The Glory Of The
Cross
Galatians 6:14
The world looks upon
Christ crucified with contempt. Blood atonement is a crude, barbaric, outdated
doctrine in the opinions of most people. TO THE RELIGIOUS WORLD THE CROSS OF
CHRIST IS A STUMBLING BLOCK. Self-righteous religionists, while they talk about
the death of Christ as a noble gesture of love and self-denial and sing about
it in their cathedral choirs, see no need for or value in the blood atonement
of a crucified substitute, because they have no awareness of personal
depravity, moral inability, and sin, and because they have no knowledge of the
holiness, righteousness, and justice of God.
TO THE SOPHISTICATED,
EDUCATTED, PHILOSOPHICAL WORLD THE CROSS OF CHRIST IS FOOLISHNESS. It is good
enough for Bible thumping, religious fanatics, who are (in their opinion)
ignorant, unlearned, and superstitious. They have no knowledge of God. And they
see no sin in man. Anything they see as evil is thought to be nothing more than
the result of social problems, which can be cured by social reform, social
redemption. They may, or may not, speak respectfully of Jesus of Nazareth and
his unjustified crucifixion. But they see no need for or value in the blood
atonement of a crucified substitute.
But to the believer, to
the child of God, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is everything. THOSE WHO
ARE BORN OF GOD GLORY IN THE CROSS, NOT THE PHYSICAL CROSS, BUT THE DOCTRINE OF
THE CROSS - EFFECTUAL, BLOOD ATONEMENT BY CHRIST OUR SUBSTITUTE. We rejoice in
it, trust it, sing about it, give praise to God for it, and live upon it. There
is glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was a glorious Savior who
died. It was glorious love that compelled him to die. He accomplished a
glorious redemption by his death. His death reveals the glory of God in saving
sinners. And by the merits of his blood atonement upon the cross he will raise
a great multitude of lost and ruined sinners up to everlasting glory in heaven.
The glory of the cross is seen in the effects of Christ's death upon God's
elect - justification, regeneration, and eternal life! Others glory in
ceremonial religion, legal obedience, and personal holiness. We glory in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Don Fortner