The Cross of Jesus Christ is the most central of all Christian doctrines and belief. Without the cross, Jesus Christ came down for nothing and Christianity would mean nothing.
The apostle Paul boldly declared that he doesn’t care to talk about anything or to know anything except Christ crucified (1 Cor 2:2). This is to show us that the biggest and the most important revelation to man is what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross.
What is the big fuss about the cross? What is so special about it?
The Cross – Our Salvation
The Cross is the power of God unto salvation (1 cor 1:18). It is how God saved us from sin. The only way sin can be forgiven is for God to see blood as a form of payment. In the Old Testament, people were literally killed for their sins (check out what happened to the people who made the golden calf). It is great news that out of God’s mercy, God allows a substitute to die in the sinner’s place. In Levitical law, this takes the form of a sin offering: an animal is sacrificed to atone for man’s sin. During the first pass over, no Israelite has to die as long as blood is sprinkled on their doors. This is a picture of the sin offering (and later on, a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ): that a death already took place and blood was shed so no one else had to die.
The problem with this arrangement is that the law of God is not satisfied with the blood of bulls and goats; sin offering is not powerful enough to atone for man’s sin (Hebrews 10:4). The law of God is unbending and holy; if we sin, we deserved to be punished and our substitute payments of animal sacrifices weren’t enough. Because of this, the curse of sin reigned in man’s life and death, depression, sickness, and even demon possession prevailed.
To cut a long story short, the ‘new and everlasting covenant’ came to man when 2000 years ago, the Son of God came down from heaven and shed HIS blood on the cross. Today, man has reason to glory because we are no longer covered by blood of bulls and goats; instead, we are cleansed by the Holiest of the Holiest element in the whole universe: the sinless blood of The Son of God. How can a spot of sin live in us any longer? It is an impossibility. Because of the quality of the blood Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross, we are saved from our sins forever.
The Cross – God’s Righteousness
The righteousness of God shows God’s consistency. God does not say one thing today and say something else tomorrow. What God has established remains forever. What is God to do? He is so Holy that He has to punish sin and yet He loves us all that He doesn’t want us to perish. If God simply forgives our sins then He is no longer holy, but if He punishes us for our sins then He is no longer love.
The Cross is the perfect demonstration of God’s righteousness. I am simply putting up the verses here so the ones who are really hungry can look them up in their Bibles. I have pondered for almost a week on how to express the following lines but I can’t seem to find a way to write it down properly (I guess the Holy Spirit wants it this way, who am I to question?).
The Cross of Christ and God’s Righteousness
- God says He loves us (John 3:16) – The cross demonstrates His eternal love for us (John 15:13)
- God says that sin has to be punished by death (Romans 6:23) – The cross shows that Someone did die to pay for man’s sin (1 Cor 15:3).
I love the cross because it shows God’s perfect holiness and at the same time it shows God’s perfect and unfathomable love for us. Nothing in eternity and in the universe can satisfy these 2 conditions righteously but the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
So please, don’t ever think that God cheated our sins away with a snap of His finger. Yes, He is a loving God and He doesn’t want us to burn in hell, but He is also a righteous God. Sin was put away, but it came with the greatest price – His beloved Son who deserved all glory and honor has to carry the sin of the world and be punished as if He’s the worst sinner on the cross.
Let us cherish the cross of Jesus Christ, it cost us nothing but it cost God His beloved Son. This is the only way man can be saved. This is the grace of God. This is the cross of Jesus Christ.
SUCH LOVE
SUCH HOLINESS
PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS
ALL GLORY AND HONOR TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!
Next: The Cross of Jesus Christ Part 2
“