Nailing Our Record to the Cross

"By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross" (Col. 2:14). 

This is, without exception, the most vivid description of God's salvation work of justification through Jesus. The author of It Is Well With My Soul captured it well:

"My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"

According to Paul here, God canceled our record of debt with its binding legal demands and nailed it to the cross. In causing Him to be nailed to the cross, God has provided for the full cancellation of the debt of obedience that we had incurred. Christ took upon Himself the penalty that we were under because of our disobedience, and His death fully satisfied God’s necessary demand for due punishment of that disobedience.

Our debt for sin has been paid in full; our sins are swept away and forgotten by God! What a glorious thought. You did not cancel your own debt, God did. You did not nail your own debt to the cross, God did. Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9), and He is fully deserving of your devotion and whole-hearted worship now and forever.

Do you treat Christ's justifying death as a simple, uncostly achievement or is it worth everything to you?

Bro. Brandon