The Cross: Heaven’s
Intersection
“For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son that
whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Years ago, there was a famous song
that asked an important question. It started,
“Were you there…when they crucified my
Lord?” Of course,
the literal answer for each of us is no, we weren’t actually present at the
crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not like the eyewitnesses who stood
nearby through Christ’s torturous death. Not like Peter, and John, and Mary. Not
like the Roman soldiers. It was long
before any of us were born so it was impossible for us to have been there. As the song continues, it says, “I was there…when they crucified my Lord.” And yet the real answer to that question is a “Yes.”
We were there in a very real way as our sin – my sin – your sin was placed upon
Jesus.
-Isaiah 53:6
tells us “the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
-2 Corinthians 5:21
says: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might
become the righteousness of God.”
We were there in every sense. You, me and the rest of the world past,
present and future. And because of the cross, we have hope no matter what comes
our way.
Max Lucado writes in, Six Hours One Friday, says: “The
Cross. It rests on the time line of
history like a compelling diamond. It’s
tragedy summons all sufferers. It’s
absurdity attracts all critics. It’s
hope lures all searchers. My, what a
piece of wood! History has idolized it. And, despised it, gold plated it, burned it,
worn it and trashed it. History has done
everything to it, but ignore it. That’s the one option that the cross does not
offer. No one can ignore it! You can’t ignore a piece of lumber that
suspends the greatest claim in history.
A crucified carpenter claiming that He is God on earth! The cross. It’s bottom line is sobering: if the account is true, it is history’s
hinge. Period. If not, it’s history’s hoax.”
The cross has power to transform us if we are willing to let it do its
work. All because of the One who was
placed upon it.
In the book, Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan describes how the pilgrim
realizes his guilt and lostness.
Saddled to his back is a heavy burden of sin and shame. "I fear that this burden upon my back
will sink me lower than the grave," he says, staggering under its weight.
But then he approaches a hill called Calvary: ‘Up this way, therefore, did this
burdened Christian run, but not without great difficulty, because of the load
on his back. He ran thus till he came to a place somewhat ascending; and upon
that place stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I
saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden
loosed from his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came
to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more’.”
What a picture! As we come to the
cross, all of the burdens we carry, all of the sorrows, all of the things which
weigh us down and threaten to sink us, can slide off of our back, tumble down
the hill into the mouth of the grave of Christ.
But there is one thing we have to do – we have to let go. We have to
give up our burdens to Christ.
Romans 6 speaks of us being united with Christ
through Baptism into both Jesus’ death and into His resurrection – that is the
symbolism. We go down under the water as if going into
the grave. We are raised up out of the
water as an act of participating in the resurrection of Jesus. Our sin was
placed upon Jesus as He hung on the cross. In every sense, Jesus felt the
weight of my sin. He took the
punishment that I deserve, He paid the price for me. And He paid the price for
you.
Try to find one religion in this world
that will tell you for sure that you are going to heaven and that all you have
to do to go there was to trust in the shed blood of Jesus Christ for the
atonement of your sins.
The bottom line is there isn’t any. Only Bible Christianity can make that
promise, because it is based on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross of redemption.
It’s clear that Jesus didn’t have to do it; nobody forced Him; He wasn’t under another
person’s control, but he gave His life willingly and laid it down so that we
might have life abundantly.
In John 3:16, we have come to
know Christ’s word to Nicodemus when He said “For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish but have eternal life.” Those 25 words can change a person’s life
beyond any powers, governments, or people. Notice that the center or 13th word
of the 25 in John 3:16 is the word “Son.” It all
centers on the Son’s sacrifice which is the crossroad and intersection of
“Salvation” and “Healing.” It’s the
power for the cross…and it’s what makes this Friday so good.
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1)
Take
a moment at noon today and ponder our Savior who was sacrificed for our
salvation.
2)
In
a quiet time, worship Him with the song “I’m forgiven…because He was forsaken;
I’m accepted, You were condemned; I’m alive and well your Spirit is within us,
because You died and rose again…”
Copyright
2014- Terry Risser
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