When we think of the cross of Christ, we often think about what a great act that was for God to sacrifice His only Son for the sins of humankind. We think of how much God hates sin and how much God loves sinners. The cross is an enigma in that it symbolizes so many paradoxes, justice & love, wrath & mercy, punishment & forgiveness, destruction & salvation, etc… The list could go on, and our consideration of the meaning of the cross is an endless process that God calls us to. We will only understand it fully when we are caught up with Christ at His second coming.
But beyond the cross being the most pivotal event in human history, what does the cross reveal to us about the God behind and in front of it? What is the message of the cross that the apostle Paul is so fond of talking about? The apostle John begins his gospel by referring to Jesus as the “Word,” God’s revelation to the world. What is revealed about God when we consider the sacrifice of His son in the likeness of sinful man?
I would submit to you that it blatantly reveals that God’s ways are not our ways. If we were going to save the world, I think we would have come up with something vastly different than the cross. It would have been something much more spectacular and grand. It would have involved a lot of “special effects” and a lot less humiliation. The “bad guys” would have been exposed and the “good guy” vindicated for all to see. No, the cross reveals that God’s ways are not our ways.
It also reveals that we have a relentless God who will not give up on us despite all the evidence that He should. He continues to bless while we go on cursing, He continues to lift up while we live to tear down. God wants us to join Him in an intimate, loving and merciful relationship. He won’t force us, but He’ll do everything He can to entice us into His wonderful kingdom. As the apostle Paul put it, “He who did not spare His own Son, but give Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”
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