The Cross of Christ
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The most momentous time in all of recorded history was when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God. Because He challenged the Jewish and Roman authorities with the Truth of God, He was arrested, condemned to death, nailed to the Cross, died for the sins of the world, rose from the grave, and returned to His Father. Therefore God has highly exalted Him.
Christ fulfilled the reason for which the Father had sent Him into the world.
On the Cross, our sins were exchanged for Christ righteousness. On the Cross was Christ, the Righteousness of God: standing before the Cross were we, sinners in need of redemption. He died as the ultimate expression of the love of God.
The result of the Cross is that we have been redeemed and reconciled to our Father and Creator. We have peace with God; we have become the children of God. He who knew no sin became sin for us.
The Righteous for the unrighteous; the Sinless for the sinner.
The Cross of Christ is the supreme example of the love of God.
The Cross of Christ is the centerpiece of the Scriptures; it is the centerpiece of the gospel of Christ.
Christ is the Person of the gospel: He is the message of the gospel.
God’s love for the redemption and reconciliation is the reason for the Cross.
God is a God of love, but He is also a God of wrath. His love is to redeem; His wrath is to warn and call sinners to repentance.
God’s love is expressed in His grace and in His mercy. His grace is giving us what we do not deserve: His mercy is in not giving us what we do deserve.
Grace bestows love: mercy withhold wrath.
His love was to be shown in the gift and death of His Son on the Cross.
Why His Son? So that mankind would see the depth of God’s love as well as recognize the seriousness of sin.
Why on the Cross? So that mankind would see the love of God expressed through the cruelest of deaths.
The Cross of Christ was foreshadowed throughout the Old Testament: first, by the Flood; second, by the Exodus; third, through prophecies; fourth, though covenants.
These foreshadowing events point to the Cross of Christ.
The Flood: God grieved that He had made man because evil thoughts and evil ways dominated their lives. So God’s holy wrath against sin led to the Flood.
The Exodus: God chose a deliverer, Moses, to go to Pharaoh and to the Israelites to seek the freedom of God’s people from physical slavery. The Exodus foreshadowed the Cross in that God sent a divine Deliverer, His Son, Jesus Christ, to bring people out of spiritual slavery.
Through prophecies: God spoke through His prophets to warn the people of the consequences of continued sin.
Through covenants: God made nine covenants with His people, confirming always that He would be their God and they would be His people. The final, new covenant, promised that God would forgive their iniquities and remember their sins no more. This covenant is that which Christ confirmed on the Cross.
The earthly teaching of Christ bears on the Cross because of statements that led to the Jewish accusation of blasphemy and the Roman charge of sedition. Christ stated that He and the Father are One; He admitted that He is a king but that His kingdom is not of this world.
So, Christ made three significant changes in the ancient Passover feast that He celebrated with His disciples. First, He said that the bread was His body, given for us; second, He said that the wine was His blood of the new covenant shed for us for the forgiveness of sins; third, He said that we should celebrate this feast in remembrance of Him.
Next, Christ went out to pray to the Father, knowing that the hour for which He had come into the world had arrived. It would be just 18 hours from the time of His arrest until His death on the Cross.
Christ now faced trials before the Sanhedrin and the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate.
Pilate found no reason for the sentence of death. However, since it was the time of Passover, he offered to release to the Jews either of two prisoners, Barabbas, a murderer, or Christ, the Son of God. The crowd, incited by the Sanhedrin, called for Barabbas. When Pilate asked what should be done with Christ, the Jews shouted: crucify him.
So Christ was crucified, according to the foreknowledge and plan of God.
On the Cross of Christ, there was the divine exchange that was/is an amazing transformation. On the Cross, Christ was the Righteousness of God: standing before the Cross, we are sinners in need of redemption. On the cross, Christ took on our sins, and He gave us His righteousness. We confess and repent of our sins: we receive His righteousness. It is all because of love.
Therefore, the Cross of Christ symbolizes the glory of the Christian gospel (I Cor 1:17); the fact that, through this cruel and inhuman death, the debt of sin was nailed to the Cross (Col 2:14); and we, having been crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20), have been freed from sin and death and made alive in God (Rom 6:6-11).
The Cross is the symbol of Christ’s love, God’s power to save, and our faith in Him who died for us.
The Cross of Christ gives life to the dead. The Cross of Christ brings salvation to those who are in darkness.
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About the Book
The most momentous time in all of recorded history was when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to proclaim the kingdom of God. Because He challenged the Jewish and Roman authorities with the Truth of God, He was arrested, condemned to death, nailed to the cross, died for the sins of the world, and rose from the grave. Therefore God has highly exalted Him. Christ fulfilled the reason for which the Father had sent Him into the world.
On the cross, our sins were exchanged for Christ’s righteousness. On the cross was Christ, the Righteousness of God; standing before the cross were we, sinners in need of redemption. He died as the evidence of the love of God.
The result of the cross is that we have been redeemed and reconciled to our Father and Creator. We have peace with God; we have become the children of God. He who knew no sin became sin for us. The Righteous for the unrighteous, the Sinless for the sinner.
Therefore, the cross of Christ symbolizes the glory of the Christian gospel (I Cor. 1:17); the fact that, through this cruel and inhuman death, the debt of sin was nailed to the cross (Col. 2:14); and we, having been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20), have been freed from sin and death and made alive in God (Rom. 6:6-11).
The cross is the symbol of Christ’s love, God’s power to save, and our faith in Him, who died for us.
About the Author
William H. Wetmore graduated from Duke University and Lehigh University and had a successful career in engineering science, primarily in teaching and in basic research. He was a member of the faculty of Lehigh and UCLA before becoming a division director in basic research at the National Science Foundation (NSF). After retiring from NSF, he served as associate dean of engineering at West Virginia University. He is the author of seven books: Him We Proclaim; God’s Hidden Treasures: The Parables of Jesus; You Must Be Born Again; Our Father, who are in Heaven; Freedom: The Epistle to the Galatians; The Gospel: Love Diving; and Because of Love, He came… He teaches bible studies on a wide range of theological subjects.