her prayers. They begged the Lord to save them.
As everyone stared into their freshly dug graves, they felt an unusual silence fill the muggy jungle air. Slowly, they turned around to face their executioners – and saw that the soldiers had vanished!2
Hallelujah! You have won the victory.
Hallelujah! You have won it all for me.
Death could not hold You down, You are the risen king
Seated in Majesty, You are the risen king!3
Jesus Is On The Move
In Bible times, Christ delivered His people from Egypt, saved Daniel from the Lion’s den, and rescued some apostles from prison. Now the Risen Jesus is still doing similar things all around the globe! Christ is not in the manger now, not on the cross, and not in the grave anymore. He is alive and reigning and still rescuing desperate people!
King David said: Pushed to the wall, I called to God and He answered. God’s now at my side and I’m not afraid. Who would dare lay a hand on me? Hemmed in and with no way out, God’s my strong champion. I flick off my enemies like flies. God’s my strength, my song, and my salvation. Hear the shouts, hear the triumph songs? The hand of God has turned the tide and is raised in victory!4
Chan told Pastor Seng that for 20 years villagers had been praying, waiting, and longing for someone to come tell the true story of their loving, mighty Savior. He had once hung on the cross, was now powerfully alive, and saved their entire village!
God is For Us
God the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit) has existed forever, before His creation of the heavens and the earth. He is the one and only, true and living God. The Trinitarian Lord is a spirit being, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, love, and truth.
Jesus is God the Son who pre-existed with the Father and the Spirit before He became a man and walked upon the earth. Christ lived the completely obedient, completely faithful, completely loving life we failed to live. He also came to die the wages-of-sin death we deserved and to rise from the grave for our salvation. That’s the part of Christ’s story that Chan remembered.
Galatians 4:4-6 says: When the set time had fully come, God sent Christ His Son to be born of a woman, to buy freedom for us, so that God could adopt us as His very own children. The Lord also sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts, prompting us to call on God as our Father with warmth, confidence, and delight.
Christ’s humble First Coming to earth in Bethlehem is the greatest miracle of all! Now the Bible also tells us to prepare for the Son of God’s majestic Second Coming. The best way to do this is to “live holy and godly lives as we look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”5
Jesus is Alive and Active
Chan prayed to the living Lord and Savior and He answered! In between Jesus’ first and second comings, He is alive and reigning. Forty days after Christ’s resurrection, He ascended into Heaven with both His divine and human natures in His resurrected body. He is the Risen King of His creation.
God the Father already knows what we need before we ask Him.
God the Son (Christ) prays for us in Heaven.
And, here on earth, God the Holy Spirit prays for us.
God the Holy Trinity perfectly loves and cares for all of Jesus’ followers, every single one of us. I love it that Christ intervened for the believers in Cambodia who didn’t even know His name. God doesn’t always act in the same way in Bible times or now, but He does promise to help us.
What About Us?
Chan and her villagers had to wait for a missionary to visit them. But many of us own a complete Bible in our own language containing both the Old and New Testaments. Or we can easily get one. From beginning to end, the Bible reveals Jesus. He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, and His life ties together all the prophecies. All of the New Testament books tell about Christ also, what He said and did, how He transformed the lives of His followers, and how we can follow Him, too. We don’t have to wait to find out about the God who hung on the cross. We can know Him today by asking the Holy Spirit to speak to us as we read the Holy Scriptures.6
Jesus is Still at Work in His World
Do you know Jesus’ story? Do you rejoice in Him and call on Him for help? Do you tell others about what Christ did for all of us and what He has personally done for you? Scripture says that Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede and pray for them. Jesus says, “I am the LORD, the God of all humankind. Is anything too hard for Me?” Christ is still doing miracles of grace in the most unlikely places. And He can do them right where we live! Nothing is impossible with God.7
We have heard the joyful sound: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Spread the tidings all around: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Bear the news to every land. Climb the steeps and cross the waves.
Onward! It’s our Lord’s command: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!8
Prayer
Lord, we praise You that You were and are the God who hung on a cross for us and the living Savior Who hears and sees us. You have delivered us, You are delivering us, and You will continue to deliver us. Make us bold for You because our time on earth is short. Help us to tell everyone we know about Your glory, honor, and power.9 In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Notes (various Bible translations): 1 “Christ Shall Have Dominion,” 1871. Words paraphrased from Psalm 72. Tune by Arthur S. Sullivan is the same as “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” 2 Rosser and Vaughn, The God Who Hung on the Cross, 2003, p. 35-37. 3 Song by Hunt, Seeley, and Webber, “The Anthem,” 2012. 4 Eugene Peterson, The Message. Psalm 118:5-16 (adapted). 5 2 Peter 3:11-12. 6 John 14:25-26; 2 Tim 3:15-17. 7 Heb 7:25; Jer 32:27; Luke 1:37. 8 Hymn by Priscilla Owens, “Jesus Saves,” 1882. 9 Prayer based on 2 Cor 1:10; Eph 5:16; Rev 4:11.