The cross is the centre of the gospel message. Without it, the Christian faith collapses – it would have no power to save anyone from sin.
Many people wear crosses as jewellery, or get one tattooed, simply as a fashion choice. But there’s far more to it than that. The cross is a graphic reminder of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death for us. It should never be trivialised.
The cross represents everything Jesus did for us. In fact, the story of human history is defined by what happened there.
Crucifixion was cruel
Crucifixion began as a method of execution in the 4th century BC under Alexander the Great. The Romans later adopted it, reserving it for only the worst offenders.
It was designed as a public disgrace, victims impaled in full view of passers-by. Death was slow and agonising, sometimes lasting days, and it drew large crowds. It was the most humiliating way to die.
Jesus’s crucifixion was made even worse by the beatings and scourging inflicted beforehand and by the fact that he was entirely innocent. Read this article for a medical perspective on Jesus’s suffering.
Crucifixion was abolished in 337 AD by Constantine the Great, in honour of Christ’s death. Yet reports of it still surface today, particularly against Christians in regions hostile to the faith.
What happened on the cross impacts us all
Non-Christians may wonder why Christians sing about the cross, wear it, and display it prominently in churches. It might look like idolising a torture device.
But for the Christian, the cross holds something precious, a source of focus and clarity. What happened there impacts every one of us. Paul himself refused to boast in anything except the cross:
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14 NIV)
We are all corrupted by sin, with no way of working ourselves free from it. We’re born alienated from God. Because of His perfect justice, and His perfect love, sin had to be atoned for. So God sent His own Son to pay the price.
Without the cross and the blood of Christ, we’d have no way to be free from sin, and no way to appear righteous before God. We’d be condemned to an eternity apart from Him. Jesus died to make atonement for us, to restore our broken relationship with God, and reconnect us to our Maker.
And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus. (Hebrews 10:10-19 NIV, emphasis added)
Old Testament predicted the cross
Old Testament prophecy foretold all of this, long before it happened. Even the Jewish spring feasts anticipated the cross, pointing forward to the Saviour’s arrival – though many failed to recognise him when he came.
Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection fulfilled these feasts in precise detail, including Passover itself. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world:
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29 NIV)
Crucifixion was the only method of execution that could fulfil these prophecies literally:
- Isaiah 53:5 predicted the Messiah would be “pierced” for our iniquity
- Psalm 22 describes the Messiah’s death in the first person, detailing pierced hands and feet while onlookers stared and celebrated
- Zechariah 12:10 prophesied the Messiah would be pierced — and that it was God himself who was killed
- John 3:14-15 shows Jesus knew he had to be “lifted up,” echoing Moses lifting the snake in the desert (Numbers 21)
These prophecies were written centuries before crucifixion even existed as a method of execution. Their precise fulfilment lends powerful credibility to the biblical text.
Jesus knew what was coming, and told his disciples in advance:
They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” (Mark 10:32-34 NIV)
When we truly grasp what happened on the cross, we can only be humbled. Facing the horror ahead, Jesus prayed in anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane:
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39 NIV)
Sin has to be punished
God cannot tolerate rebellion of any kind. Nothing impure can exist in His presence.
The “cup” Jesus refers to is the cup of God’s wrath. For Jesus to bear the penalty for every sin – past, present, and future – God had to unleash His full wrath against him. We can’t fully grasp what that meant in the spiritual realm. But it was the only way to give us the prospect of life. That’s how much God loves us.
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10 NIV)
The Hebrew word for “crush” means to smash into pieces. It was God’s will to crush Jesus, knowing this would restore His relationship with us.
Death and sin entered the world through one man, Adam, affecting all humanity. So too, the atonement of one man – Jesus – can rescue all of humanity from sin’s effect. Our relationship with God was broken by one man’s actions, and it can be fully restored through one man’s actions too:
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19 NIV)
Jesus took the punishment for every one of our sins in a single instant on the cross. That’s why his death saves us from God’s judgment. And remarkably, he endured it with joy:
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 NIV)
Try to imagine the love that required. Through the cross of Calvary, we have peace with God, and can appear righteous in His eyes:
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation– (Colossians 1:19-22 NIV)
Death has been defeated
Through his death and resurrection, Jesus defeated death once and for all. His sacrifice paid the price of sin; his resurrection proved that price had been accepted by the Father.
The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:17-18 NIV)
This is the power of the cross: new life in relationship with our Creator, and the promise of eternity in heaven. Satan believed he’d won when Jesus died. In fact, the opposite was true – he was defeated:
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:13-15 NIV, emphasis added)
We should be eternally thankful for Jesus’s victory over death, an outcome God planned from the very beginning. Our sins were nailed to that cross. Through Jesus, we now have access to the Father, and are made fellow citizens with his people:
and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, (Ephesians 2:16-19 NIV)
The Power of the Cross
The cross was the greatest achievement in history, with eternal and cosmic consequences. It’s the key that unlocks our hearts and reopens our connection with our Creator. There is real power in what Jesus did there – power that sets us all free.
For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you. (2 Corinthians 13:4 NIV)
Being a Christian isn’t easy. Following Christ runs against the grain of society, and many won’t understand the new life believers have in him. Our culture doesn’t recognise sin, which is precisely the problem. The law existed to show us how far short we fall of God’s standards, and how much we need a Saviour. Without understanding sin and God’s justice, repentance makes no sense.
It’s not an easy message. But understanding what Jesus did on the cross gives us decisive victory over anything the world throws at us. Christians are called to take up their own cross and follow him:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (Matthew 16:24-25 NIV)
Jesus should be the centrepiece of our lives. He willingly did what needed to be done – for you. The question is: what will your response be?
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death–even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8 NIV)
Are you ready to set your sights on the cross, and acknowledge that Jesus died for your sins? He is our only way to salvation! How to be saved.
Two hymns
Below are the lyrics to two hymns that focus on the cross. We hope they bless you, and deepen your reflection on what it means.
| When I Survey the Wonderous Cross Issac Watts When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God! All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all. |
| The Old Rugged Cross George Bennard On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, The emblem of suff’ring and shame; And I love that old cross where the dearest and best For a world of lost sinners was slain. Refrain: So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, Till my trophies at last I lay down; I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it some day for a crown. Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, Has a wondrous attraction for me; For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above To bear it to dark Calvary. In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, A wondrous beauty I see, For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died, To pardon and sanctify me. To the old rugged cross I will ever be true; Its shame and reproach gladly bear; Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away, Where His glory forever I’ll share. |