Jesus’ crucifixion was a historical fact in which the world expressed its hatred and hostility towards God; it was the definitive symbol not only of the wickedness of sin, but also of the greed of the human heart. Glory was the supreme cry of? I want the world.
However, the cross is in the heart of the Gospel, not because of what it tells us about sin, but because of what it tells us about God’s grace: the mercy that heals sin and love, which guarantees the effectiveness of this remedy. . The cross is good news not because of what we take from God, but because of what God has given us.
The nature of this
The cross was God the Father giving God the Son for the salvation of the world. This is the distinction introduced in John 3:16: the God who loved the world is the God who gave, and the one who was given was “His only Son.
However, John presents his gospel account by declaring that the Son, though distinct from the Father, is no different from God; on the contrary, he identifies with God. To say that the Father has given us his Son is to speak of one person giving to another, but it is also to say that, in a final sense, God has given his Son. Is it with your own blood that God redeemed the church (Acts 20:28)?
This fact alone should put the cross in the highest relief. On Calvary, the world stood before God and said, “This is how much we hate you!And on Calvary, God stood before the world and said, “This is I love you!”
Gift planning
The cross was not an accident. It was planned by God before the foundation of the world. When God introduced his hero, the descendant of the woman?(Genesis 3. 15), like the one that would triumph over sin and Satan, this was not Plan B, but the first. an indication in history that behind history there was a purpose of salvation already decreed in which the Son of God would be delivered as Savior of sinners.
The first proclamation of the promise in Genesis 3,15 defines the cross in a triple context: first, the gift of a Savior was necessary because of the violation of the covenant of works between God and man; second, the gift was prepared in an intratrilitarian redemption pact; and third, the gift would be bestowed by a covenant of grace administered in history.
For this reason, throughout the Old Testament, the gift already formulated, but not yet realized, of a Savior is indicated in many ways and at different times: “God will provide a lamb,” Abraham said in Genesis 22:8. The virgin will conceive and bear a son,” the prophet says in Isaiah 7:14. “I will raise you a shepherd, my servant David, ” said God in Ezekiel 34. 23, promising the coming of the royal shepherd who would give his life for the sheep.
Gift delivery
And in due time, Jesus came. But the New Testament is very careful to emphasize the character of his coming as a gift. “However, the fullness of time has come,” writes Paul in Galatians 4: 4, “God sent his Son, born of woman, born under the law. . . ” We had been expelled from paradise; Therefore, God sent his Son out of paradise, to a distant land. When Isaiah said this: “Was a child born to us, did a son give himself to us? (Isaiah 9. 6), the final fulfillment of his words came when the Son of God was incarnated as one of us.
Thus, in the final analysis, this Son was delivered to death; the Father did not forgive him, but abandoned him for all of us (Romans 8:32), he was the dearest of all those present: Did God become poor for you so that by your poverty you would become rich?(2 Corinthians 8: 9). God, in the weakness of human flesh, conquered for us what we could not achieve with our own strength (1 Corinthians 1:25). The cross was the supreme gift of love.
The purpose of this
If John had told us that God loved his Son in such a way that He gave him the world, he would not have surprised us, the surprise comes in the opposite direction: God gave his Son, he loved the world so much. The reason he gave it was so that the world could be saved by receiving the gift. How exceptionally wise, how exceptionally simple. But how extremely difficult is it for man’s hard heart to thank God for what Paul calls his ineffable gift?(2 Corinthians 9. 15).
This article is part of the May 2016 edition of Tabletalk magazine.
Translation: Joel Paulo Aragono da Guia Oliveira. Critic: Yago Martins. © 2016 Faithful Ministérium. All rights reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: The Cross of Christ shows god’s love
Authorizations: You are authorized and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format, provided that the author, his ministry and translator are no longer no longer modified and not used for commercial purposes.