The Cross of Calvary: The Centerpiece of Human History
Often we hear with astonishment about Palestinians and Jews killing each other. We read with stupefaction the history of Christians persecuting and killing each other. And sometimes we witness believers hurting each other in different ways, church members misrepresenting motives, blackening reputation, dissecting character, which Inspiration says is even more terrible than the horror of the cannibal feasting on the still warm and trembling flesh of his victim.
These atrocities committed by professed religious people have discouraged many sincere souls and have been used as an excuse for many unbelievers to keep a distance from religion.
If these perplexed souls could only look to the Lamb of God hanging on the cross of Calvary, they would be able to see the contrast between the attitude from some professing to be religious and zealous for their God—and the attitude of Christ.
One amazing contrast with the religious intolerance of many professing to serve God today is seen in the manner in which Jesus treated Judas. Jesus knew that Judas was stealing from the early Christian church treasury and, though sin is repulsive to Him, Christ never condemned or reproved Judas for his bad behavior. Jesus cared more about Judas than about the money he was stealing. Money could be replaced, but Judas was too precious for the compassionate Jesus, and He would not let him go without doing all that was possible to save him. Jesus wanted to keep Judas as close to Him as possible—hoping that His love would finally reach and win Judas over. But in the end, Judas finally betrayed Jesus and delivered Him to the hands of His enemies to be crucified.
Despite the betrayal, Jesus never gave up on Judas!
On the night Judas came with the soldiers to deliver Christ into the hands of His enemies, Jesus—fully aware of Judas’ intentions—still greeted him, saying: “Friend, wherefore art thou come?”
Unfortunately, after all the love demonstrated by Jesus, Judas gave up on Him. Then, when he realized that life without Jesus makes no sense, instead of returning to Jesus he gave up on himself. But Jesus loved him to the end.
If Jesus called His betrayer “friend” and loved him unconditionally, how can we hate our brethren to the point of hurting them just because they don’t agree with our point of view? We were made different from each other. People work in different ways; they think differently; they are not exactly like us, but this does not mean they are bad and deserve to be hurt in any way.
Christ prayed for His enemies. He blessed those who cursed Him, and He loved and died for each one of us while we were still His enemies: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. . . . For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:8, 10).
He died the death of the cross. Why was it such a terrible death? The person would die slowly. The pain was such that the victim would desire to die instead of dying slowly! It was a shameful death reserved for the worst lawbreakers. The victim was considered accursed of God.
The cross is shining today and will shine throughout eternity to show that: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Christ’s sinful enemies, ungodly men, killed Him on the cross. And let us remember that while living in sin we were all enemies of Christ and therefore guilty of His death. Our sins killed Him at Calvary!
Nevertheless, He chooses to call us His friends: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Still, He chooses to forgive and save us: “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).
Inspiration tells us that one day Christ will come back to this world to take the redeemed home, and we will travel with Him for a few days towards heaven in a cloudy chariot with wings and wheels formed by angels.
Before entering the pearly gates of heaven, we will stop at the sea of glass and participate in a beautiful ceremony.
The millions of redeemed will form a square about their Redeemer, and there we will see the two Adams (Christ and Adam) together. Jesus with His right hand will place the crown of victory on the head of each redeemed soul. The crown will have our new name on it. Then, every redeemed person receives the victor’s palm and the shining harp.
Millions of saints are present. Who will be the first one to receive the crown, the palm, and the harp? How long will it take for my name to be called? It will not matter; there will be no hurry. We will finally be with Jesus in eternity.
Maybe it will be during this ceremony that some will see the wounds of the cross on Jesus’ hands for the first time and will ask Him: “What are these wounds in thine hands?” (Zechariah 13:6).
At that moment Christ could complain about the way He was treated when trying to save His “enemies.” He could explain that He had come down to this world to save us and we mistreated, despised, rejected and crucified Him. But instead, He just says: “. . . I was wounded [in] the house of my friends” Zechariah 13:6.
The cross, which was considered an instrument of shame and torture, will be remembered in eternity as the place where our Saviour redeemed us and granted us eternal life. Those wounds in Christ’s hand will remind the saved ones and the angels of Christ’s death on the cross. The cross will continue being the science and song of the redeemed throughout eternity:
“Paul saw that the character of Christ must be understood before men could love Him or view the cross with the eye of faith. Here must begin that study which shall be the science and the song of the redeemed through all eternity. In the light of the cross alone can the true value of the human soul be estimated.”1
John the Revelator describes: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away” (Revelation 21:1). The fire that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace of the curse is swept away. . . .
“One reminder alone remains: Our Redeemer will ever bear the marks of His crucifixion. Upon His wounded head, upon His side, His hands and feet, are the only traces of the cruel work that sin has wrought. Says the prophet, beholding Christ in His glory: ‘He had bright beams coming out of his side: and there was the hiding of his power’ (Habakkuk 3:4, margin). That pierced side whence flowed the crimson stream that reconciled man to God—there is the Saviour’s glory, there ‘the hiding of his power.’ . . . And the tokens of His humiliation are His highest honor; through the eternal ages the wounds of Calvary will show forth His praise and declare His power.
“The cross of Christ will be the science and the song of the redeemed through all eternity. In Christ glorified they will behold Christ crucified. Never will it be forgotten that He whose power created and upheld the unnumbered worlds through the vast realms of space, the Beloved of God, the Majesty of heaven, He whom cherub and shining seraph delighted to adore—humbled Himself to uplift fallen man; that He bore the guilt and shame of sin, and the hiding of His Father’s face, till the woes of a lost world broke His heart and crushed out His life on Calvary’s cross. That the Maker of all worlds, the Arbiter of all destinies, should lay aside His glory and humiliate Himself from love to man will ever excite the wonder and adoration of the universe. As the nations of the saved look upon their Redeemer and behold the eternal glory of the Father shining in His countenance; as they behold His throne, which is from everlasting to everlasting, and know that His kingdom is to have no end, they break forth in rapturous song: ‘Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His own most precious blood!’ ”2
Can you imagine someone having a relative condemned to die the death of the cross? How shameful would it have been to the family! It was something they would probably do their best to forget and hide from others.
When we have the option, many of us do our best to get rid of our scars or hide them.
Christ can easily get rid of the scars in His hands and thus avoid remembering His death on the cross. Why will He keep this remembrance of the cross through all eternity?
Jesus will carry the scars in His glorified body into eternity to serve as a constant reminder to us of His great love and sacrifice for us. The inhabitants of heaven and of the New Earth will never forget or doubt God’s love, and therefore sin will not rise again (Nahum 1:9). The redeemed and the angels will forever be grateful for and sure of God’s love.
The scars of the cross will remind us that He was wounded at the house of His friends—at our house!
Then we will further understand and appreciate with even deeper emotion the lines of the hymn we often sing:
“Jesus, keep me near the cross; there a precious fountain, free to all, a healing stream, flows from Calvary’s mountain.
Refrain:
“In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, till my ransomed soul shall find rest beyond the river.
“Near the cross, a trembling soul, love and mercy found me; there the bright and morning star sheds its beams around me.
“Near the cross! O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me; help me walk from day to day with its shadow o’er me.
“Near the cross I’ll watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever, till I reach the golden strand just beyond the river.”
[Reformation Hymnal, no. 340.]
Are you expecting a Messiah with wounds in His hands?
A story is told about a Christian lady in Cairo who made acquaintance with a Jewish boy and asked him if he was expecting the Messiah. He replied, “Yes, and we believe he will come in a few years.” Then the lady asked him, “Will your Messiah have wounds in His hands?” The boy stared confused, then she explained: “Your prophet Zechariah says that when the Messiah comes, He will be asked, ‘What are these wounds in Your hands?’ Then He shall answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends’ (Zechariah 13:6). Are you expecting the Messiah with wounds in His hands?” The boy left puzzled and could not sleep that night. Early in the morning he returned and asked the lady if she knew more about these wounds on the hands of the Messiah. The lady rejoiced in having the opportunity to tell the story of Jesus to this little boy and thus led him to give his heart to Christ.
Here in this world, as well as throughout eternity, the cross of Jesus will continue being the only reason for us to glory: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).
“This wonderful manner of His love was evidenced at His crucifixion, and the light of His love is reflected in bright beams from the cross of Calvary. Now it remains for us to accept that love, to appropriate the promises of God to ourselves.”3