The more familiar we become with Scripture, the more we can coordinate "precept upon precept, line upon line" for the purpose of forming accurate conclusions about God and His truth (Isaiah 28:10).
I often ponder this deductive spiritual reasoning as it pertains to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What may we Biblically infer from the fact that God, for the purposes of redemption, gave His Son to a tortured and forsaken death in order to save human beings from sin and to redeem creation from the effects thereof?
We can conclude that God is serious, deadly serious, about His purposes and intentions regarding the human race, and more pointedly, about your life and mine. At the greatest sacrifice to Himself, He determined to finish what He started, namely, our involvement in His eternal purposes. Rather than destroy humanity because of sin, He delivered us by sending His Son to bear and die for our sin in order to redeem those who believe. Such gracious and grave dedication infers a Being filled with holy and inviolable resolve. "I am the Lord. I will speak, and the word I shall speak shall come to pass" (Ezekiel 12:25).
Such seriousness implies the necessity of a corresponding determination in our hearts. "Ye shall seek Me and find Me when ye search for Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). In a generation that offers so many distractions from a purified resolve, the message of the cross commands that we frequently still ourselves to seek our Lord's searching of our hearts regarding our searching for His heart. He is patiently longsuffering with us, but He is also patently serious concerning us. Recognition of this solemn reality bears the fruit of our own growing and determined resolve. "When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek" (Psalm 27:8).
Calvary also tells us much about the pristine purity and holiness of God's character. A lesser Divine, where such a being possible, might have implemented the rescue of humanity and creation by a far lesser deliverance. The God of the Bible, however, must satisfy the righteous demands of justice no less than the loving designs of mercy. God hates sin with a holy passion because He knows that even the slightest tolerance of such spoiled leaven will ultimately doom the entire loaf (Galatians 5:9). He is fully aware that His creation must flow with the current of its Creator's perfection and purity. The cross and its utter destruction of the impaled and judged Sin-bearer foreshadows the ultimate destruction of sin. Moreover, it assures us of God's faithfulness to His own being and nature, a truth that should fill us with blessed and heart-reassuring peace. "I am the Lord, your holy One" (Isaiah 43:15).
Such illumination demands and commands the purity of our doctrine and message concerning the hope of salvation. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). We live in pluralistic times wherein the communication of "None other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" fosters ridicule, despite, and rejection by the world, and frequently, by many professing believers (John 4:12). In the last several decades, we've heard shocking compromise of this truth from some of the most prominent voices in Christendom. The cross of Calvary whereupon the spotless Lamb of God was slaughtered and rejected by God and man allows for no such accommodation. We must make no allowances within our own hearts, or in our own testimony of the salvation that comes by the Lord Jesus Christ, or it comes not at all.
Finally, and most brilliantly, the inference of love shines forth from the cross upon which our Savior died. I must be honest in acknowledging that I fear to write anything at all about such wondrous implication. What can one say about the hearts of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that would have devised and implemented such grace? What adjectives might suffice, or what superlatives might attain the measure of this "love of Christ, which passeth knowledge?" (Ephesians 3:19). The answer is obvious. We thus close with the suggestion that a long eternity will not suffice in providing illuminations and implications to our hearts of Calvary, and of its sublime Christ...
"God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(Galatians 6:14)
I often ponder this deductive spiritual reasoning as it pertains to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What may we Biblically infer from the fact that God, for the purposes of redemption, gave His Son to a tortured and forsaken death in order to save human beings from sin and to redeem creation from the effects thereof?
We can conclude that God is serious, deadly serious, about His purposes and intentions regarding the human race, and more pointedly, about your life and mine. At the greatest sacrifice to Himself, He determined to finish what He started, namely, our involvement in His eternal purposes. Rather than destroy humanity because of sin, He delivered us by sending His Son to bear and die for our sin in order to redeem those who believe. Such gracious and grave dedication infers a Being filled with holy and inviolable resolve. "I am the Lord. I will speak, and the word I shall speak shall come to pass" (Ezekiel 12:25).
Such seriousness implies the necessity of a corresponding determination in our hearts. "Ye shall seek Me and find Me when ye search for Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). In a generation that offers so many distractions from a purified resolve, the message of the cross commands that we frequently still ourselves to seek our Lord's searching of our hearts regarding our searching for His heart. He is patiently longsuffering with us, but He is also patently serious concerning us. Recognition of this solemn reality bears the fruit of our own growing and determined resolve. "When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek" (Psalm 27:8).
Calvary also tells us much about the pristine purity and holiness of God's character. A lesser Divine, where such a being possible, might have implemented the rescue of humanity and creation by a far lesser deliverance. The God of the Bible, however, must satisfy the righteous demands of justice no less than the loving designs of mercy. God hates sin with a holy passion because He knows that even the slightest tolerance of such spoiled leaven will ultimately doom the entire loaf (Galatians 5:9). He is fully aware that His creation must flow with the current of its Creator's perfection and purity. The cross and its utter destruction of the impaled and judged Sin-bearer foreshadows the ultimate destruction of sin. Moreover, it assures us of God's faithfulness to His own being and nature, a truth that should fill us with blessed and heart-reassuring peace. "I am the Lord, your holy One" (Isaiah 43:15).
Such illumination demands and commands the purity of our doctrine and message concerning the hope of salvation. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). We live in pluralistic times wherein the communication of "None other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" fosters ridicule, despite, and rejection by the world, and frequently, by many professing believers (John 4:12). In the last several decades, we've heard shocking compromise of this truth from some of the most prominent voices in Christendom. The cross of Calvary whereupon the spotless Lamb of God was slaughtered and rejected by God and man allows for no such accommodation. We must make no allowances within our own hearts, or in our own testimony of the salvation that comes by the Lord Jesus Christ, or it comes not at all.
Finally, and most brilliantly, the inference of love shines forth from the cross upon which our Savior died. I must be honest in acknowledging that I fear to write anything at all about such wondrous implication. What can one say about the hearts of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that would have devised and implemented such grace? What adjectives might suffice, or what superlatives might attain the measure of this "love of Christ, which passeth knowledge?" (Ephesians 3:19). The answer is obvious. We thus close with the suggestion that a long eternity will not suffice in providing illuminations and implications to our hearts of Calvary, and of its sublime Christ...
"God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(Galatians 6:14)
Weekly Memory Verse
I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and for Thy truth: for Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name.
(Psalm 138:2)
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