“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Galatians 6:14
There is an old hymn entitled, “The Old Rugged Cross.” There are also physical crosses that folk wear around their necks, often to testify of their faith in Christ. Then, there is the remembrance of the cross from the accounts of it in Scripture. Immediately, upon singing about, and looking at that form of the cross, remembering its purpose in the New Testament, we are confronted with the question: “Why?” How is it that, in the giving of His only begotten Son, the Father would allow Him to be displayed upon that specific instrument of death? We might first begin our consideration of these questions by looking at the word “lowliness.” We first get a glimpse of its meaning when we consider the birth of Christ, born in the lowliest of circumstances, even though He was the Son of God. Secondly, we see Him daily during His ministry, not only declaring Himself to be “meek and lowly of heart,” but by His very life, reaching down to touch the leper, calling forth the dead to life, and forgiving the sins of those condemned to death. It seems that the cross was the great, and terrible, pinnacle of the revelation of the lowliness of Christ, and His humility. Why? To answer this question, we need to always remember that Christ came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. He came to save any person on the face of the earth, who would truly cry out to Him, repenting and believing in Him alone. Basically, the only limit the Lord Jesus declared as hindering Him from saving an individual was that of the complete rejection of Him, especially knowing that He was the Savior of the world, rejecting Him still. His lowliness, and humility, was demonstrated with a crescendoing effect, reaching its pinnacle at the cross, and this, demonstrated by Christ’s words: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” There God demonstrated, by that cross, Christ’s willingness to save all who would come to Him to be saved, and at the same time, reveal God’s way by which Christ’s word does save. The certainty of this work on the cross was sealed forever in heaven when he declared: “It is finished.” How then does this work of Calvary operate, or work, in the life to save?
To answer this question, we need to go back and remember what Scripture says about the person and nature of God. He is holy, perfectly good and just. He is also, perfectly merciful and gracious. Being perfect and holy reveals to us that there is no sin in Him, and that He cannot abide, or put up with, sin. God’s just and righteous nature, in the face of the sins of men, is revealed by wrath that He has towards the sin, and thus, the sinner. Scripture tells us that God is angry with the sinner every day, and that the wrath of God abides upon the unbeliever. As Jesus reveals God’s attitude in Scripture towards Satan, in that His attitude is one of rebuke, and perpetual rejection of the evil one, so His attitude towards sin is one of constant repulsion, and opposition. It is an all-encompassing attitude of rejection and condemnation, revealed by His declaration: “…for the wages of sin is death.” God cannot abide by sin, or any manifestation of that sin which comes from the “flesh,” that old, sinful nature of man. How did God use the cross to deal with our sins? He took every vestige of sin, every recorded sentence of judgment and condemnation, and nailed it to the cross (Col. 2:14) In the most lowly of deaths, Christ on that cross, bore “all ill for me,” and for all men. The cross of Christ became the point of beginning for the salvation of men, for by it, the “chains fell off,” and hearts were freed. “I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.”
Dear Father, Grant us freedom of heart. In Jesus’ name, Amen.