Monday, March 17, 2014
John 19:17-18 And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.
THE CROSS: A SYMBOL OF GRACE
If we were able to transport people from the ancient world into our church, they would be surprised by how much the world has changed. But the decorations in our sanctuary would puzzle them most. Front and center they would see the cross, which would surprise them, and fill them with horror.
Crucifixion was an ancient method of execution designed to wring out as much suffering as possible from the crucified before he died. First the condemned lugged the cross beam to the place of execution. Then each arm was stretched out, and large iron nails driven through each hand. Next the executioners raised the cross beam and affix it to the vertical beam. Then two more iron nails were driven through the feet. There the condemned would struggle to find relief until he finally died.
If the ancients saw the cross as a symbol, it was a symbol of suffering, humiliation, and death. But in the hands of the almighty God, the cross became an altar of divine sacrifice.
Jesus wasn't just an innocent man, he was THE innocent man. The only man in history who had no crimes to pay for, no sins to regret. Jesus wasn't just a person giving himself up so that someone else might escape. As the eternal Son of God, his sacrifice was valuable enough to pay the ransom price for the entire sinful human race.
To the ancients, the cross was a tool of grim death. But to us, to us let the cross retain the NEW meaning God has given it. Let the cross be to us a symbol which reminds us -- I've been set free. Forgiven. Raised to life. And all this through Christ Jesus my Savior. Let the cross be to us a symbol of God's saving grace.
