Christianity is all about the cross. By “cross” I mean the wooden post upon which Jesus of Nazareth was crucified. … Why was [it] necessary? … The cross…was the only way to save human beings from their sins. In the words of John Owen, the great Oxford Puritan,
“There is no death of sin without the death of Christ.”
God wanted to save his people from their sins. But how could he deal with our sin without sacrificing either his love or his holiness? That was the problem. God could not simply overlook our sins. That might have been loving, but it would not have been holy. Justice would not have been served. Our sins would not have been paid for. Nor did God simply condemn us to die for our own sins. That would have been holy, but it would not have been a full demonstration of God’s love.
The place God’s love and God’s holiness embrace is at the cross.
Here is the love of God. God the Father sent his Son, his only Son, to suffer and to die for our sins. His life for your life, his pain for your gain. Here also, in the cross, is the holiness of God. The death penalty is executed against sin. The sins of God’s people are paid in full. The German theologian Emil Brunner explained [it this way:] “The cross of Christ is the only place where the loving, forgiving, merciful God is revealed in such a way that we perceive that his holiness and his love are equally infinite.”
What does the cross tell you about God’s character?
Source: “The Necessity of the Cross,” from James Montgomery Boice and Philip Graham Ryken, The Heart of the Cross, pp. 129-134. The preceding text was read on Sunday, April 3, as part of our weekly reflections on the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ during the month of April.
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