It is difficult to look at the cross when you understand the spiritual and physical suffering Christ experienced on it. So how can we call it a beautiful cross?
We often talk about the fact that, on the cross, Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself. But do we really understand what that means? On the cross every sin—of every repentant person who has lived, who lives now, and who will live until His return—was placed upon Him. Our finite minds cannot even imagine the horrible concentration of sin that was laid upon Him!
As a result of our sin, Jesus experienced something on the cross that no Christ-follower has ever, nor will ever, experience. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27:46)
God the Father turned His back on His Son, Jesus, because God is too holy to look upon all our sin that was laid upon Jesus. Here hung Jesus who had never committed sin, now covered with our sin.
After hours of suffering spiritual and physical anguish on the cross, John records that Jesus said, “It is finished” and then He died (John 19:28-30).
When Jesus declared “It is finished” He declared that He had completed the purpose for which God had sent Him to earth—to atone for our sin.
Most often we think of beauty as something that is pleasing to the eye, so we think of the cross as the cruel instrument by which Jesus was crucified and died. We do not see its beauty. Beauty, however, is not always just those things that are pleasing to our eye. Instead, something is beautiful when it touches our hearts and transforms us. With this in mind, we can definitely see the intrinsic beauty of the cross on which God’s sacrificial gift, His Son, Jesus, atoned for our sin. As we see the cross in our mind’s eye, it magnifies the mercy, grace, and love of God, and we are drawn to its beauty.
(Excepted from EASTER: Meditations for Addicts by Mark E. Shaw and Shirley Crowder)
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