Philippians 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. - ESV
The Wondrous Cross
When I survey the wondrous cross |
See from His head, His hands, His feet, |
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In 1707, the great English hymn writer Isaac Watts penned these remarkable words. They are as poignant today as they were some 300 years ago. The cross is a stumbling block to many, an enigma to some and a firm anchor to a blessed few. But before we can see the beauty of the cross, we must first understand the agony of the cross. The cross and crucifixion dates back well over 2,000 years to a time even before the Roman Empire. It is believed that the Persians were probably the first people to devise and use crucifixion as a means of execution. We can scarcely imagine the pain, agony and humiliation of the cross. Someone once said that the cross did not become a symbol of the Christian Church until the last person died that witnessed the use of the cross as a form of torture and execution.
Why the cross? If everything is possible with God, could there not have been another way?
To understand the answer to those questions, we must first try to understand something about God - a task that is daunting for finite human beings to say the least. The truth is that we will never be able to fully know the thoughts of an infinite being. However, if we reflect carefully we may be able to obtain a faint hint of the necessity of the cross.
To understand the cross, we must begin (and end) with God. Theologians correctly state that God is perfect. The problem is that we have nothing to compare "perfect" to because we live in a very imperfect world. We may say that something is better than something else, but true perfection is something that eludes even our wildest imaginations. Yet, we say that God is perfect. What we mean is that God is complete in Himself. In one sense, He is very simple. God is not composed of parts - He is simply God and He is perfectly complete in Himself. He needs nothing. He cannot grow or change because growth or change would require that He was something less than perfect and complete before the growth/change took place.
In order to assist our finite minds to get a taste of who God is, theologians like to talk about God's attributes. Sometimes we call God's attributes His perfections. Once again it is important to point out that God is not an aggregate of these perfections - He is simply God. However, developing a list of perfections can be helpful for us to understand more about who God is.
No one knows for sure how many attributes or perfections God has. Some of the perfections that theologians like to talk about are things like omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, love, mercy, grace, justice, righteousness, holiness, eternality - the list goes on and on. We only need to focus on a few of these here.
Now when we say that God is perfectly complete we mean that He is perfectly complete in all of His attributes. That is, God is 100% of each of these attributes. God is 100% loving, 100% merciful, 100% gracious, 100% just, 100% righteous, 100% holy, etc. God is not less just than He is loving. He is not more gracious than He is holy. God is not more righteous than He is merciful. If we are honest, this is something that is hard for us to get our heads around because we are never 100% of any of these things even on our best days. Even if we could approach perfection in any one of these attributes we would surely fall short in one of the others. God has no such limitation. He is perfectly complete in all of these attributes at all times throughout all of eternity.
So what does all of this have to do with the cross? You see God had a dilemma. By His very nature God can not be less than God. He cannot be less than perfect at all times. When we say that God is holy we mean that He is "set apart" - He is unique in that He lacks anything that is evil, unjust, broken, imperfect or flawed. Not only does He lack these things, because He is 100% righteous He cannot even tolerate these things in His presence. If He could He would not be both 100% holy and 100% righteous.
Now this is where our problem comes into play. You see we are flawed. We are broken. We are imperfect. We are unjust at times and we can be evil at times too. The Bible calls this "sin". Sin is a word that in the Greek simply means "to miss the mark". To miss the mark of what? God's holiness and righteousness. Unfortunately, we all fall into this category. No one's perfect! The Bible says it this way:
Why the cross? If everything is possible with God, could there not have been another way?
To understand the answer to those questions, we must first try to understand something about God - a task that is daunting for finite human beings to say the least. The truth is that we will never be able to fully know the thoughts of an infinite being. However, if we reflect carefully we may be able to obtain a faint hint of the necessity of the cross.
To understand the cross, we must begin (and end) with God. Theologians correctly state that God is perfect. The problem is that we have nothing to compare "perfect" to because we live in a very imperfect world. We may say that something is better than something else, but true perfection is something that eludes even our wildest imaginations. Yet, we say that God is perfect. What we mean is that God is complete in Himself. In one sense, He is very simple. God is not composed of parts - He is simply God and He is perfectly complete in Himself. He needs nothing. He cannot grow or change because growth or change would require that He was something less than perfect and complete before the growth/change took place.
In order to assist our finite minds to get a taste of who God is, theologians like to talk about God's attributes. Sometimes we call God's attributes His perfections. Once again it is important to point out that God is not an aggregate of these perfections - He is simply God. However, developing a list of perfections can be helpful for us to understand more about who God is.
No one knows for sure how many attributes or perfections God has. Some of the perfections that theologians like to talk about are things like omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, love, mercy, grace, justice, righteousness, holiness, eternality - the list goes on and on. We only need to focus on a few of these here.
Now when we say that God is perfectly complete we mean that He is perfectly complete in all of His attributes. That is, God is 100% of each of these attributes. God is 100% loving, 100% merciful, 100% gracious, 100% just, 100% righteous, 100% holy, etc. God is not less just than He is loving. He is not more gracious than He is holy. God is not more righteous than He is merciful. If we are honest, this is something that is hard for us to get our heads around because we are never 100% of any of these things even on our best days. Even if we could approach perfection in any one of these attributes we would surely fall short in one of the others. God has no such limitation. He is perfectly complete in all of these attributes at all times throughout all of eternity.
So what does all of this have to do with the cross? You see God had a dilemma. By His very nature God can not be less than God. He cannot be less than perfect at all times. When we say that God is holy we mean that He is "set apart" - He is unique in that He lacks anything that is evil, unjust, broken, imperfect or flawed. Not only does He lack these things, because He is 100% righteous He cannot even tolerate these things in His presence. If He could He would not be both 100% holy and 100% righteous.
Now this is where our problem comes into play. You see we are flawed. We are broken. We are imperfect. We are unjust at times and we can be evil at times too. The Bible calls this "sin". Sin is a word that in the Greek simply means "to miss the mark". To miss the mark of what? God's holiness and righteousness. Unfortunately, we all fall into this category. No one's perfect! The Bible says it this way:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23 ESV
This simply means that we have all fallen short of God's perfect character. But now our predicament goes from bad to worse. Not only have we fallen short of God's perfect character, we learn that this is a penalty for this offense:
23 For the wages of sin is death - Romans 6:23 ESV
God does not perpetually tolerate sin in His presence. Remember He is 100% holy and 100% righteous. It would be like the couple who purchased beautiful snow white carpet for their house only to have the neighborhood stray with its muddy paws dart in an open door when they were not looking! God will not simply allow sin to remain in His presence.
Now if the story ended here, we would all be in trouble. None of us are perfect and God will not allow imperfection of any kind into His holy presence. The penalty would include being eternally banished from God's love, grace, mercy and kindness.
However, we must also remember that not only is God 100% holy and 100% just. He is also 100% loving, 100% gracious and 100% merciful. Since God cannot be anything less than who He is, He had to come up with a plan of dealing with our sin. Now some people would argue why not simply forgive us of our sins? This might work were it not for the fact that God is also 100% just and a just judge cannot ignore a crime that has been committed. If a judge did this, he or she would not be just. God cannot be any less just than He already is. There is a penalty that must be paid and someone has to pay it and they have to pay for it perfectly.
But God is the only One that is perfect.
Therefore, because (and only because) God is 100% loving, He did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Now if the story ended here, we would all be in trouble. None of us are perfect and God will not allow imperfection of any kind into His holy presence. The penalty would include being eternally banished from God's love, grace, mercy and kindness.
However, we must also remember that not only is God 100% holy and 100% just. He is also 100% loving, 100% gracious and 100% merciful. Since God cannot be anything less than who He is, He had to come up with a plan of dealing with our sin. Now some people would argue why not simply forgive us of our sins? This might work were it not for the fact that God is also 100% just and a just judge cannot ignore a crime that has been committed. If a judge did this, he or she would not be just. God cannot be any less just than He already is. There is a penalty that must be paid and someone has to pay it and they have to pay for it perfectly.
But God is the only One that is perfect.
Therefore, because (and only because) God is 100% loving, He did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6:23 ESV
The Bible calls this "grace". Grace is God's unmerited favor toward us. Grace is getting what we do not deserve. God owes us nothing! He does not have to save us. But because God is God, He cannot be less than He is. He has to be 100% just, 100% righteous, 100% holy while at the same time being 100% loving, 100% gracious and 100% merciful. How did God demonstrate His love for us? The answer is simple:
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8 ESV
What does God expect from us? Simply to understand that we cannot save ourselves (see Ephesians 2:8-9), believe that Jesus died in our place to take our penalty for our sins (see Romans 5:15), turn away from our sins (see Acts 2:37-39) and put our trust in that saving action of God (see Romans 10:13).
When we accept this and stand in the presence of God, He does not see our righteousness -which is a very good thing (see Isaiah 64:6). Instead He sees the righteous of His Son (see 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:8-11). Theologians called this imputed righteousness. How does this work? This is only a mystery that God can answer. However, He has promises us that it does work (see John 3:16).
Why the cross? It is the only thing that satisfied all of who God is. Through the cross God's holiness, righteousness and justice are preserved while at the same time His great love, grace and mercy are demonstrated to us. When we survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of Glory died. Our richest gain we must count as loss. And pour contempt on all of our pride.
Have you trusted Jesus as Savior? One day we will all stand before God and He may ask us why we are worthy of being in His presence for all of eternity. We may say we tried to be good, but we will never be as good as God. We may say we went to church (with all of the other imperfect people). We may say we tried to help others along the way, but we may also be reminded of those we ignored or refused to help. Or we will simply say there is absolutely no reason why we deserve to enjoy His loving presence save the fact that we accepted His free gift of Salvation found only in His Son. If we can say that, the door will be opened.
The bottom line is that God's justice must be satisfied. For each person either it will be satisfied by them accepting the free gift of salvation that includes Jesus paying for their sins and suffering God's wrath in their place or they will pay for their own sins and endure God's wrath forever separated from His love.
Is Jesus the only way to the Father? Jesus said so in John 14:6, but let me leave you with this thought. Let's go back in time over 2,000 years ago to a garden east of Jerusalem. Jesus is on His knees praying to the Father because He knows the cross awaits Him in just a few short hours. In His humanity He feels the pain of the cross already starting to overtake Him and He cried "Abba, Father - All things are possible with You. Remove this cup from me. Yet not My will, but Your will be done." (see Mark 14:36) Jesus is saying, "Daddy please take this cup of Your wrath from me." We know how God answered this prayer - Jesus went to the cross. If there is another way to the Father, then God the Father would owe God the Son and apology for the cross. However, there is no substitute for the cross.
When we accept this and stand in the presence of God, He does not see our righteousness -which is a very good thing (see Isaiah 64:6). Instead He sees the righteous of His Son (see 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:8-11). Theologians called this imputed righteousness. How does this work? This is only a mystery that God can answer. However, He has promises us that it does work (see John 3:16).
Why the cross? It is the only thing that satisfied all of who God is. Through the cross God's holiness, righteousness and justice are preserved while at the same time His great love, grace and mercy are demonstrated to us. When we survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of Glory died. Our richest gain we must count as loss. And pour contempt on all of our pride.
Have you trusted Jesus as Savior? One day we will all stand before God and He may ask us why we are worthy of being in His presence for all of eternity. We may say we tried to be good, but we will never be as good as God. We may say we went to church (with all of the other imperfect people). We may say we tried to help others along the way, but we may also be reminded of those we ignored or refused to help. Or we will simply say there is absolutely no reason why we deserve to enjoy His loving presence save the fact that we accepted His free gift of Salvation found only in His Son. If we can say that, the door will be opened.
The bottom line is that God's justice must be satisfied. For each person either it will be satisfied by them accepting the free gift of salvation that includes Jesus paying for their sins and suffering God's wrath in their place or they will pay for their own sins and endure God's wrath forever separated from His love.
Is Jesus the only way to the Father? Jesus said so in John 14:6, but let me leave you with this thought. Let's go back in time over 2,000 years ago to a garden east of Jerusalem. Jesus is on His knees praying to the Father because He knows the cross awaits Him in just a few short hours. In His humanity He feels the pain of the cross already starting to overtake Him and He cried "Abba, Father - All things are possible with You. Remove this cup from me. Yet not My will, but Your will be done." (see Mark 14:36) Jesus is saying, "Daddy please take this cup of Your wrath from me." We know how God answered this prayer - Jesus went to the cross. If there is another way to the Father, then God the Father would owe God the Son and apology for the cross. However, there is no substitute for the cross.
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. - 1 Corinthians 1:18
I boast not of works or tell of good deeds |
My trophies and crowns, my robe stained with sin |
If you have not accepted God's free gift of grace that was provided through the death of His Son, there is no better time to do it than today. Simply acknowledge to God that you have missed the mark, that you cannot save yourself, repent of your sins and joyfully accept the gift that God has provided for you. It is my prayer that you won't leave God's precious gift on the table.
Blessings,
David
Blessings,
David