THE CROSS

The emblem of the cross is seen all over the world in the display of church steeples and crucifixes worn around people's necks. However, many people do not know the real meaning of the symbolism of the cross and what it means to those who look to the event of Christ's death on the cross and His resurrection for their salvation. The cross is the greatest symbol of love that was ever shown to this world. It speaks of a perfectly innocent man, who was brutally tortured in the most scandalous of deaths, for a world that spit in His face. We are just as guilty of crucifying our Lord as the people who actually did it because we have sinned and it was for sin He was crucified.

Anyone who would call God unloving for "sending" people to hell, has never really understood the cross. We are the ones who chose to sin! Yet, God in His great mercy, made a glorious way out of the inevitable result of our sin for us. He took it upon Himself, and it cost Him more than we can imagine--His Beloved Son. God put all of the sins of the whole world upon Him and punished Him in our place. This is a profound mystery, but it is the central message of the gospel-- that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe in Him wouldn't die in their sins, but could inherit eternal life through faith in Him (John 3:16). I Peter 2:24 says Jesus bore our sins in His body, not in His spirit. He is the eternal and sinless Holy Spirit. (Jesus did not die spiritually. The Scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:21 which says, "For he hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin..." means He was made to be a "sin offering" for us, not that He literally became sin.)

However, if that was all that took place, the story would have a very bitter ring to it indeed. Preaching just the death of Jesus is only half the message. The gospel (good news) is that Jesus is alive today!