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The Wondrous Cross

"He must have been ghastly to behold." That quote has stuck with me these last several weeks. I heard it when listening to a series of presentations on the Crucifixion by Fleming Rutledge at a preacher's conference that was taped some years ago. These words struck me and I became somewhat transfixed by them.

Jesus, while hanging upon the cross, must have been horrible to look at. He would have been a mangled man, barely recognizable as human. He would have been naked, covered in blood, and displayed in the fullness of shame for all to see. It would have been ghastly to behold.

Yet that ghastly visage is the focal point of our faith and salvation. It is when we look upon the mangled man called Jesus that we see the fullness of divinity itself. The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, in all it's shame and horror, is the fullest revelation of God there has ever been.

On the cross we see the full love of God on display for all to see. On the cross we see the seriousness of sin in all it's grotesque corruption. On the cross we see the One who is truly man. On the cross we see the Son of God.

It is on the cross that our freedom was bought at a terrible price. It is on the cross that the Powers, Sin, and Death are disarmed and beaten forevermore. It is on the cross that one who was truly innocent died in my place. It is on the cross that I find life and a reason for living.

It is no small thing that we call the cross "wondrous." The peoples of the first century would have called us mad or idiotic. We know that they did just that to our dear brothers and sisters who lived during that time. The peoples of the twenty first century would no doubt do the same if did not shy away from the full reality of the cross like we so often do.

Yet it is truly wondrous. It is appalling, sickening, and ghastly to behold but it is wondrous because Jesus willingly gave himself up for the world. So are we to give up ourselves for the world, having been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. I encourage you all to think on the cross this week. Really ponder how horrible it was and yet how wondrous it really is.

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