A new look at the Cross

The world enjoys inventing new questions and problems for the follower of Christ to tackle. More often than not, Christians live in the anxiety that one day the inconsistencies in their lives will be revealed, and we try so hard to hide these aspects of our lives from the outside world, even to our close confidants. We struggle with the fear of rejection, when being righteous in our faith and being accepted by others seem so contradictory. There must be consistency between the visible and internal faith! Perhaps, the start of building up our faith is in knowing and understanding a consistent God, and that is crucial for doing apologetics unapologetically as well.

There are many examples which prove the unchanging nature of God in an ever-changing world. Among all, the cross is one of the greatest demonstration of God’s moral consistency in His righteousness and love.

Romans 9:22-24 (NIV)

What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath – prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory – even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

These questions made me stop and think.

I deserved the wrath of God –> God had mercy on me –> He pardoned my sins and saved me from eternal death –> He imputes righteousness within me –> He did that through Jesus who died for me.

And to think that it is totally against His character to do this:

Proverbs 17:15 (ESV)

He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

Theologically speaking, justification is God’s act of declaring a sinner righteous before Him. Here we have, a just God justifying the ungodly, what an irony! But Paul has already dealt with that:

Romans 9:14-16(NIV)

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom i have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

That just makes me so awed by the extent of God’s love – the love which triumphed death to reach the hearts of the lost.

This is God’s sovereign choice. He could very well have forsaken his righteousness and forgive us no matter what we have done wrong, without the need for a Christ. He could have destroyed us all and create a new human race for all his pleasure and delight. But God chose to do the work of redemption through Jesus. He chose to find a way by which His glory is not diminished but magnified through us, objects of His mercy. I thank God that He is consistent in both love and righteousness!

Don’t think of the cross as God dealing with the problem of how he can find a payment high enough to get you for himself. Rather, think of the cross as dealing with the problem of how you could find a sacrifice great enough to vindicate the righteousness of God for doing the abominable thing of justifying..you!

- John Piper

Pardon the iPhone for the grainy photo taken during sunset this evening. I was rather impressed by what was revealed before me – the sky with a shot of brilliance from behind the clouds. How amazingly polluted our skies are nowadays! I was surprised to see another guy in the background stopping to capture this moment on his phone as well. Anyone crazy over sights like this?