HE WHO WAS DEAD IS ALIVE FOREVERMORE!

Pastor Max Solbrekken at Garden Tomb outside Jerusalem's

City Wall, where Jesus' body lay for 3 days before His resurrection

                              CHRIST'S CROSS AND 

                        THE FINAL SOLUTION!

                           By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.

    Watching the almost apocalyptic beheading of twenty-one Egyptian Christians by hate-filled, demon possessed Islamic Terrorists - following in the steps of their genocidal seventh-century leader - almost makes any normal person sick!

     "They are not human; worse than beasts", you say! Yet, the Bible says that God loves them and Jesus died for their sins, as evil as they are. By looking into their eyes you see what happens when the devil takes control of a soul! Pray for their salvation!   

     Remember that Saul of Tarsus was a Jewish Terrorist who killed believers in Yeshua Ha Maschiach (Jesus the Messiah) and how Jesus changed him!  He changed his name to Paul and under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, wrote nearly one-half of the New Testament! Can these evil men change? Yes! With God all things are possible! (Mark 9: 23; 10:27)

      Having said that, "Would you want these inflamed criminals, who have innocent blood on their hands living in your neighbourhood? To be free to molest, rape and brainwash your children and take over the country?" I think not!

     These barbarians are taught from early childhood to hate, rape and murder defenseless people who do not bow their heads to the ground in worship to their 'moon god'. They are slaves to a politically dangerous system of cruelty and inhumanity!

     Yet, as children of God and believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, we are commanded to love them, pray for them and to win them for Christ and His Kingdom. 

               JESUS CAME TO SAVE SINNERS!

     The Good News is that Jesus Christ came into the world to "seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10) He didn't come for the righteous, but He came for sinners. The Holy Bible states: "All have sinned and fallen short of the Kingdom of God." (Rom. 3:23). That includes us all, no exceptions! 

     The Scriptures declare: "God hath concluded all under sin", so that we are all guilty and without excuse: “…That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” (Rom. 3: 19). Again, St Paul writes: "The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 6: 23)

    We are saved by Grace alone, through Faith alone, and in Christ alone! It is not by works of righteousness, but by His grace that we are saved. (Eph. 2: 8, 9). Christ alone suffered, bled and died for our sins to bring us to God.

     The Bible says: "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (satisfaction,) through faith in His BLOOD, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed, through the forbearance of God;

      "To declare, I say at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of Him which believeth in Jesus." (Rom. 3: 24-26). The Sovereignty of God demanded punishment for SIN and the CROSS provided the FINAL SOLUTION.

  For four thousand years, God, in His great mercy and kindness allowed the sacrifice of innocent lambs, goats and bullocks (occasionally a red heifer) to suffice.

     When the ‘fullness of time’ had come, Almighty God gave Himself in His SON, to be the propitiation for our sins. The word propitiation means the covering, satisfaction and expiation. The only RIGHTEOUS ONE, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, had to die to cover our sins and satisfy the demands of Divine Justice!

     Our righteous, just and merciful God had to bring judgment upon all sinners through the VICARIOUS death of a righteous man. No man could qualify for all are born in sin, therefore He had to pay the sin debt Himself.

     The INCARNATION of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, settled the sin question for time and eternity, through His sacrificial death on Golgotha!

BORN TO DIE IN OUR PLACE!

     That is why Jesus of Nazareth had to be crucified. He was born to die; to be crucified in order to pay the sin debt for all unrighteous humanity, to meet the demands of Divine Justice for our awful sins against the Almighty.

   This is possibly the Bible’s greatest verse: "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32)

    In 1978, I was preaching in Ghana, Africa in a large Gospel Crusade. I became very homesick. I could not eat their food. The netting around my bed was broken and since I had forgotten to take my anti-malaria pills, I didn't get much sleep.

    I was very unhappy even though we were seeing many souls come to Christ and powerful miracles were taking place. I was studying Romans when suddenly it jumped out at me with such force that I was shocked. Our Heavenly Father let me know what it cost Him to provide the Great Salvation that I was proclaiming so freely!

JESUS WAS SMITTEN OF GOD!

    I had read that verse many times but never fully understood it. I was torn to pieces as I saw how the Father had ‘TURNED OVER’ His only begotten Son to murderers who would mock Him, spit in His face, scourge Him and nail Him to the Cross of shame for us. 

    I wondered how He could do that, as I personally would never allow anyone to harm my wife or children. Only over my dead body, would anyone molest, rape or kill my family!

   Then He took me to Isaiah: "Surely He hath borne our sicknesses (heb.makob ) and carried our pains (heb.nasa): yet we did esteem Him stricken, SMITTEN OF GOD and afflicted. 

   "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed.

    "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath LAID UPON HIM the iniquity of us all. Yet it pleased to BRUISE HIM; He hath put HIM TO GRIEF..." (Isaiah 53: 4-6, 10)

   God the Father laid our sins, sicknesses and pains on His Son. It was God the Father Who smote His Son for us, and what really tore me up was that God was pleased when Jesus suffered, bled and died for us! I prayed and wept for several days after God had spoken to me! 

    Shortly after that crusade, God opened the door to ARGENTINA. No crusades were held there because of the Military Rule, but God opened the door for Omar Cabrera  and me to reach Cordova for Christ. 

    Great Miracles happened every evening and the crowd grew to 48,000 on May 15, 1978. Omar Cabrera then continued the Crusades and his Cordova Church grew from zero to 8,000 in 9 months and within 18 months, Vision de Futuro had 150 churches with 450 pastors. 

     Then, Carlos Anacandia got saved and began to preach and the rest is history as he and others have reached several millions. 

I SPOKE TO THE MILITARY!

     Interestingly, when Omar contacted me his heart was to go to Paraguay, but that wasn't working out. The Holy Spirit put Argentina on my heart. Omar had been forced to leave his country when his name was found on a Rebel hit list. He said he was finished with Argentina and would never return, but I was adamant that we should hold the crusade there. Finally Omar said: "Okay, we'll try Cordova."

    We started with six thousand in attendance the first night. By the fourth night we had 10,000 and the Chief of Police finally came back to town and signed the permit. The Roman Catholic Church which had opposed the Crusade, lost control over their people. Nuns and priests attended openly rejoicing in the great things which God did and carrying their tape recorders to get the messages I brought!      

    I had requested a meeting with the Military Junta and demanded that they stop their persecution of the Evangelicals and Pentecostals to which they agreed. From that day onward the persecution stopped and the Revival steam rolled ahead.

     After preaching to the four Colonels for 20 minutes about God and the Devil, Heaven and Hell, the Cross and the Blood of Christ, the leading COLONEL said loudly, "What do you want from us?" 
    I said: "Stop persecuting the Evangelicals and the Pentecostals!"     He said: "O.K. What else do you want?" I answered: "Get down on your knees and give your hearts to the Lord." They were shocked. Omar let out a big laugh, I smiled and they relaxed. 

   I said: "I would like to pray for you and your families.” Immediately, he said: "Yes, please do." After prayer, they all shook my hand and told me about the good things they had heard about the crusade. That is how the official persecution stopped and how the REVIVAL started in Argentina in May, 1978. Praise the Lord!

GO INTO ALL THE WORLD!

   This Gospel is for ALL people of ALL the world including the Muslim World! Jesus Christ commanded: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ...." (Mark 16: 15-20)

    King David prophesied: "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His ANOINTED, saying, Let us break the bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. (Psalms 2: 2, 3)

     The Apostles prayed, quoting David: "For a truth against Thy Holy Child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done." (Acts 4:25-28)

    The whole world was involved in carrying out the will of God in the sacrificial death of Christ for us all. King Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and Israel is a representation of the Entire World that stands guilty in the SIN of crucifying the Son of God!

    And the entire world is invited to receive God's forgiveness, peace, healing, blessing and deliverance which has been purchased for us all through the shed BLOOD of Jesus Christ our Lord and His glorious resurrection from the dead! 

     The Bible says: "Looking for that blessed HOPE and the glorious appearance of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Who GAVE HIMSELF for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2:13, 14)

   "But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 

     "Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by His GRACE, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3: 4-7) All glory to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen!

Is God able to save and fill with His Holy Spirit, the tough, evil, perverted Muslim terrorists? Read Acts chapters 9, 22 and 28. If He can reach a Jewish terrorist He can reach a Muslim terrorist! Nothing is too hard for our God!

A GREAT MIRACLE IN NORWAY!

    In late August, 2001, I was preaching in a small town in Norway and learned about a refugee camp where hundreds of Muslim refugees from the Kosovo War were being housed. I asked if anyone was reaching them with the love of Christ. They answered, “No”.

     I challenged the pastor’s wife who was teaching them Norwegian, to invite them to our Revival Meeting. She answered that it was against the new school rules to talk to students about Jesus!

    I countered: “St. Peter said, ‘We ought to obey God rather than man’. It seems rather strange to me that a Pentecostal Pastor’s wife would not have the courage to obey God rather than rules put in place by some political hack”

     She said: “O.K. I will ask them.” She did and eight people accepted. The Pastor picked them up and brought them to the meeting. All received Jesus Christ as their Saviour and since August 2001 until now that Church has baptized more than 1,000 Muslims to Jesus Christ.

      The Holy Bible says: “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have ALL MEN to be Saved, and to come to the knowledge of the Truth. For there is ONE GOD, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: Who gave Himself a ransom for ALL, to be testified in due time.” (1 Tim. 2: 3-6)

                    THE BLOOD OF CHRIST AVAILS!

    The hymn writer penned the life-giving words: “The Blood avails, the Blood of the Bleeding Lamb. Just like in Olden Days, Praise God the Blood avails!”

      The Cross of Christ has been referred to as the 'Axis of Salvation' and the climax of the cosmic conflict between God and Satan, between good and evil on Golgotha. What happened there on the 14^th of Abib in ca. 33 A.D. forever marked our Heavenly Father as the God of Majesty and Power, of Compassion and Love, of Righteousness and Justice!

  Early that morning the stage had been set for the 'Greatest Transfer of Mercy and Grace', ever known in the universe, and will endure throughout Eternity. Adam had committed gross sin against his Father and God, and had been ejected from the Garden of Eden. God the Son, had been incarnated to die as God's Paschal Lamb to liberate the human race from sin, sickness and the devil!

     At 9:00 o' clock on the great Day of Atonement the high priest tied the paschal lamb to the Altar in the temple. At that very hour, Jesus the Lamb of God, was nailed to the Cross on Golgotha. 
    For six hours they both waited for death. At 3:00 o'clock, the high priest, having transferred the sins of Israel onto the head of paschal lamb, cut it's juggler slaying it.

    At precisely the same moment, Almighty God, Earth's great High Priest tore the veil from top to bottom and LEFT the temple. Instantaneously, He stood on Golgotha's Hill and laid the SINS OF THE WORLD on the head of His Son. At that moment Jesus shouted His Victory Cry, “It is Finished.” (John 19:30)

    Jesus spoke in Greek, saying, Tet-el-estai, taken from the Greek verb teleo which has three essential meanings: to finish something, to bring something to an end; to fulfill something; to pay that which is owed.”

    Jesus had finished His mission and brought to an end Satan's domination over the human race. He had fulfilled all the O.T. prophecies about the Messiah and paid for all our sins, sicknesses and pains! The fountain was open, His blood was flowing and there is no longer any need for the Holy of Holies or the blood of bulls and goats!

    “And the sun was darkened, and veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost.” (Luke 23:45, 46)

    He had purchased Eternal Life for all who would receive Him as their Lord and Saviour! The Bible says: “And He (Jesus Christ) is the propitiation (God is satisfied with Christ's Sacrifice)for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD.” (1 John 2:2)

     That takes in everyone from all the nations of the world, including the Mohammedans, Hindus, Buddhists, Communists, Jews, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses and Christians!

    Clearly stated, there is but ONE God and Father, and ONE Lord Jesus Christ Who is both Creator and Sustainer of the world and sole Saviour and Redeemer of the human race, and ONE Blessed Holy Spirit who draws all men to Christ.

    All other so-called gods, goddesses and deities are mere counterfeits, imitators and pretenders! It is Christ and Christ alone who saves, heals, delivers and liberates from sin, fear, sickness, disease and all the powers of Darkness and Satan!

      Praise the Lord forever and ever! Hallelujah and Amen.