Bill Johnson - Rediscover the Power of the Cross
You and I were born for the impossible, and we are actually uniquely designed to walk in a relationship with God in this relational journey where the impossibilities of life can be confronted. It’s in our DNA. We are designed to carry that possibility and potential every day of our lives. The death and resurrection of Christ are two sides of the same coin—the most demanding reality in all of life. I remember a number of years ago, I met with a group of high school students at Chris’s house in his living room. I talked with them about the significance of the death and resurrection of Christ.
It is so significant that if it is not true, I owe humanity the rest of my life to warn them of this lie and to disprove this fallacy. On the other hand, if it is true, I owe all of humanity the rest of my life to bring the story and demonstrate the power of that resurrection because it defines everything else. All of life is defined because of this one great reality. Take all the confusion that exists in the world, the craziness going on, and all of it could be settled with a clear understanding of the death and resurrection of Christ—every single bit of it. When Jesus died, he did not die missing anything; he didn’t forget to address something. He didn’t offer himself as an offering for part of the problem; he actually became the offering to settle all the issues.
I was trying to remember a quote earlier, one of my all-time favorites. It’s a C.S. Lewis quote: «I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun.» I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen—not only because I see it but because I see everything else by it. Because of it, I can see everything else. The resurrection of Christ—the death and resurrection of Christ—redefines everything about life: relationships, giftings, purpose, dreams, and visions. All of it takes on a different flavor and definition because Jesus conquered death in my place and rose victorious. Interestingly, his resurrection is also our resurrection. Romans says that if you’ve been baptized with him, you’ve been buried in his death; then you also have been raised up in his resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is what is given to you the moment you are born again. It is what causes us to be born again. You understand, Jesus didn’t raise himself; the Spirit of God came upon him and raised him as a testimony of resurrection.
What I want to do today is go through the story. We will go to the crucifixion and then into some of the resurrection story, reading a few verses as I talk until we’re done. If you finish before I do, just go home! I’ve always wanted to tell you that.
All right, here we go. Open your Bibles to the Gospel of John, the 19th chapter. Did I say 19 already once? I just said ninth, but you can pick and choose; they’re both good. I’m going to be in chapter 19 if you want to join me. I was just at Twin View, one of our other campuses, and I was going to start reading without telling them what book or chapter in John, so I accused them of not having a strong enough prophetic anointing on their lives, but I repented quickly. It’s all right.
The Gospel of John, chapter 19, let’s go right to verse 31. Jesus is already crucified. It says in the previous verse he gave up his spirit, announcing, «It is finished.» Verse 31: «Therefore, because it was the preparation day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be taken away.» Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.
A couple of things I want to mention here: first of all, the prophets had declared that not one of his bones would be broken, so it is essential that his legs were not broken in fulfillment of the prophetic word. But what’s interesting to me is that he was dead before the other two. First of all, the guy—the thief who died with him on the cross—talk about coming into the kingdom at the last moment! Can you imagine this guy? You’ll see him in heaven; you’ll recognize him, you’ll know his story, and he will be able to brag throughout all eternity that he was one of those guys who came in at the exact last moment.
Years ago, we had some of our team down on the streets of San Francisco sharing the gospel and ministering to people. One of our team members, a 14-year-old girl, sat down on a curb, and there was an elderly man sitting there. She shared the gospel with him, and he ended up getting born again in a tremendous Holy Spirit moment; he was so deeply touched and transformed. She went around ministering to other people, heard sirens, and followed the sirens, which brought her back because this man had passed away since the time she led him to the Lord. So she was there at that moment. My prayer is that it would be impossible to get to heaven without reading that there would be people at the gates, the hospitals, the convalescent homes, the ambulance drivers—all these places that are really the gateways to eternity—manned by people who love Jesus and can introduce people into that last final moment experience. That’s my prayer for this city.
But here, these two guys are still alive. Their legs have to be broken so they can no longer push up and breathe, leading them to suffocate. When they came to Jesus, he was already dead. Why was he dead ahead of the other two? Personally, I think it was because of the weight of sin. If you take the billions of people and the sin—we know what it’s like when you’ve done something wrong. That shame, that guilt, that heaviness you feel for one thing: multiply that by billions of people, then multiply that by a lifetime of sin, and put all of that on one person in one moment. Jesus, who proved himself to be holy, demonstrated power in miracles but also power in holiness. It’s talked about in Romans. This one, in that moment, was crushed and literally died of a broken heart because of the weight of sin. Wow. Jesus became a curse; it says he became a curse on a tree, referring to the cross. He became a curse on the tree so that you wouldn’t have to bear the curse. He didn’t suffer and die so that you would have a good example to follow; he did not bear the weight of sin so that you and I could keep a stiff upper lip dealing with our sin. He bore the curse so that the power of the curse would be broken and wholeness would be available to every person in every situation. The resurrection power of Jesus lives in you, and he wants out.
I personally think all of heaven is looking to see what impossibility we will conquer in his name. What will we do with what we’ve been given? It’s a strange example, but Jesus came to a fig tree. It’s one of the funnier stories in the Bible. He came to a fig tree out of season to bear fruit. He came to it looking for fruit, and there wasn’t any because it wasn’t the right season. It says he cursed it. I’ve heard great teachings on the fig tree representing Israel and whatever. I don’t know what it means, except Jesus is the only one who has the right to expect fruit of the impossible from us. He didn’t find any. He had to bring that confrontation into our reality. You and I have been given the Spirit of the resurrected Christ. It’s not a condemning word; it’s an invitation. It’s a word that says, «Let him be who he is in his resurrection power flowing in and through our lives as we confront those things that have been deemed impossible.» That’s what you were born for; it’s what I was born for in our conversion. The DNA of Christ wasn’t earned; it was given as a gift—his actual DNA—where he gravitated toward the funeral, toward the hungry crowd, toward the leper that needed help, toward the blind who wanted guidance. All these situations he gravitated toward because he carried the absolute solution to every broken situation.
My prayer for you and me is that in this next season, we would become even more convinced of how ready the resurrection power of Jesus is to manifest in word, touch, and action. The right thing needs to be said. Don’t think a casual statement accomplishes much. It’s the decree of God. Say what he’s saying. Say what he’s saying: cancer, be gone! Don’t do this, «God, if it’s your will…» Show mercy, kindness—look, don’t be stupid! Confront the thing; show no respect for a problem. Do not show respect. Kindness and respect should be shown towards people—love, affection, service—but have no respect for a problem. Don’t use the word cancer with reverence; it deserves no reverence. It’s a devil; it’s a devil. Don’t speak to it kindly. Don’t speak in hushed terms, «Did you hear what so-and-so got back from the doctor?» No hush terms! We must stop being impressed with the size of our problem. It’s my personal conviction that most of our breakthroughs would begin the day we stop being impressed with the size of our problem. I’m not trying to create a magic formula; I’m just saying listen to what he’s saying, declare it, and find someone to touch, love, and lay hands on. Prophetically serve; do acts of service and kindness for people. The Spirit of God is released through those means over and over again, and I believe that Jesus wants to demonstrate who he is to our wonderful city in this Easter season and beyond.
The scripture declares that Jesus was crucified before the foundations of the world. Think about this: Jesus Christ was crucified before the foundations of the world. So just think with me—Jesus Christ was crucified, and he was so committed to this thing called the cross that he was all-in before time was made, before all of creation, before people were created—before there was sin, Jesus had already given himself to be the solution. God created us and gave people this priceless, priceless gift called free will. And when he did so, he took a risk, knowing that there would be a point in time when humanity would choose not to serve him. But it was worth the risk because he was willing to give his son to restore those who would believe in his son—to restore them to the family, to a place of faith. In that relationship, it was literally worth the suffering; it was worth the pain. No pain, no gain. If anybody could say that, it would be the heavenly Father—the Father of life, the one who spoke all things into being, the Father of our faith. He determined that before sin ever entered the world, he was willing to give the sacrifice that was necessary to restore us. Such an extraordinary Father, such a great Father.
And the verse that is so well known, that even people who don’t know the Lord can quote, stands out for this reason: It is the absolute cornerstone of our faith, and it’s John 3:16: «For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever would believe on him would not perish but have everlasting life.» That is the gift; that is the reason for the season, so to speak. That is the reason for this gathering we do today and really for the celebration we have across the world of the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus gave himself to die in my place so that I could receive the life that he deserves.
Jesus became a man. The interesting thing is he took on flesh; he became a human being. One of the great mysteries in scripture is that he is 100% God while at the same time being 100% man. In his humanity, he gave himself to live life with absolute purity. The Bible says he faced every temptation the same as we do, except he was without sin, which qualified him then to be a lamb that was spotless. In the Old Testament, the Israelites were to sacrifice a lamb that had no spot or blemish, and it would postpone the penalty of sin for one more year, but it never dealt with the reality of sin. Only the blood of the Son of God could take care of that. If there were another way, believe me, God would have chosen another way, but the only possible way was that we were lost in sin. So he sent his Son to be one of us and to endure what we endure—except no sin—which qualifies him to be the offering in our place.
So, as we like to say, he died as us; he died in our place, taking on himself what he deserved so that we could receive what he deserved, which is eternal life. In Romans chapter 8, there’s the most astonishing portion of scripture. Many of you will recognize Romans 8 because of verse 28, which says, «We know all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.» This is something we hold onto every time we’re in difficulty. The only reason a verse like this needs to be stated is because not everything is going to go perfectly the first time we address a problem or position ourselves for victory. We must have the assurance that endurance is worth it because God is going to reverse the effects of something into a place of personal victory. Again, we know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. If everything worked perfectly the first time we tried something, we wouldn’t need a promise like this. We need it because we need to know that endurance is worth it because it always ends for his glory and for our benefit and strength.
But I want you to start with me in verse 31. We’re going to read quite a few verses, so please follow along. It’s such a declaration about the resurrection of Christ. There are a couple of things I want to ensure we pick up from this portion of scripture that can help us.
So verse 31: «What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?» Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, «For your sake we are killed all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.» Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What an extraordinary portion of scripture! I want us to walk through these verses, but I want to first declare something over you: all of this is about the love of God. All of this—the resurrection, the fact that he made us members of one another, that he gave us the promise of eternity—all of this is about the demonstration, the experience, the realization of the love of God in our lives.
We sing songs and make declarations like «It’s all about you,» and that’s right. We talk about worshiping for the audience of one; it’s an appropriate response. But it might be interesting to know that he says it’s all about you. He was so completely enthralled, captivated, and focused on saving the individual that he didn’t just do a group project. He didn’t just buy us by the dozen. What he did was so intimate and so personal that you can see him face to face with you, saying, «You’re worth dying for.» And that’s the reality of the cross and the reality of the resurrection.
It says here, «If God can be for us, who can be against us?» In verse 31, he’s not saying nobody can be against us. He’s just saying anyone who is against us doesn’t get to vote; they don’t have a say in the outcome of things. If God is for us, who can be against us? Think about this with me: Anyone who sees you the way the Father sees you would never be against you. Anyone who is in opposition to you—anyone who, for whatever reason, has picked you out as a target to insult, to reject, to hurt, or whatever—none of them see you the way the Father does because everyone who sees you through the eyes of the Father is for you.
So he says, «If God is for us, who can be against us?» No one! No one! He who did not spare his own Son but delivered him up for us: how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? I’ll be honest with you; that verse is the reason I felt I was to bring this portion of scripture to us today. If God went to such an extreme by giving us his Son, how could we ever question him not delightfully, willingly, joyfully providing everything else we will ever need—not only now in this life but throughout all of eternity? He set the extreme standard in the sacrifice of his Son, and then everything else is automatically included.
It’s important that you and I think that way. It’s important that we realize that in this love of God that you could never exhaust—you could never explore in its entirety—it will continuously be opened up to us in new levels throughout all eternity, and never will we exhaust that love of God. It is 100% focused on you, on your family, on your situation, on me right now.
He goes on: «Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?» Do you understand there is no one who has the authority to stand before the Father to accuse you? The devil is called the accuser of the brethren, but he doesn’t have a hall pass there. He doesn’t have the legal right to bring any kind of accusation against you, and the reason is your lawyer is Jesus, and he himself has already taken care of every legitimate indictment against you. God’s forgiveness is so complete—so complete! We’ll look at it further in this chapter, but it is so absolute and so complete that he actually changes how he sees us. The blood of Jesus has made me clean. The blood of Jesus not only deals with the record of sin; the blood of Jesus goes to the root and changes the nature that that sin grew out of. It is that complete.
So, when the Father looks at you, every one of you who has surrendered your life to Jesus, who has put your faith in Christ and declared him to be your absolute Lord and master—every one of you—the Father looks at you and sees his Son Jesus. No one can accuse Jesus; therefore, no one has the right to accuse you.
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and picked up a basin of water to wash feet. Think through this with me: the context is Jesus has already watched in motion the betrayal. The Holy Spirit is clear in helping us recognize the context for what Jesus is about to do. It says he knows he came from God, he’s about to go back to God, and everything has been put in his hands.
This would be the ultimate revelation given probably to Jesus personally about purpose and destiny, and it was in the context of this completed assignment that he stoops to wash feet. When you discover who you are, all you want to do is give it away. It says all things have been put into his hands. Think about this with me: Jesus, eternally God, forfeited—he had everything in the Father. He and the Father are one; he has everything. He gave that up to become a man and now reinherits everything as our elder brother.
So here he is, realizing everything has been restored. Do you understand? When Jesus defeated the powers of darkness—Satan, the demonic realm, the powers of darkness—when there was a defeat of the power of sin, when there was the defeat of the grave, none of that needed to be defeated. Did he need to defeat that as God? No! Because the devil has never been a contest against God; God is absolute power. Satan is a finite created being that has been severed from his life source, and he is withering as we speak. He has never been in opposition to God in the sense of being equal in power—where good and evil fight; that’s nonsense—absolute nonsense. He is a created being, the opposite of Michael.
When Jesus defeated the powers of darkness, he defeated them as a man who lived a perfect life without sin, became the offering, and was raised from the dead by the Father. In that triumph, as our elder brother, the powers of darkness were defeated. Wow! I understand it was God, but is this making sense to you? He never needed to defeat the devil as God because all God would ever have to do is breathe, and you know the enemy is toast.
Here we have Jesus realizing that all things have been given to him. It’s a moment of revelation—probably an assumption—and in that moment of significant revelation, he turns to serve. See, I think that’s really the outcome of true revelation: where God opens up his heart for us, opens up his description of the definition of our assignment, our gift, our mission. I don’t know anyone who sees it clearly that builds a monument around themselves, you know, making everything about them.
I remind you of something we covered several months ago about Solomon. The Queen of Sheba said to Solomon, «God loves you, Solomon; he’s given you favor because of his love for Israel.» God loves you; he’s given you favor because of his love for the people around you. Yeah, in other words, favor that comes to me and ends with me does not find its purpose. That’s right: favor that comes to me and empowers the people around me to succeed and become who they are—that is the purpose of favor given to me. It never comes just for me; it will benefit me, but it’s never for me. It’s always for the people around me.
What does Jesus do? It says he knew he’d come from the Father, he knew he was going back, he knew all things belonged to him. So what did he do? He looked at the remaining eleven, whom he was about to turn everything over to, and he served them. I’d like to suggest to you that their destiny to impact the course of history was dramatically impacted by a basin of water and a towel because it reset the result of true insight and true wisdom.
Verse 8, last verse: we’ll wrap it up with this. Peter said to him, «You shall never wash my feet.» Jesus answered, «If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.» That word «part» is like a share; it’s like let’s say we have a thousand shares of a particular stock. Jesus says, «If I don’t wash you, you won’t get shares.» Your significance has been defined by the willingness of the Almighty God to serve you. It’s pretty tough to get caught up with yourself when you see the King of Glory putting a towel over his arm, serving you to empower you into purpose.
See, there are some people that work to stay humble by reminding themselves of their sinful past—that’s foolish. People say, «Well, if God wasn’t in my life, I would be nothing.» That’s true, but he’s already promised he’ll never leave us, so that’s kind of a vain thought. There has to be some other way to maintain a sense of humility without revisiting the past. How about discovering the fact that the King of Glory has a towel over his arm and is willing to serve you into your destiny? How could we ever want to build a kingdom around ourselves when we’ve been empowered by that one—by the one who, at his moment of significant revelation, stoops to wash the feet of people to say, «You know what? I want you to have shares. I want you to have stock in this family.»
On the Passover night, Jesus took bread and broke it, thanking him. He broke the bread and made this statement: «This is my body.» I know that there are probably some Catholics and Episcopalians here who would have a different approach than my historical background. I remember my dad teaching on this once, and he said Jesus said, «This is my body.» He didn’t say, «It represents my body.» He says it is! I feel it’s important for us to approach it the way Jesus said. We must hold the same value and respect for this that we’re about to do.
Again, it’s not the magic pill that fixes everything; it is the person we come to in absolute surrender—that Jesus made full and complete provision for you and me to be healed, forgiven, and delivered. For poverty to be broken off poverty—it’s actually one of the targets of the redemptive work of Jesus. I believe we’re going to see in this house that every single person who has had poverty as part of your background, even multi-generational, it is breaking, and the Lord is resetting that part of life for us.
When I take the broken bread, the body of Jesus, there are certain confessions that I like to make over the whole communion time. I usually take probably 20 or sometimes even 30 minutes for it; we only have a few minutes, so we’ll have to abbreviate it. But I want to at least give you an idea of my approach.
When I hold the bread, the body of Jesus, I like to make a confession: by your stripes, I was healed! By the stripes of Jesus, I was healed! It’s extremely important that we begin to contend for what Jesus made provision for, and that is the subject of divine health. I’ve stated it before: it would be tragic to come to the end of time and have the only generation that lived in divine health be Israel in the wilderness—not born again—in rebellion against God. They had a period of time when they were in divine health; their clothing didn’t even wear out! I believe it is the provision of the Lord in his suffering on our behalf. Jesus bore stripes in his body through brutal beating as an atoning work to deal with the power of sickness and disease.
So I’m going to ask if you would stand with me, and we’re going to make some bold confessions and proclamations together. By the stripes of Jesus, I was healed! I was healed! By the stripes of Jesus, I am healed! Jesus, when I do this, I purposely bring to mind people that need miracles in their bodies—people I know, people who are either family members or dear friends. What I like to do is take this moment to come before the Lord and make that bold confession: by the stripes of Jesus and then mention their name—"By the stripes of Jesus, Mark is healed of cancer.»
We’re not talking about mind over matter; we’re not doing mental gymnastics; we’re declaring a reality that has not yet been fully experienced. So I take that moment and make the proclamation: «By the stripes of Jesus, cancer is defeated in Mark’s body.» By the stripes of Jesus, deafness is defeated in that man or woman. By the stripes of Jesus, Parkinson’s is gone.
I want you to do it right now over a family member or friend—two or three that you can think of that just need a miracle. Just make the confession and proclamation: «By the stripes of Jesus, Kathy was made whole.»
If you’re joining us at home on Bethel TV and can do the same thing, please do. Make the confession of proclamation: «By the stripes of Jesus, Brenda was made whole.» Just make those confessions and proclamations: «By the stripes of Jesus…» Now, I want you to hold the body of Jesus in front of you.
Lord, we give you thanks that you were willing to suffer the way you did to disempower disease, infirmity, and afflicting spirits. I thank you for this right now in Jesus' name.
Now, there’s one more thing Jesus said in Ephesians 2. He bore on his flesh the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile; it is a prophetic picture of him bearing in his flesh the penalty for all division. Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day—a racial divide! Guess what? The suffering of Jesus is more than enough to fix that problem—more than enough! Maybe there’s division in a family, division in a home, husband or wife, or a place at work. I want you to take one moment and look at one place where unity needs to be established, and just make this confession with me: The broken body of Jesus is more than enough to fix that division.
Now, with thankfulness, let’s receive the body of Jesus into ours in Jesus' name.
Now we have the cup. There are two confessions I like to make. The first one is, «The blood of Jesus sets me free!» Say that with me: «The blood of Jesus sets me free!» Oh my goodness, that is just all-encompassing right there! Say it again: «The blood of Jesus sets me free!» We need to write a song with those lyrics: «The blood of Jesus sets me free!» We should have about ten by next week.
The blood of Jesus sets me free! As I hold the cup, I want you to rediscover in your heart of hearts the profound effect of the sacrifice of Jesus on everything about your life. And in this moment, I’d like to make the confession: «As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!»
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! Every single family member—"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!» I like to pray for my family by name. Why don’t you just take a family member or two and bless them by name? Anyone that you know—a child, a parent, an uncle, whatever—that is not serving the Lord. Just pray them back into the kingdom. Make the declaration: «God, the blood of Jesus is enough for them, too! Every family member will serve you with great passion, great purity.» I like to pray for my children, my grandchildren. I pray that Jeremiah 24 passage—that God would give them a heart to know him.
Make that confession over your children, your grandchildren, and your extended family. Now we just make that bold confession—that you would give our children a heart to know you and that they would hear the wooing of your voice for them to discover why they are alive. We pray that over them right now in Jesus' name.
Amen! Before we wrap this up, there’s one more thing I like to do. Before I take the cup, there are certain individuals who, through the years, have— I always forget; I never remember quite how to say it—but there are people who oppose me. They write against me in their books or speak against Bethel in their radio shows or conferences or whatever. Yet they are people that have committed themselves to Jesus. It’s my privilege to celebrate their zeal for the Lord and to honor them for their great zeal, for they would be willing to live with such risk to honor his name.
Then I love to pray that God would prosper them in every possible way—spirit, soul, and body—everything about their lives would experience the bounty of the Lord. I like to pray, especially, God grant them the joy of having children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren that all serve you with great passion and great purity. I want everything about their lives to be touched by the grace and the mercy of God. So if you have someone who has opposed you the most, and they are now dead, pray for their family. Pray for their descendants. Just do something to be proactive and contribute life into another family right now.
So just take that point of conflict, that point of difficulty. Take that right now and pray the blessing of the Lord on them. Just do that, and we’ll take one moment for that, then we’ll wrap this up. Yes, Lord, we just declare the blessing of the Lord over every family member, over every one of these individuals who have caused pain. We just say, Lord, that you would bring healing to their own brokenness, and we pray that you would cause them to prosper—spirit, soul, and body—everything about their lives would be touched by mercy and grace. We thank you, Lord!
Now, hold the cup out before the Lord. Let’s make the confession one more time: «The blood of Jesus sets me free!» Say it again: «The blood of Jesus sets me free!»
Let’s receive this together! Thank you, Lord God! Thank you, Lord God! Wow!
Now we have a team up here that we’re going to open up in just a moment for you to come and receive prayer. We just partook of the legal precedent for your victory, regardless of what it is. I do want to encourage you to come and have somebody agree with you in prayer for that miracle. But the greatest miracle of all, we have not yet talked about, and that is of being born again.
If there’s anyone here that would say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave the building until I know I have been forgiven of sin, until I have found peace with God,» then I want you just to raise your hand right where you are. Saying, «Bill, that’s me; I don’t want to leave until I know I’ve been forgiven of sin.» Right back here, one! Right here, another one! Right over here, wonderful! Welcome! Welcome! This is so beautiful!
What you’re doing is saying, «I’m surrendering everything to follow Jesus—everything to be forgiven of sin and be changed from the inside out.»