STEEMCHURCH: Where Love and Anger Faced

SOURCE

What do you see when you look at the cross? Simply an instrument of death? A piece of wood? An emblem of the Christian faith?

If these are the things you see, then you have not caught the most important message of the whole Bible, because the blood of Jesus Christ is the central theme of the Word of God, from beginning to end.

Someone whose life has been transformed by the grace of God, sees much more than a symbol and a subject of argument. That person sees the heart of the living God. The cross is the means by which we are redeemed from the penalty of sin, reconciled to God and totally forgiven. Everything in the Bible points to, or flows from, the work of Jesus on Calvary.

The Bible says that all of us have sinned and that we have been destitute of the glory of God, that the payment of sin is death, but that the gift of God is eternal life (Rom 3:23, 6:23). The Bible also tells us that if we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:10). By his Word, we also know that we will give an account to God of our deeds, on the day of judgment (Rom 14:12).

If you want to know how serious the problem of sin is for God, look at the cross. We like to think that the cross is a wonderful expression of God's love, and that is true. But we can not understand his message (or the depth of God's love) until we recognize something of His hatred of sin. The cross is where God's love and anger met.

When the apostle Paul preached in Corinth, he explained this to philosophers of various faiths. But, for them, their words were ridiculous, because the only concept they had of a cross is that it was something to condemn and crucify criminals. The idea that a means of execution had to do with the salvation of a person, seemed absurd.

The doctrine of salvation remains difficult for many people to understand. How can God's love and anger coexist, let alone unite for something good? But in the Bible there are many verses that speak of the wrath of God, which I define as His intense hatred of sin.

Those who believe in Him have eternal life. But those who do not believe, live under the cloud of God's justice; He hates sin because he knows that it destroys everything he touches. Paul explained it, saying: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom 1:18). A common philosophy of that time, was that good works ensured entry to heaven.

In response to this idea, Paul said: "Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, patience and longsuffering, ignoring that his kindness leads you to repentance? But because of your hardness and your unrepentant heart, you treasure for yourself anger for the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God "(Rom 2: 4, 5).

We can not, in reality, understand the meaning of God's love until we understand what it took for Him to express that love to us. The cross is not what saves us; It is the Person who died there, and what happened to him, which makes it possible for any of us to have hope.

When Jesus died on the cross, God directed His hatred of sin toward His Son. But Jesus did not die forced. He came to the world voluntarily and laid down His life as a ransom for others, saying: "No one takes [life] from me, but I put it on my own" (John 10:18).

We find the most visible example of God's wrath, where we would least expect it: on the shoulders of His only begotten Son, who was absolutely immaculate and who never did anything wrong. The death of Jesus was not something the Romans did; they were simply participants in what God did. Paul explained it this way: "To him, delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you took and killed by the hands of the wicked, crucifying him, whom God raised, releasing the pains of death, because it was impossible for him to be retained by her "(Acts 2:23, 24).

Why did God want to direct His intense hatred of sin towards His perfect and immaculate Son? For one simple reason: because that's what he came for. One of the main themes of the Bible is the wrath of God directed towards His Son to fulfill His purpose. God, in the process of redeeming humanity, has a wonderful plan to forgive us, remove the punishment of our sin and give us eternal life. That's what the cross consists of.

When we receive Christ as our personal Savior, forgiveness occurs. We are "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom 3:24). The perfect justice of God demanded the payment of a punishment for sin. Therefore, God could either condemn all of us to eternal separation from Him-which was the right thing-or direct His punishment to someone who could take our place. And since God demands a perfect sacrifice (Deut 17: 1), only a person who had not sinned could atone for our sin.

That was the reason why He sent His Son. He put the guilt of all humanity on Jesus Christ, and then he condemned it. The Bible says: "To him who knew no sin, he made us sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. 5:21). God condemned Him in our place.

All of us have felt guilty at some point in our lives. Maybe you can think of some time that you could not tell God how bad it made you feel. He lived in the midst of the uneasiness that guilt caused him, and he felt miserable and unhappy, wishing that something would happen to take away that anguish.

Are you able to imagine what it means to bear the sin of all mankind? We have no way to calculate that kind of pain and suffering. When we think of the cross, we tend to think of the nails in the hands and feet of Jesus, in the crown of thorns and in the spear that pierced his side. But the physical suffering that Jesus endured was slight compared to the separation from His Father.

Jesus gave a cry of anguish when he asked the Father if there was another way to "pass" from Him that cup (Matthew 26:39). He knew that he had come as the Lamb of God, who had come to die. He was not asking God to avoid the crucifixion, but he was lamenting His separation from the Father.

But, in order that He might pay the debt of sin for all mankind, He had to endure separation and abandon himself to the wrath of God. When this happened, Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt 27:46, The Bible in simple language). He knew that he would rise from the grave, and that he would sit at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us. But still, he was distressed.

I think what He meant, was: Why have you allowed this horrible, intense pain in My spirit? It is that the suffering lasted for hours. Jesus paid the sin debt of the world in a terrifying act on His body, soul and spirit, and finally He said: "It is finished." And after having entrusted His Spirit to the Father, He died (John 19:30, Luke 23:46).

It was through that dreadful act of extreme love that God expressed his divine love and, at the same time, his most intense anger. Why did he do it? Because he had no other way to declare the guilty sinners righteous, unless someone took our place and paid our punishment.

We are not saved by our justice, but by the mercy of God: "By grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast" (Eph. 2: 8, 9). Without the cross, we are lost. Jesus said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father, but by me" (John 14: 6). In other words, without the blood shed by our Savior there is no forgiveness.

The most important events in human history are the birth of Jesus Christ and His crucifixion. Fortunately, history does not end with the cross, because Jesus was resurrected. In doing so, he overcame death. Who has the power over death? Nobody but the Almighty himself. Jesus, whose death was expiatory, rose from the grave, ascended to the Father and is seated at His right hand as the King who will come to judge all mankind.

Thanks to the cross, God has the divine right to say: "You have sinned against Me, rebelled against Me and have chosen to turn away from My will, but because you accepted the death of My Son as total payment for your sin, I declare you innocent and I give you the promise of eternal life in heaven. "

It is possible that you have been to church many times, given a lot of money or prayed a lot, but have you ever recognized that, according to the Word of God, you can not save yourself? On the cross, the divine wrath of God was faced with his infinite love to produce an offering of blood that washes away the guilt of the guilty sinner.

When you look at the cross, I hope you see something more than a religious symbol. Because she is the greatest of all gifts. It is our passport to life beyond this earth, and to an eternal home in heaven.