The mystery of the Cross is the heart of the Christian Worship. What we worship is not the crucifixion of a man condemned for treason. That would make the death of Christ merely another Roman execution.
On Calvary, Satan poured upon Christ every evil he could inspire humanity to commit. The depraved, violent, perverse, and blasphemous acts that we see and read about were lashed upon Jesus on the cross so that humanity would kill Him. In so doing, Satan would relish in his revenge: God is dead! Humanity killed him.
Christ’s death, however, is not a Roman execution. It is not merely punishment for sin either. It is God’s love expressed through the most precious gift of Himself, a act of sacrificial love, in which Christ constantly gives Himself completely, for all time and for all people to make us partakers in his divine nature which was lost at the Fall. This is divinization.
Christ’s death justifies us taking away our sins. He paid the debt that we could not pay. It was an atonement sacrifice making us righteous as Scripture clearly teaches:
“He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world” (1 Jn 2:2).
This is true, but incomplete. Jesus not only justifies us with his death on the cross, but He restores humanity back to our original state. This is the resurrection. We no longer live fallen in sin, but through baptism we die with Christ and if we die with Him, we rise with Him. Risen, we are more than justified. We are glorified. We partake in his divinity.
Moreover, the crucifixion is more than Jesus’ justification and our glorification. It was the fulfillment of the first prophecy in which the Seed of the Woman would crush the skull of the serpent. Upon Golgotha, the place of the skull, Jesus dies. His death manifests his power to rise from the dead. In so doing, God did not die. Satan did. Christ conquered Satan and destroyed death forever. In Christ’s death, Satan is destroyed and we are redeemed so writes St. Paul:
“In him we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us” (Eph 1:7)
We, who participate in the living sacrifice, are now washed clean of our sin; but more importantly, Jesus ascends into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us as He did on Calvary. Through his intercession, the Holy Spirit bestows the riches of his grace upon us so that we, dead to sin, live glorified in Christ.