The Meaning of the Cross

When asked "What is the cross?" people's most instinctive response might be a wooden cross standing atop a church spire or hanging in a church worship hall. In short, most people would answer this question from a visual perspective. After more than 2,000 years of Christian faith, the cross is imprinted in our hearts. The ancient cross is the place where God’s wisdom is revealed. When you truly understand the cross, you will understand what kind of God He is. God has two most complete attributes: perfect love and perfect justice. The true meaning of the cross is that through what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross, God’s love and justice are revealed to us!

Isaiah 53:5-6: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.” Romans 5:7-8: “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The entire Bible has only this chapter, Isaiah 53, that tells me what salvation means. The Old Testament mainly speaks of God’s justice, while the New Testament mainly speaks of God’s love. God’s justice is like the North Pole, and God’s love is like the South Pole; they are two completely different extremes that seem never to meet. However, God hung His only begotten Son on the cross, and on the cross, these two extremes—God’s justice and love—met and were fully united.

Our Lord Jesus was on the cross for a total of six hours, divided into two parts: the first three hours and the last three hours. The first three hours on the cross involved people crucifying God, our Lord. Judas betrayed Him, Pilate sentenced Him to be crucified, and people used every means to put Him on the cross. However, when our Lord Jesus was raised on the cross, He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” As a Father, God listened to His Son's prayer. The Son asked for forgiveness, and the Father forgave them. At this moment, the cross fulfilled and manifested God's love.The first three hours were when humans crucified God, our Lord. If the cross were only about these first three hours, it would not be salvation—it would be humanity's act of hatred toward God at its peak. In the first three hours, humans crucified our Lord. Our Lord said, "Forgive them," and our Father God said, "Yes, we forgive them." There was God's love, but where was God's justice?

In the last three hours, God had to respond to His Son's prayer. It was no longer humans striking Him; it was God who struck Him. God was the one who smote and afflicted His Son. God loved humanity to the utmost, placing His only begotten Son on the cross, striking and afflicting Him. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Therefore, the first half of the cross represents God's love, and the second half represents God's justice.

So, have you noticed that when we talk about the cross, we often only mention humans crucifying the Lord? This shows that we do not fully understand salvation. What is true salvation? God loved the world so much that He forgave them, but where is justice in this? Because of this, God placed His only begotten Son on the cross and struck and afflicted Him, demonstrating His justice. As Isaiah 53 shows, true salvation means that God struck and afflicted His Son, and the rod of His wrath fell upon His Son. He is a just God; every sin must be punished, every sinful thought and deed, and all of His wrath was placed upon His Son. Our sins were laid on Him, and when the sins of the whole world fell upon His Son, the Father turned His face away.On the cross, the Lord Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He did not say “Father” but called out “God” because He was facing the God who judges sin, who turned His face away from Him. On the cross, the Father stood opposed to Him to satisfy divine justice.

To fulfill God’s salvation and His justice, during those last three hours, God struck and afflicted His Son. “Why have you forsaken me?” was cried because of the fear of being struck by God. Because of our sins, God’s Son, Jesus, was struck by God, and that is the source of salvation. On the cross, Jesus bore our sins Himself, paying the full penalty for our sins and becoming our sacrificial lamb. The cross accomplished God’s justice and allowed His love to be fully realized.

The cross resolved the "contradiction" between God’s justice and love: When the Lord declared His name to Moses, He said, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.” Naturally, Moses was overjoyed to hear this proclamation, but as he continued listening, God said, “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7). Upon hearing this, Moses immediately bowed down and earnestly pleaded for God to forgive the sins of the people. Moses did not understand, and no one in the Old Testament understood, why God’s proclamation of His name seemed contradictory. How could God, on one hand, forgive human sins and, on the other, punish them? What did this mean?

It turns out that God had long planned the saving grace of the cross, as only the redemption provided by the cross could resolve this "contradiction." The cross represents the highest expression of God's loving forgiveness. As Paul pointed out in Romans, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8).At the same time, the cross is also the highest expression of God’s justice. God does not forgive sins without cause; doing so would conflict with His righteous nature. God must hold sin accountable; otherwise, He would be unjust. But how does God hold sin accountable? He placed the punishment on His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus bore the sins of humanity and became the “sinner” for them, being crucified for these many sins. Thus, on the cross, we see God's love and justice coming together and merging as one, eliminating any contradiction between them.

                                                                        Wensheng Xiong