If you believe that Christ is the anointed one [the Messiah], what’s keeping you from trusting him for who he is? If you believe he is born of God’s Spirit, he must be all powerful. Don’t you think he can save you from the despair of this world?

 These questions bring us to the Cross and the second coming of Christ.

The second coming is a Christian and Islamic belief. It represents the literal return of Christ Jesus to the earth, to rule over the world in power and glory. We need to ask ourselves, “Am I prepared for such a day?”  Do we even know what it means to be saved and ready?

 Some may ask, “Saved from what, and how can one be prepared?”

The answer is, we need to be saved from our sin. Sin is falling short of God’s righteousness.

Billy Graham has said in one of his messages, “We don’t realize what sin is in the sight of God — how deeply it offends Him and how it separates us from Him. He cannot look upon sin.“  Then he went on and gave an example; “A diamond may be perfect to the natural eye. But if you take it to a specialist and he looks at it through a glass, he sees a defect in it. And God looks at us that way.”

In order for us to be acceptable to the eyes of God, someone had to sacrificially pay the price for our transgressions. In Old Testament times [before Christ], animals were sacrificed for forgiveness of sin. This practice foreshadowed the eventual sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. The cross shows us the depth of our sins. God’s word repeatedly tells us that we can only be saved by the blood of Christ, not by the blood of animals.

The Bible says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” [John 15:13] And in [Romans 5:8] Paul echoes God’s love; “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

 What matters most is to know that the Cross is a symbol of abundant life, a gift of love to us — where Jesus took the death, hate, violence, accusations, sin, and brokenness of the whole world upon himself. In return he offered life, love, peace, forgiveness, purity, and wholeness to all of us. The cross is a place where all was lost yet everything was gained.

 I see the victories of the Cross — His suffering made a way for my salvation. What about you? You may be a good person, a moral person, a forgiving person, a generous person, but have you ever been before the cross, offering your heart and asking Christ Jesus to be your Lord and Savior?  Have you received the abundant life that God has offered you?