Although the cross is central to our believing, when Paul says that we died with Christ on the cross, it seems a bit hard to grasp as we never literally hung on a cross.  So what happened on that terrible day of suffering and how did we die? Five things transpired.

First the flesh was crucified or the old man was crucified. This referring to the old nature; our dead spirit that was cut of from God; this was brought to an end.

Also the world is crucified to us.   In Galatians 6:14 he says: But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Christians can never belong to the world again - we are aliens here.

The law is taken away on the cross as it was "nailed to the cross.’   When a debt was paid, they would nail the notice of debt to the door of the debtor but written on it was paid in full.

On the cross the enmity between Jews and Gentiles (which covers everyone in the world), is removed. God has forever removed all class distinctions.

And of course as Isaiah says, we have peace with God because of what Christ did. We were once enemies of God, but through Christ we have been brought near (Ephesians 2:13). In other words, we have been reconciled to God through the cross (verse 16). It is a basic Christian belief that our relationship with God depends on the death of Jesus Christ.

Friend, the work of the cross is so great and so complete that now we are free from everything that we couldn’t be freed from, by the law.