The Cross of Christ

The Cross of Christ has such meaning for believers, yet it is still so complicated. I sometimes struggle with the means and the meaning of the cross. Yet, in my moments of clarity, I see so much. I see the love, the reconciliation, the atonement, and the sacrifice. Charles Spurgeon said of the cross;

“The sufferings of Jesus have power to bless others, seeing they were not necessary for Himself. He had no need to suffer as the result of sin, nor yet that, by the discipline of suffering, He might be purged from its evil. There was no reason in Himself why He should ever know pain, or heave a sigh. His sufferings all had reference to His people. His object in suffering, bleeding, dying, was to secure the salvation of His chosen. Our souls may now trust Jesus, the perfect man, with the utmost confidence.”

So as we come to terms with this magnificent sacrifice done for God’s chosen, I can’t help but drop to my knees in amazement and thankfulness. As I continue to dwell on the significance of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. It is all at once troubling, humbling, mysterious, wondrous, glorious, and oh so very necessary.

John Stott so brilliantly states;

“When we are united to Christ a mysterious exchange takes place: he took our curse, so that we may receive his blessing; he became sin with our sin, so that we may become righteous with his righteousness. . . . On the one hand, God declined to ‘impute’ our sins to us, or ‘count’ them against us, with the implication that he imputed them to Christ instead. On the other, God has imputed Christ’s righteousness to us. . . . We ourselves have done nothing of what is imputed to us, nor Christ anything of what is imputed to him. . . . He voluntarily accepted liability for our sins.”

In 1 Peter 3:18 we are reminded;

Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God

So let’s close this humble offering with the conclusion of a Spurgeon sermon on the cross delivered on a Sunday in 1856;

“Ah! Poor sinner, what do you say? Are you offended by the cross? No, you are not, for it is there that you wish to be set free from your sins. Do you desire this moment to come to Christ? You say, “I have no offense against Christ. Oh, that I knew where I might find him! I would come even to where he sits.” Well, if you want Christ, Christ wants you; if you desire Christ, Christ desires you. Yes, more than you desire him; if you have one spark of desire for Christ, then Christ has a whole burning mountain of desire for you. He loves you better than you can ever love him. Rest assured that you did not first seek God. If you are seeking Jesus, he has first sought you. Come, then, you destitute, weary, lost, helpless, ruined, chief of sinners; come, put your trust in his blood and his perfect righteousness, and you will go on your way rejoicing in Christ, set free from sin, delivered from iniquity, rendered as safe, though not as happy, as the very angels that now sing high hosannas before the throne of the Most High! Amen”

WOW!

Grace and Peace!