At the cross of Christ, a most unique thing happened: God’s love for lost sinners and His perfect justice met. It’s at the cross where the wounds of sin are healed. It’s at the cross where emotional problems can receive healing. And it’s at the cross where real comfort for suffering can be obtained as we meditate on the suffering that Jesus went through on our behalf.
At Calvary the perfect God-man Jesus willing sacrificed His life in order to pay the penalty for your sins and mine and in turn imputed His righteousness to us. The depth of love that this incredible sacrifice on the part of Jesus defies description. Joni Eareckson Tada describes this amazing transaction beautifully when she states: “Even at the cross, God permitted what he hated – the unjust and agonizing death of his own precious Son – in order to accomplish something, he prized above his own Son’s cruel death; that is, salvation for a world of sinners. So, the world’s worst murder becomes the world’s only salvation.”1
God’s holiness demands payment for sin, but His love offers pardon. And the only way God could reconcile us back to Himself was at the cross where Jesus took the penalty we deserved on Himself. Timothy Keller shared this insight on the cross when he said: “Only in Jesus Christ do we see how the untamable, infinite God can become a baby and a loving Savior. On the cross we see how both the love and the holiness of God can be fulfilled at once.”2
And it’s at the cross of Calvary that we find the ultimate answer to the existence of evil and suffering. While many in the world reject God, because they contend if God is so good then why does He allow so much evil and suffering in our world, they fail to realize that the cross is the only valid answer to the problem of evil and suffering.
You see, I believe, Jesus looked at all of suffering humanity and their doomed state and understood that by His going to the cross He could purchase their salvation. This clearly brought our Savior great joy knowing that His death at Calvary meant that we could be restored back to God. Jesus, rather than look at the cross as an instrument of ultimate pain, torture, and suffering, chose to look at it as an instrument of ultimate glorification to the Father.
Satan thought he won the battle at Calvary but God turned the absolute worst thing that could ever happen – the death of Christ – into the very best thing that could ever happen for us – His resurrection. The cross is clearly the symbol of ultimate pain and suffering, but God allowed it, to bring about the greatest blessing of all – our salvation and eternal life in Christ. The message of the gospel is the only satisfactory answer to evil and suffering and that answer comes in the form of a person – Jesus Christ!
While temporary evil and suffering are a reality so is eternal joy and bliss in heaven. Without Christ we are left in a world filled with sin, bondage, pain, suffering, and evil and no way to explain how to cope with them. But because Christ lives He solves this age old issue by His death and resurrection. And as a result, the greatest evil of all, death, has been defeated forever!
1 51 Motivational Joni Eareckson Tada Quotes For Everyone – Inspirationalweb.org
2 20 Quotes from Walking with God through Pain and Suffering | Desiring God
And, thankfully, GOD is in control of EVERYTHING!
Elaine