The unfathomable love of God moved Him to send us His only Son (John 3:16). He poured out His love for us on Calvary and “while we were yet sinners” (enemies of God), He demonstrated His great love for us. Jesus, 19 3 crossesGod’s only Son, came into the world as a human as Philippians 2:8 describes and then he humbled Himself even further. The verse says, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Jesus would not yield to Satan’s temptation to reject the cross and take what was rightfully His. He did not listen to the words of His apostles who wanted him to avoid the cross. No, Jesus set his jaw to accomplish God’s plan and purpose for His life by dying on the cross for our sins.

The cross of Christ is a bloody issue that must be dealt with. It’s offensive to many people simply for its gruesome nature. It’s also offensive because it removes all merit from man’s salvation. The Judaizers of Paul’s day and the works oriented religions of our day are also offended by this truth. Religion leads people to think that if they live decent, upright, moral, and sincere lives they will make themselves acceptable to God. The Bible teaches us that no one can make themselves acceptable to God. We’ve all have “fallen short” of that mark (Romans 3:23). Since we’ve all sinned the cross is our shame also because it’s our sin that sent Jesus to the Cross. In Rembrandt’s famous painting, “The Three Crosses” he painted himself in the crowd. In doing so he identified with those who hung Jesus on the cross and recognized that by his sins he helped nail Jesus to the cross.

In His humble submissive attitude, Jesus carried out God’s plan. Richison writes, “He did not stop half way. If he did not die there would be no salvation for man. For Jesus to die was not unique; everyone dies. Mark the word ‘even.’ He was more than obedient unto death; he went further than death. He went to the cross death. That would be equivalent to the ‘death chamber’ today. He died a criminal’s death. The cross was the instrument by which the Roman government executed its criminals. It was a slow death.” It is clear that God and man can meet only at the Cross of Christ. It’s on the cross that we find forgiveness. It’s at the cross that we find reconciliation with God. In 2 Corinthians 5:19, Paul wrote, “God was in Christ (on the cross) reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them.”