Contemplating the Cross

“He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.” Matthew 27:42

They didn’t understand that the One they were mocking was the only One who could change their eternal destiny. He was the only One who could give their hopeless souls hope, but they just didn’t understand the significance of the cross.

And so they mocked Him.

The Creator of the wood and nails that held Him suspended in the air could have chosen to forgo the whole event and you and I would be just as bad off as those who mocked Him – without hope.

But God loves us with a perfect love. One that loves us beyond our unworthiness and because of who He is, He chose to come to this planet as a man so that we could we could go to heaven as redeemed children of the Living God.

So, today, let’s contemplate the cross.

The place where He demonstrated an incomprehensibly, sacrificial love; the place where He bore our sin and our shame; the place where His stripes brought our healing; the place where a crown of thorns was embedded upon His head; the place where He became sin so that we might become His righteousness.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) He made Himself of no reputation and took on the form of a man, humbling Himself and becoming obedient unto the painful and tragic death of the cross (Phil 2:5-8).

Today, as you think about what Christ did for us…as you contemplate the cross…take a few minutes and read through Isaiah 53 and bask in so great a salvation that came at such great cost! And rather than mock Him, won’t you take some time to thank Him as you remember that three days later, He was risen from the grave!

Isaiah 53:

1 “Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul,and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.”