Question: Dear Dr. Roane, why the Cross? Could God have not used some other method to save us? All this brutality is beyond my understanding. Do you have an answer?
Answer: Good question. And, and honest one, too, I believe. First let me say, God did not put Jesus on the Cross. The sins of mankind did. So, in my mind, it seems better to view this event as God's solution. It was not His choice for us to ever sin; but since we did — first by Adam and Eve, then the rest of us, we all share the responsibility and are guilty of offending His holiness. So, God himself— that is, Jesus offered himself as the only way to satisfy moral justice. Justice, any justice requires restitution in full. And, only Jesus could fulfill that obligation.
The Cross is simply God ultimately reaching out to us and carrying us safely to the other-side. Helping us do what we could not do otherwise. Man has been trying to circumvent that process as long as sin has been around. Good works will never accomplish what the Cross did for us, never did and never will. May I go a step forward beyond that? Intellectual acumen will not, either. Sadly, I did discover very early in my career that an intelligent theologian could talk convincing about the Cross all day long, yet never truly embrace its message. The longer I live the more I am amazed that so many substitutes are offered. The power of positive thinking, for example, may be a good practice to keep a healthy mind, but it is a poor substitute for the Cross.
Paul even went so far as to say to the church at Corinth,
When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I decided to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:1-2)
The Cross is our only hope to enter the Holy of Holies because without that sacrifice God has declared it impossible. Reject the Cross and you reject your only hope. For with or without the Cross you and I still face a just God. And without the Cross the only justice possible is death.
Now, to be perfectly honest with you, the Cross will always remain a mystery this side of Heaven. Why and how? is beyond our finite minds to fully comprehend. As someone has said, however, God said it, Jesus did it, and that's good enough for me.
Now, to be perfectly honest with you, the Cross will always remain a mystery this side of Heaven. Why and how? is beyond our finite minds to fully comprehend. As someone has said, however, God said it, Jesus did it, and that's good enough for me.
In The Bond of Calvary,
JimR/—
