The Crucifixion of the Lord
This is day 39 of my 40 day Lenten blog.
We don't like to look at the Cross. The Cross is painful. It shows the most horrific crime mankind has ever committed...the murder of our own Creator in a very humiliating and brutal way. And it’s especially hard to look at knowing we are accomplices to that murder. We prefer to look to the resurrected Jesus. But the only way to get to the resurrection is by going through the Cross. When we try to ignore the Cross, or downplay it we deprive the world of its power--and that power is desperately needed.
The reason people cannot understand why God would allow so much suffering in the world is because they have not looked upon the Cross. The answer to so many questions can be found by gazing upon the Cross. Why were Adam and Eve forbidden to eat the apple? Look to the Cross. Why did God destroy cities and flood the Earth? Look to the Cross. Why did God command Abraham to sacrifice his own son? Look to the Cross. Why did God command the Israelites to leave none alive after winning a battle? Look to the Cross. Why did God command the punishment of death for sinners? Look to the Cross. Why does God banish those who will not serve Him to Hell? Look to the Cross. Why does God allow horrible acts and atrocities to this day? Look to the Cross. Why does God seem so different in the Old Testament than the New? Look to the Cross. The Cross holds the answers to these and so many questions.
The crucifixion of Christ shook the world, both figuratively and literally. Easter cannot be separated from Good Friday. Without the Cross there is no resurrection, there is no salvation, there is no eternity with God--there is only death. But the Cross, the most horrifying instrument of death the Romans were able to conceive, was turned into an instrument of life in the hands of the Giver of Life. It is the same Cross by which we killed our Creator, that our Creator brings us to life.
Do not turn from the Cross. Do not hide it or shield your eyes. Look to it and embrace it as Jesus Himself embraced it before carrying it up the hill to Golgotha where He was crucified upon it.
Today's prayer: Lord, thank You for the Cross. Never let me forget it. Amen.
R.C. VanLandingham lives in Florida with his wife and kids.He is the author of several books including the Christian fantasy books Peter Puckett & The Amulet of Eternity, Peter Puckett & the Enchanted Chalice, and Magdalene Hope & the Elves of Evermore.