About Jesus  -  Steve Sweetman

The Throne Validates The Cross  

As Evangelical Christians we invite people to the cross of Christ to obtain forgiveness of sins.  As one who has spent his entire life of sixty eight years within the Evangelical church, I certainly appreciate our heart-felt, sentimentality we hold for the cross of Christ.  It is not an understatement when I say that the cross' significance has been burned into the core of who I am.  That being said, we all realize that when we invite someone to the cross, our invitation is understood in metamorphic, descriptive, or symbolic terms.  Despite the claims of some over the centuries, the physical cross no longer exists to which someone can come.  As important as the death of Jesus on the cross was, His present existence as the living, not dead, Lamb of God on the throne, makes the cross relevant in our lives.  Revelation 5:6 tells us that the Lamb of God is alive, and He presently sits on His universal throne.    

"Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders."  

Although the cross of Christ is where our forgiveness was purchased, it's the throne of Christ where forgiveness is now being offered.  The apostle Peter's alludes to this in his proclamation that Jesus is both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36).  As Christ, Jesus sits on His throne, offering us forgiveness.  As Lord, Jesus sits on His throne, inviting us to offer ourselves to Him in obedience.

If we invite people to the cross of Christ and neglect to invite them to the throne of Christ, we fail to proclaim the totality of the gospel.  We fail to instruct them that Jesus is not just the Christ who forgives, but He is the Lord to whom we submit.  We fail to educate the newly born-again believer that Jesus now exists in the unseen heavenly universe, as Ephesians 1:19 through 21 states.

"That power is the same as the mighty strength he [God] exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."

Likewise, if we neglect to invite people to the throne of Christ, we fail to advise the newly born-again believer of his new heavenly existence, situated alongside Jesus in that heavenly universe, as Ephesians 2:6 states.

"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,"

As born-again believers, in one real, albeit spiritual, sense of the word, we exist alongside Jesus and His throne in the heavenly universe.  If we fail to experience this reality, we miss out on what being a Christian is all about.   

Read Revelation 5:12 and 13 to see the present-day exalted state of Jesus as the Lamb of God.  

"In a loud voice they were saying: 'Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!'  Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!'"

When we, out of our heart-felt passion, invite people to the cross, let us never neglect to invite them to the throne.  From the throne, Jesus offers forgiveness of sins.  From the throne, Jesus declares the believer to be in right-standing before God.  From the throne, Jesus sends us His Holy Spirit.  From the throne, Jesus removes the wrath of God from our lives.  From the throne, Jesus rules as the supreme universal authority.  From the throne, Jesus will open the all-important, seven-sealed, scroll that brings this present age to its predicted end.  From the throne, Jesus will send the New Jerusalem to a newly created earth.  Before the throne, all creation will worship the Lamb of God who was once slain, but now lives.   

Let us maintain a balanced Biblical perspective concerning the cross and the throne.  The cross without the throne, and, the throne without the cross, make both the cross and the throne meaningless.  The throne validates the cross.