The Summary Of Salvation

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:8

The heart of the Christian Gospel with its incarnation and atonement is in the cross and the resurrection. Jesus was born to die. Jesus did for man what man cannot do for himself. He did it through the cross and the resurrection.

Today we look for man-made philosophical panaceas. Discussions and debates go on in every center of learning in a search for ultimate wisdom and its resultant happiness. No solution has been found. We still wrestle with the same philosophical problems that concerned Plato and Aristotle.

We are searching for a way out of our dilemma, and the universal sign we see is “no exit.” But the cross presents itself in the midst of our dilemma as our only hope. Here we find the justice of God in perfect satisfaction—the mercy of God extended to the sinner—the love of God covering every need—the power of God for every emergency—the glory of God for every occasion. Here is power enough to transform human nature. Here is power enough to change the world.

Samuel Rutherford, the great Scottish theologian and pastor who died in 1661, put it well when he wrote, “The cross of Christ, on which He was extended, points, in the length of it, to heaven and earth, reconciling them together; and in the breadth of it, to former and following ages, as being equally salvation to both.” The apostle Paul indeed gave us the summary of salvation when he wrote, “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Our Father and our God, I lean on the cross for support and salvation. Nowhere else can I find hope for rescue from this life. Nowhere else can I find forgiveness and mercy. The cross of Christ is my only power for living and my only hope in dying. Thank You for Jesus, who gave the cross significance and in whose name I pray. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).