Where's The Cross?

Easter is upon us, and no doubt we are reminded of it in store windows, aisles and ads as ubiquitous amounts of bunnies, eggs, pastel colors, and egg hunts inundate our lives.  It is remarkable to me how hidden from view is the cross of our Lord and His resurrection amidst this most important Christian “holy”day.  Christmas is a wonderful celebration of the advent of our Lord in human flesh, but without Good Friday and Easter we would be “of all men most miserable” as stated by Paul in I Corinthians 15:19. 

So where is the cross?  Many people will miss the true meaning of Easter this year, not even once acknowledging Jesus in prayer or considering His sacrifice on the cross.  But if you read your Bible with any regularity, you will find God’s love for sinners and Christ’s sacrifice on the cross from cover to cover.  Often called “the scarlet thread”, you can encounter Christ on nearly every page of your Bible.  Jesus and his sacrifice are prefigured in the Garden of Eden as God slays an animal, shedding innocent blood, in order to cover the sin of Adam and Eve.  We see salvation by God’s hand in the account of Noah.  The story of Abraham and Isaac is a “type” of God sacrificing his only begotten son.  And in a reading from this week, we see a law from Deuteronomy that is carried out over fourteen hundred years later at the crucifixion of our Lord.  Chapter 21 verse 22 and 23 says, “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.”  This verse motivated the Pharisees’ request to have the body of Jesus taken off the cross before nightfall (see John 19:31).

This verse from Deuteronomy is referenced in Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’”.  The point of Galatians 3:13 is that Christ, though innocent, died a criminal’s death, taking the curse that we deserved.  We are the ones who have sinned and deserve to be cursed.  We are the ones who have allowed his atoning work to be forgotten amidst the commercialized hullabaloo.  Yet Christ bore the law’s curse in our place, hanging naked on a tree in order to give us peace with the Holy God of heaven.  What an AMAZING SAVIOUR!  Christ died as a propitiatory sacrifice that satisfies the divine judgment against sinners, bringing about forgiveness and justification. But Paul is careful to indicate that the sacrifice does not cause God to love us. The opposite is true—God’s love caused Him to offer His Son (see Romans 5:8; 8:32; John 3:16).

So how about you?  Do you love Him and want to see Him magnified?  It starts with willingly surrendering your life to Him by faith, which will motivate you to declare His love to every creature with whom you come in contact.  Let us keep the cross and Christ’s resurrection at the center of our Easter.