Why the Cross?

Hundreds of thousands of books have been written about the cross by some of the most brilliant scholars across the ages. I will certainly not come anywhere close to presenting teaching on the cross that is on par with these scholars, and a blog post is certainly not the place to even attempt such a massive task. All I’ll do here is offer personal reflections that I have gleaned thus far on my humble journey towards the Truth. If you’re interested in further reading on the cross, I recommend John Stott’s book, The Cross of Christ. It’s a brilliant book that offers a great framework for studying the Cross.

Those who say that the cross was not necessary, or cringe at how a loving God would sacrifice His son to satisfy His wrath, are, I believe missing out on a few crucial realities that I will attempt to briefly point out through four concepts.

1. The Reality of Sin & Redemption

Those who claim that the cross was not really necessary, make light of sin. “I’m not that bad after all,” one might exclaim. “I mean I haven’t murdered anyone or done anything bad enough that God would have to send His son to die such an atrocious death! Seeing Jesus die such a death is really painful. Why all that? My sins aren’t that bad!”

In our attempt to answer this valid question, let’s go back to the beginning. Let’s go back to what is commonly known as The Fall. What was The Fall really about? Adam and Eve eating of a fruit they shouldn’t have eaten of? Well it’s a little deeper than that. God commanded Adam and Eve to eat of any tree in the Garden except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. By eating of it, they were not merely disobeying God, but they were in essence telling God that they want to rule their own world. They don’t want Him as King. They don’t want to be stewards (managers) of the world that God created, they want to be King in a world where they not only “know” what is good and evil, but “decide” what is good and evil. And so, in fulfillment of man’s desire to live independently of God, a new kingdom was created; a kingdom in which man would be king; a kingdom very different from the Kingdom of God. But since man and God are not the only characters in the story, and since there is an evil being whose very nature is to steal, kill, and destroy, he took full advantage of man taking his bait and falling. This world that man desired to rule over would not be ruled over by man… Satan would usurp the rule and become “prince of the power of the air”(Ephesians 2:2).

So what we are before my friends, is not a list of sins that we tend to view as minor and much shorter than everyone else’s! We’re talking about a state of sin, a state of lawlessness; a state of “anomie” (the Greek/French term for this state of sin). The Fall not only made us able to sin, the Fall made us unable to not sin. The Fall did not give us freedom as Adam and Eve were deceived to think. The Fall took away our freedom and made us captive to sin. The Fall destroyed our hearts; it is this destruction that will cause each of us, if we are honest, to cry out with the Apostle Paul, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:15-24).

The situation that the Fall left humanity in is far more complicated than we think. It’s not about a list of sins, it’s about a state of anomie, of being unable to escape the jail in which we imprisoned ourselves in. We’re stuck there forever, trying to act free while actually held captive in a jail with no way out.

This is the state we were in. The only way out would be a ransom that is big enough to bail us out of jail. And the only ransom big enough to redeem humanity would need to be paid by someone outside of this jail, someone untainted by this state of anomie.

2. The Holiness of God & Propitiation

Let’s look at a second facet of the problem. We must take a moment to gaze upon the holiness of God. Unfortunately, in our modernized mindset, and our misinterpretation of grace, we tend to think of God either as cartoons tend to portray Him; as the old grey-headed grandpa who doesn’t mind us doing anything, or as a gentle God who doesn’t really mind our sins. That is not the God of the Bible! The God of the Bible is a consuming fire (Deut. 4:24). He is a Holy God that we cannot even approach in our sinfulness! A brief look at God’s design of the Temple in the Old Testament and the requirements He instituted for approaching Him and His immediate punishment of those who dared approach Him in any other way, is but a glimpse of this Holy God we are talking about. This God has not changed in the New Testament, He has not changed in Jesus Christ, for the same Christ who healed the sick and welcomed the children was consumed with zeal and with a whip drove out the money changers and sellers and overturned their tables at the Temple court (John 2:13-17).

Sin rightly makes this Holy God angry; it arouses His wrath, for it is so against His nature that He can’t tolerate it. So here we have our second problem: someone needs to satisfy this wrath. And the only one who could satisfy this wrath is someone who has never sinned; someone untainted by this state of anomie.

So, sin separated us from God and confined us to a prison we can’t escape. And sin separated the Holy God from us because He is absolutely Holy and we are absolutely not.

3. The Justice of God & Justification

Let’s move on to a third facet of the problem. God is not only holy, but God is also just. Because He is just, there must be a punishment for our sin; a punishment that would return us to correct “legal standing” before God. But the problem is that when we sin, even when we are punished for our sins, we go on sinning again. That’s what happened with the people of God and the Law. The Law was good, but it revealed the sins of the people. They were to offer sacrifices to atone for their sins, but they kept on sinning. As the writer of the Book of Hebrews, inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”(Hebrews 10:4). God had “had enough” of Israel’s sacrifices; “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats” (Isaiah 1:11). The problem was not in the people’s actions, but in their hearts. And what can possibly change people’s hearts? They needed to start all over again; to be reborn with a new nature that can resist evil. They needed a second Adam who had never sinned; someone untainted by this state of anomie.

So, sin separated us from God and confined us to a prison we can’t escape. And sin separated the Holy God from us because He is absolutely Holy and we are absolutely not. And the justice of God required an effective punishment that would bring about true change of the human heart.

4. Broken Relationships & Reconciliation

But we’re left with a fourth dilemma. The Fall not only separated us from God, separated God from us, and laid before us a punishment that we cannot satisfy, but the Fall also destroyed our relationship with God and our relationships with one another. Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from God (broken relationship with God) and then Adam blamed Eve (broken relationship with one another). Only someone who can reconcile us to God and heal our egocentric human hearts can restore our relationship with God and with one another. The only one capable of doing so would be someone who has never sinned; someone untainted by this state of anomie.

Are you beginning to see the answer to the question, why the cross?

Only Jesus Christ who was 100% God and 100% sinless man could redeem us, or pay our ransom to set us free from captivity to sin. That’s redemption!

Only Jesus Christ who was 100% God and 100% sinless man could satisfy God’s wrath. That’s propitiation!

Only Jesus Christ who was 100% God and 100% sinless man could justify us and restore our legal standing before God. That’s justification!

Only Jesus Christ who was 100% God and 100% sinless man could reconcile our relationship with God and with one another because of the miraculous change of heart He undergoes in those who make Him Lord of their lives. That’s reconciliation!

Redemption, propitiation, justification, and reconciliation! All needed one who has never sinned, one untainted by this state of anomie. One who loves us each by name, who cares so much for us that He was willing to sacrifice Himself to pay our ransom with His own blood, to satisfy His own wrath through His own love and sacrifice, to justify us by condemning Himself, and becoming a curse for us so that we would become the righteousness of God, and to reconcile us to Himself through Himself! It is inconceivable!!!

“The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God. The essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for man.” John Stott

It was in a garden that Adam and humankind fell in sin and death, in a garden that our Lord sweated drops of blood in agony while bearing our sins, and in a garden where the Second Adam triumphantly rose, forever defeating sin and death. Christ is Risen! Happy Easter!