The Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

station 12

“When he received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30)

“Christianity begins not with a big do, but with a big done. We begin our Christian life by depending not upon our own doing but upon what Christ has done. Until you realize this you are no Christian; for to say: ‘I can do nothing to save myself; but by his grace God has done everything for me in Christ,’ is to take the first step of faith.

If I put a dollar bill between the pages of a magazine, and then burn the magazine, where is the dollar bill? It has gone the same way as the magazine – to ashes. Where the one goes the other goes too. Their history has become one. But, just as effectively, God has put us in Christ. What happened to him happened also to us. All the experiences he met, we too have met in him. ‘Our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin’ (Rom. 6:6). That is not an exhortation to struggle. That is history: our history, written in Christ before we were born. Do you believe this? It is true! Our crucifixion with Christ is a glorious historic fact. Our deliverance from sin is based, not on what we can do, nor even on what God is going to do for us, but on what he has already done in Christ. When that fact dawns upon us and we rest back upon it then we have found the secret of a holy life.” (Watchman Nee, Sit, Walk Stand)

Prayer of Praise:  “I adore you, O Christ, and I bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”

Thirteenth Station