It had to be a cross

People over time have looked at Christianity with a question: why a cross? Why would a loving god put anyone through that for someone else? It had to be a cross. It had to be the most horrific example of human cost, inevitable, public, painful, without repentance. The cross made a permanent marker, a line that could only be crossed once: death.

In the beginning God walked with Man. There was no separation. God, who introduced Himself as the One in Whom all powers existed, called Man His children. God gave them instructions in what to do, in what to eat, and in what not to eat. In one item only did God say “Do not do this. You will die when you do”. God instructed Man to not eat of the tree of the “knowledge of good and evil”. Man did.

Death for Man came from a tree. Salvation for Man had to come from a tree. It had to be redeemed.

In every area where Man failed, Jesus succeeded. In a garden, Man decided to live separate from God: sin. In a garden, Jesus decided despite all the things he suffered, would suffer, he would follow God regardless. In judgment, Man was guilty. In judgment, Jesus was guiltless but redeemed Man by taking our judgment. In accusation and abuse, Man deserved all of it as deceivers, idolaters, liers, thieves, murderers, prostitutes of self. In accusation and abuse, Jesus was sinless. Jesus was guiltless. In painful and deliberate punishment, Jesus stood in our stead. Where we were deserving of punishment, Jesus did not but took our place.  In condemnation, judgment unto death, Man was deserving for self-seeking a life in our own power, in our own name, in our own desires. Jesus did not deserve punishment, a death penalty, but in our place he took our death sentence. In a horrid death on a cross, Jesus took our place. For epithets, he asked God to forgive us. For taunts and jeers, Jesus was silent. At the end of all things prophesied, Jesus simply said, “It is finished”, redeeming the cross – the instrument of death, the cause of death for Man.

In Hebrew, the letters have meaning. Where Jesus was quoted in the New Testament as being the Alpha and the Omega, in Hebrew that would have been the Aleph and Tav. Aleph means sacrifice. Tav means wood or tree. Jesus was telling us he was the sacrifice at the cross.

From that day outside of Jerusalem to now, the cross has been redeemed from a symbol of death most terrible to a symbol of life everlasting.

God so loved the world that He gave us Jesus. Jesus showed us what it was like to live with and walk with the God of the Bible in right relationship. Jesus taught us what God was like and what life with God could be like. Jesus gave us the life and relationship he had with God the Father. Jesus traded who and what he was at the cross for who and what we could be: children of God, in Jesus just as Jesus was in God. (John 17)

Now is the time to accept the price paid at the cross. Jesus rose three days after dying. No one killed him. He laid down his life willingly. Likewise, he took up his life again. Where he died, we can die to sin. We can die to a life that is separate from the God of the Bible. Where Jesus lived, we can live with him, live through him, live for him.

At the cross is all of your sin, shame, and judgment. At the cross is the death of your self, the death of who you once were. At the cross, it is finished.

There is a time of mourning. There is a time of grief. There is a time of sorrow. Then after that the resurrection to new life. The cross is the gateway to new life. First you must die to yourself and accept the price paid at the cross. You must accept the price of the cross for your life, in exchange. Stepping beyond the cross there is life.

Begin a new life beyond the cross with Jesus Christ. Receive His Holy Spirit, be baptized into His new life, and receive power to live this life well and in right relationship with God.

Your life will not be perfect in execution. Your life will be perfect in relationship. God will walk with you, be with you, and cleanse all that other stuff out of your life over time. God invented time. He has plenty of it. It is you that He wants to spend it with. You can only get there through the cross of Christ.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and the cross where he paid the ultimate price for you and you will be saved. Amen.