Centering On The Cross

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ . . . [reconciling] us both to God in one body through the cross.

Ephesians 2:13, 16 RSV

The fact of the death of Jesus Christ is the very heart of Christianity. The sacrificial cross of Christ is the secret of Christianity’s survival through all the ages and the hope of its victory in the ages to come.

The cross is more than an example. It is more than a system of ethics. It is the mighty act of God’s justice and love. God is saying to the whole world, “I love you. I am willing to forgive your sins.” God is saying to all of those who are filled with guilt today, “Your sins are forgiven because of the cross.” God is saying to all those who are lonely today, “Behold, I am with you until the end of the age” (cf. Matthew 28:20). Every person reading these words is guilty of sin, and there is no way to remove that stain of guilt except by the sacrifice of Christ.

In Westminster Abbey there is a memorial tablet erected by the British government in memory of Major John André, with whom Benedict Arnold negotiated for the surrender of the fortress of West Point and who was hanged as a spy on October 2, 1780. It was a case where the man who ought to have been hung escaped and the man who was caught in a strange series of circumstances was hung.

André was still in his twenties. He was a gifted writer. Just before his execution he wrote a poem entitled, “Hail, Sovereign Love,” in which the great truth of the atonement, Christ’s substitution for the sinner, was gloriously told; he described in this poem how his own soul was for a time too proud to seek Christ. However, there came a time when André was convinced of his sin, and he went to the cross and found a glorious and wonderful peace.

I read about a clergyman some time ago who was conducting a communion service. Because he no longer believed in the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross for our sins, he distributed flowers to the congregation instead of the bread and the wine.

The idea of the atonement was repugnant to him, so he gave flowers as a substitute. But there is no substitute for Christ and Him crucified, no substitute for the rugged and bloodstained cross.

Our Father and our God, You have substituted Your precious Son on the cross for me. He took my personal sins to that tree and hung there in agony in my place. Forgive me, O merciful Father. Find in me a pure heart, and save me through the blood of Christ. Amen.

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