Cross Quotes, April 11

The Apostle Paul
Rembrandt van RijnNailing It to the Cross

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Colossians 2:13-15 ESV)

This is one of my favorite descriptions of the transaction that took place when Christ died for us. Here’s what Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington say about it in their book, The Great Exchange:

So all the sins of those God made alive…are permanently and irreversibly forgiven. How can God do this? “By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with it’s legal demands” as the result of our sin. This required God to provide a qualified substitute on which to transfer our debt and its legandemands and then execute justice on him instead of us. This was the only way God could set it aside, forgive all our sin, and make spiritually dead sinners alive.

So according to his own plan and timetable, God accomplished all this by “nailing it to the cross.” What exactly was the “it” God nailed to the cross? A piece of paper? No! It was the body of Jesus Christ which had become sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21) and a curse for us (Gal. 3:13).

Other Cross Quotes

• A Soul at Its Post, a quote from John Chrysostom at Siris.
• Quoting Hebrews at Field Stone Cottage.
• Quoting Martyn Lloyd-Jones at Hiraeth.

Cross Quotes, April 10

Eternity Will Not Fathom Its Depths

The atonement springs from the fountain of the Father’s love; He commends His own love towards us. We must not think, however, that the action of the Father ended with the appointment and commission of the Son. He was not a mere spectator of Gethsemane and Calvary. The Father laid upon His own Son the iniquities of us all. He spared not His own Son but delivered Him up. He made Him to be sin for us. It was the Father who gave Him the cup of damnation to drink. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Here is love supremely demonstrated.

No stronger expression appears in Scripture than this that God made Christ to be sin for us. We fall far short of a proper assessment of Christ’s humiliation if we fail to appreciate this fact. It was not simply the penalty of sin that Jesus bore. He bore our sins. He was not made sinful, but He was made sin and, therefore, brought into the closest identification with our sins that it was possible for Him to come without thereby becoming Himself sinful. Any exposition of ours can only touch the fringe of this mystery. The liability with which the Lord of glory had to deal was not merely the penalty of sin but sin itself. And sin is the contradiction of God. What Jesus bore was the contradiction of what He was as both God and man. The recoil of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:39) was the inevitable recoil of His holy soul from the abyss of woe which sin-bearing involved. And His “nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt, bespeaks the intensity of His commitment to the extremities of Calvary, the bitter dregs of the cup given Him to drink. Here is love unspeakable; He poured out His soul unto death. Psalms 22 and 69 are the prophetic delineature of His agony, the gospel story is the inspired record of fulfilment, the apostolic witness the interpretation of its meaning. We cannot but seek to apprehend more and more of the mystery. The saints will be eternally occupied with it. But eternity will not fathom its depths nor exhaust its praise.

—John Murray

Other Cross Quotes

• Mine Was the Grief, a quote from Ambrose of Milan at Siris.
• A quote from Louis Berkhof at Field Stone Cottage.
• Richard Baxter is quoted at Hiraeth.

During this week in which Christians commemorate Christ’s death and resurrection, I plan to post daily quotes about Christ’s work on the cross. You are invited to join me. Just post a quote having to do with Christ’s death and/or resurrection and let me know about it in a comment here or by emailing me using the Contact link right below the header. I’ll link back to your post.

Six Reasons I Love the Cross of Christ

This is from a meme I did last year. I’ve edited it, renamed it, and I’m reposting it.

1. The cross of Christ is the solution to everything that’s not right with the universe, including what’s not right with me. No matter what the human need, it is ultimately met at the cross. All real hope is grounded there.


2. Many of God’s attributes are seen most fully in the cross. The cross is, for instance, the pinnacle of the expression of God’s grace. It was also a public display of God’s mercy, love, holiness, righteousness and justice. Do you want to know God? Look through the lens of the cross.


3. What happened on the cross is, in one sense, simple: Christ died for our sins. He bore the penalty for our sins so that we can be forgiven by God and reconciled to him. On the other hand, there are so many layers to the work of the cross! Or maybe it would be better to say that the work of the cross can be seen from many different angles and they all fit together to paint one picture that grows more and more glorious as it is viewed from additional angles. That makes it an infinitely fascinating work and an infinitely satisfying work.


4. The work of the cross is the center of everything: the gospel, God’s plan for history, our Christian faith.


5. The cross is powerful. It transforms us and gives meaning to our lives. It is because of the cross that we have become new creatures. And the cross calls us with a powerful call—a call to live out our new-creaturely lives in “the way of the cross.” Those of us who have been powerfully changed by the work of the cross are called by it to “take up our cross daily” and to find the meaning of our lives in sacrifice to God and for others.


6. For those who are redeemed by it, the cross of Christ will be an enduring passion, a passion that only increases in eternity. Christ’s work on the cross is the centerpiece of the new song:
   
   

   “Worthy are you to take the scroll
   and to open its seals,
   for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
   from every tribe and language and people and nation,
   and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God…
   
   “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
   to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
   and honor and glory and blessing!”