Editorial
March/April 1993
Volume 28, Number 2
The death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth are the central events of Christian theology. The “cross” has a special meaning for us because of the significance of the Person who was put to death on it, and because of what His death accomplished.
The cross was an upright wooden post (sometimes with a crossbeam near the upper part of the post), on which persons were executed. It was an instrument of humiliation, torture, and death for persons convicted as enemies of the state (spies, bandits, rebels, robbers, and criminals of various kinds). Crucifixion was universally recognized as the most horrible type of death. The practice seems grisly to us today, but crucifixion was commonly practiced in the ancient world, and death by this procedure was made even more degrading by the fact that in many nations, the victim was left to hang on the cross in public view until the body rotted away.
Jesus spoke of the cross a number of times as a symbol of the need for full commitment (Matthew 10:38; Luke 14:27). The hymnwriter catches the theme in the words, “Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee; destitute, despised, forsaken; Thou from hence my all shall be.” But the real significance of the cross is the fact that on the cross Jesus suffered for our sins. We are told in Philippians 2:8 that “He humbled himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” And in 2 Corinthians 5:19 we are told that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them.”
When we attempt to explain the meaning of Christ’s death on the cross, we find it difficult to state the full concept in words. Metaphors such as ransom, redeem, sacrifice, expiation, propitiation, satisfaction, and substitution, have all been used. In spite of the limitations of our finite minds, it is clear that in the cross, there is in some sense, an atonement for human sin. In the most simple terms, the cross is seen in the New Testament as the only basis of man’s acceptance with God.
The truth taught in the New Testament is that through the crucifixion of Jesus, through this offensive means of death (Galatians 5:11), the debt of sin against us was canceled (Colossians 2:14), and we have been freed from the penalty of sin and made alive to God (Romans 6:6-11). Jesus was not a martyr who simply died, even willingly, for a noble cause. He died, instead, as a substitute for sinners.
There were three crosses on that first “Good Friday.” Luke 23:33 says, “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.”
1) The Cross of Rejection–Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If you are the Christ, save yourself and us’” (Luke 23:39). This man died in his sins, for Jesus said that those who do not believe “that I am he” shall die in their sins (John 8:24).
2) The Cross of Redemption–“Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do… (Luke 23:34). This Man died for our sins. The Scriptures assure us that God demonstrates His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
3) The Cross of Reception—“Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom (Luke 23:42). This man died to his sins. The Bible says that Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24).
The cross, then, is a symbol of Jesus’ love for us, of God’s power to save, and of the believer’s commitment to Christian discipleship. Hopefully each of us will listen to Jesus (Matthew 17:5), believe in Him (John 11:25), repent of sin (Acts 3:19), submit to Christian baptism (Mark 16:16), and set out to grow in grace (2 Peter 3:18).
The Cross–The Pivot Point of History
It is not always easy to recognize history in the making. Sometimes our closeness to events causes us to underestimate or overestimate their significance. Sometimes major crises in history pass relatively unnoticed, and only a later generation fully appreciates their importance. Other times, events fairly scream with historical importance. Such was the case on a day in our nation’s history (in 1981) when a president was inaugurated and fifty-two hostages were released from a long period of captivity all in one day.
But the most crucial event of all history-the one crisis that forms a watershed by which we number our years, and write all our history, and reckon our relationship with God is the crucifixion of Christ. It was one of those events which passed without much notice. Yet it is the cross of Christ to which all previous history looked forward, and to which all history since has looked back. It is the crucifixion of Jesus that gives meaning to the flow of human history. It is Christ’s death that makes sense of the pattern of events from the beginning of history.
The Cross is the hinge of history. The great events that were compressed into the four days surrounding Christ’s death touch the lives and hopes of everyone. How, you might wonder, can an event so far in the distant past-an event that occurred close to two thousand years ago-be of any significance in today’s world, and especially in your life? To understand the answer to that question, let us look at three aspects of the cross of the Lord Jesus.
1. THE PLACE OF THE CROSS
Matthew 27:33 says, “And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull,” they crucified him. Golgotha is a frightful name; it means “a skull.” And Calvary, the name by which most of us know it, is the Latin word that also means “a skull.”
The hill was located just outside the city of Jerusalem, and that itself is significant. It was unprotected by the city walls; it was a place of death. It was a playground for jackals and hyenas and vultures. But, more important, it was the place of the sin offering.
According to Moses’ law, certain offerings could be made only outside the camp of the Israelites. Many of the offerings took place in the Tabernacle at the altar, and they were burned there at the altar-but sin offerings had to be burned outside the camp. In connection with the death of Christ, the writer of Hebrews says, “Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to him, outside the camp, bearing his reproach” (Hebrews 13:12-13).
The place of the crucifixion was a place of reproach. It was a place of shame and horrible suffering. That is the meaning of the cross itself. The cross was an instrument of capital punishment, an executioner’s device, like the electric chair or a hangman’s noose. The cross is revered today because of the One who died on it, but originally it had a stigma attached to it. It was the lowest form of execution under Roman law. Death on a cross was a slow, agonizing, humiliating form of death, and the cross itself was a symbol of that kind of reproach.
The lowest of criminals were put to death on a cross–thieves, murderers, and rapists. It was anything but a noble death. Victims were often chained to a pillar, whipped, spit upon, and insulted by rude, barbarous men who were attracted to the executions like flies. The victim would be stripped and scourged with an instrument made of thin strips of rawhide having pieces of bone and metal attached to the ends. The lashing would continue until the arms of the scourgers grew weary. Then new recruits would take their places until the back of the victim was one massive wound.
It was not a pretty scene. The victim would be beaten into helplessness, and then further mocked. Matthew 27:28-31 describes this stage of Jesus’ crucifixion. “And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying ‘Hail, King of the Jews.’ Then they spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. Then when they had mocked him, they took the robe off him, put his own clothes on him, and led him away to be crucified.”
We know about the method that was used. Cruel nails were driven through His hands and feet to hold Him on the cross while He was subjected to public ridicule and scorn. Psalm 22:7 describes some of the humiliation that Jesus faced. “All those who see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip; they shake the head.” The place of the cross was a place of humiliation, shame, scorn, and reproach. It was a horrible place, a place of darkness. It was a place of rejection and torture and pain. It was a place of judgment and death.
2. THE PERSON OF THE CROSS
All the reproach, and the horror of the place, is more awesome when we remember the Person of the cross. If He had been a mere thief or criminal or blasphemer, that day in history would hardly be remembered today. But Jesus was no common criminal. He was the Lamb of God, come to take away the sin of the world.
Jesus made His appearance on earth as a baby in a manger. But that was not where He really began. He had no beginning. He existed from eternity past. He is God. John opens his gospel with these words: “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).
Jesus was God in human form. Permeating His very being were grace and truth and glory. He was no mere man. He was the virgin-born Son of Almighty God. A realization of this fact makes the crucifixion seem more heinous than ever. Jesus himself told a parable recorded for us in Matthew 21:33-44 about a householder who hired some husbandmen to keep his vineyard while he was away. He sent servants to check on the husbandmen, and they beat one, killed another, and stoned yet another. He sent his own son, thinking that the men would reverence his son. But they killed him too. (The son in the parable represents the Lord Jesus, sent by God as an expression of His love and longsuffering. But He was killed, and all humankind stands guilty of His death, because it was the sins of all of us that sent Him to the cross.)
Do you see the Person of the cross? He is the sinless one, the only man ever of whom it could accurately be said, “(He) committed no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22). He was “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26).
Jesus was perfectly righteous, perfectly holy, and sinless; yet He died willingly for our sin. First Peter 2:23-24 tells us, “When he was reviled, [he] did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously; who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness.”
Isaiah had prophesied the crucifixion centuries before it occurred. Speaking of the Person of the cross, he had written, “He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent; so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). No wonder the earth rocked and reeled in protest. No wonder all the people came together to that sight, beheld the things that were done, and smote their breasts. No wonderin view of such atrocity-that the rocks broke and the sky darkened.
Here was pure love–God’s love poured out in the person of His Son, dying for the sins of ungrateful humans-and mankind met that love with contempt.
3. THE PURPOSE OF THE CROSS
Why would God allow the death of Jesus to happen? What was the purpose of the cross? The answer is that God was obtaining salvation for sinful human beings.
The cross of Christ is the heart of the Gospel. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3-4).
“Christ died for our sins.” That is a phrase that appears on gospel tracts, billboards, church buildings, and in newspaper advertisements. What does it mean? Jesus’ death on the cross was a “sacrifice”–a payment for the penalty of sin. The Bible uses the word “propitiation.” It means “to appease” or “to make favorable.” First John 2:2 says of Jesus, “And he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” His death made propitiation for our sins; that is, it satisfied the justice of God.
You see, God could not simply overlook our sin without compromising His own righteousness. His perfect justice demands that all sin be punished, and the wages of sin is death. The fact is that you and I cannot begin to grasp the seriousness of sin to a holy God. Each act of sin is a challenge to His holy will and purpose. Every transgression, no matter how small it may seem to human reason, is a direct affront to God’s holiness. And sin demands a payment of death. That fact brought about a monumental conflict. God in His righteousness must punish sin, but God in His love does not want sinners to perish. Only God himself could solve the dilemma, and He did it by personally paying the penalty for human sin.
“But,” one may ask, “How could He possibly make such a payment?” The answer lies in an understanding of who Christ was. Remember that He was eternal God in the flesh, and He was totally without sin. He alone in all the history of mankind did not deserve to die. But Jesus chose to die for us. “I am the good shepherd,” He said in John 10: 14, “and I know my sheep … I lay down my life for the sheep … no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John 10:15,18).
How can one man’s death pay for the sins of so many? Think of all your sins and all the sins of the world laid on one side of a balance scale. Think of Christ’s righteousness laid on the other side. The righteousness of Christ is so full, so perfect, so complete-that it more than outweighs the sins of the world. Christ’s death was more than sufficient to pay for them.
The Apostle Paul assures us in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” If you are trusting Christ, your sins are forgiven. You have been washed and cleansed. Jesus Christ has paid the price of your sin. You need not fear condemnation.
The Bible is full of such promises. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” And perhaps the best-known verse in all the Bible, John 3:16, says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
But paying the penalty of man’s sin is not all that Christ accomplished at the cross. In addition, He reconciled humans to God. Christ’s work of reconciliation is all the more amazing because He did it for unwilling people. Paul wrote in Romans 5:6-8, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
For centuries a curtain had hung, first in the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple, to separate the middle court from the Holy of Holies. That veil symbolized the limited access human beings had to God. No one was allowed to enter that room beyond the veil except the high priest on the Day of Atonement. But on the day that Jesus died, we learn that “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51). The way it was torn signifies that the rending was an act of God, not of man.
Truly, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Have you been reconciled to God? Have you put your faith in Christ and His work on the cross for you? He offers you the gift of eternal life. You cannot earn it yourself. But Christ has already purchased it for you on the cross. Will you trust Him and receive His gift?
Taken from: Special Sermons on Major Bible Doctrines by George Sweeting. Copyright 1981, Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, Moody Press. Used by permission.
A Good Definition of Grace
When a person works an eight hour day and receives a fair day’s pay for his time, that is a wage.
When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize.
When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award.
But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves no award-yet receives such a gift anyway-that is a good picture of God’s unmerited favor. This is what we mean when we talk about the grace of God.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-not the result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).