The cross displays the love of
God, the love of Christ, the righteousness of God, the grace of God, and the
horribleness of sin.

 

The love of God for us was
displayed when God forsook and judged His only begotten Son in order to save us
from our sins. He put His beloved Son through such suffering in order to
reconcile us to Himself. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that
He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John
4:10).

 

            "Who Thy love,
O God, can measure—

            Love that crushed
for us its Treasure,

            Him in whom was all
Thy pleasure,

            Christ, Thy Son of
love?”

 

The love of Christ for us is
shown in the cross. And such love it was—love that was stronger than death!
Only the death of the cross could fully display the depth and intensity of
Christ’s love.

 

            "Nought stayed
Thy love—no sorrows, no taunts, no outrage sore;

 Not
all the fiery arrows of Satan’s wrath and power—

Not
all the stormy billows of judgment’s dreadful hour!"

 

The cross shows the love of
Christ to God. "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as
the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do" (John 14:31). "Christ
also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savor" (Eph. 5:2).

 

The righteousness of God is
displayed because of God’s treatment of sin. God could not overlook sin or
lightly forgive it. He must judge it even though that judgment meant infinite
suffering for His Son. When sin had been associated with or imputed to His Son,
He turned His back on His Son. God can have no association with sin directly or
indirectly.

 

            "God could not
pass the sinner by,

            His sin demands that
he must die;

            But in the cross of
Christ we see

            How God can save,
yet righteous be."

 

The grace of God is manifested
in the results of the cross. Man rejected, insulted, and crucified God’s Son.
Yet His death at the hands of rabble-rousing Jews and cynical Romans is the
foundation of all man’s blessing. The last insult, the thrust of the spear,
drew forth the blood which has redeemed us to God. Although man did his worst,
God overcame the evil and caused it all to be for the blessing of man. (If man
would only accept that blessing!) The cross will be the pillar of a purified
and reconciled universe throughout eternity.

 

We realize the horribleness of
sin because of the terrible suffering which Christ had to undergo in order to
atone for it.

"The stone which the
builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner:this is the
Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes" (Matt. 21:42).

 

(Ed.
Note:The three poetry selections quoted in this article are from Hymns of
Grace and Truth, Nos. 197, 42, and 279, respectively.)