What was the reason for the cross?
I was talking with an unbeliever the other day and he asked me, "What was the reason for the cross?" I couldn't believe it, but I got a little stumped. Can you help?
I can answer your friend’s question in one word sin. Life is short. Death is sure. Sin the curse, Christ the cure. And how does He cure? Through the cross of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
First Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”
Suppose someone punched you in the nose. And suppose in an act of compassion, you were to say to that person, “I forgive you.” And suppose they said to you, “Oh, there’s no need for you to forgive me. I’ve already forgiven myself.” And then, suppose the person standing by said, “Well neither one of you need to worry about it. I have forgiven both of you.”
That’s not how forgiveness works. Only the one who was punched can forgive the puncher. Sin is a clenched fist in the face of God and only God can forgive sin.
Away with all of the psycho-babble that says we need to forgive ourselves and affirm one another. God is a holy God and sin is a rebellion against a holy God. And Jesus dealt with our sin with His blood. And now we are reconciled to God.
In a very brief answer, that is why there was a cross. We were adrift on a sea with no hope of being rescued. And God devised a divine plan that His banished will not be expelled from Him. God found a way of bringing us back and it was through the cross. By Adrian Rogers. © 2006 Love Worth Finding Ministries. Website. http://www.lwf.org/site/PageServer.
Dr. Adrian Rogers, preacher/teacher of Love Worth Finding Ministries, and one of
Most important to Dr. Rogers have been the tens and thousands of believers who have had their faith strengthened and thousands of others who have for the first time entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Dr. Rogers passed away on November 15, 2005
Originally published March 15, 2007.
