The achievement of the Cross was not only a salvation event but also an event that brought about the revelation of God. In the Cross, one can see not only the love of God through the sacrifice of Jesus, but also the justice and power of God. “Just as human beings disclose their character in their actions, so God has shown himself to us in the death of his Son” (Stott, 2021). Primarily drawing on John Stott’s The Cross of Christ (2021), this article aims to briefly explain how the Cross reveals the glory, justice, love, and power and wisdom of God.
The Glory of God
John states at the opening of his Gospel that Jesus came to reveal the Father. John 1:14, 18 (ESV): “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” Yet nothing reveals the glory of God as fully as the Cross does. Jesus himself made several declarations implying that his crucifixion was his glorification:
- John 12:23 — “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”
- John 13:31 — “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.”
- John 17:1 — “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.”
God told Moses that no one could see his glory and live (Exodus 33:20), and his glory is called a consuming fire in Deuteronomy 4:24. The glory of the Lord revealed in Christ is characterized by grace and truth — it is the glory that discloses his holiness. The wicked are destroyed in his glory, while the righteous share in it; as believers behold his glory, they are transformed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18) (Keough, 1973). The glory Moses heard proclaimed at Sinai is the same glory revealed in Jesus at Calvary (Garcia, 2022).
The Justice of God
Although final judgment lies in the future as Scripture predicts, the judgment of sin took place at the Cross. In Romans 3:21–26, Paul explains that God’s righteousness was revealed through Christ. According to Stott (2021), the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. Various explanations have been proposed for what this righteousness entails; the most compelling is that it refers to a righteous standing that is of God and from God — “a gift to the unrighteous received by faith in Christ alone” (Stott, 2021). The Father presented Christ as a propitiation in order to demonstrate his justice. Being a just God, he was required to punish sin. Romans 6:23 declares that the wages of sin is death, meaning every sinner justly deserves the wrath of God. “So, although in his forbearance he temporarily left sins unpunished, now in justice he has punished them by condemning them in Christ. He has thus demonstrated his justice by executing it” (Stott, 2021). No one can accuse God of being unjust or of condoning evil; he demonstrated his opposition to sin by judging it on the Cross.
The Love of God
The Cross is the supreme display of God’s love for humanity. John 3:16 reveals that God’s love for the world was expressed by giving his only begotten Son. In Romans 5:8, Paul declares that God demonstrated his love toward us while we were still sinners. Natural human love is typically extended toward those who have given or done something in return. God’s love, by contrast, was given to a world entirely incapable of repaying it. “The Cross declares that the wretched condition of human beings is surpassed only by the greatness of God’s love” (Wilson, 2021). 1 John 4:10 states, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Where Paul understands Christ as the propitiation for sin as an expression of God’s justice, John sees it as the demonstration of his love (Stott, 2021).
Yet God does not stop there. He also pours out his love in the hearts of believers. He proved his love for the world through the death of his Son, and he continues to extend that love to those who believe through his indwelling Spirit (Stott, 2021).
The Wisdom and Power of God
The Cross was not only a revelation of God’s glory, justice, and love, but also of his unsearchable wisdom and infinite power. What the enemy perceived as defeat was, in fact, victory. In 1 Corinthians 2:7–8, Paul writes, “But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” That salvation would come to humanity through the Cross seemed incomprehensible, yet God in his wisdom knew it was the only way. Indeed, God uses what the world regards as foolish to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27). Paul affirms that the Cross — though a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Greeks — is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those who believe. The message of the Cross is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).
Conclusion
In his article “If the Cross Could Speak,” Wilson (2021) identifies several further realities disclosed through the Cross: the depth of human depravity, the certainty of salvation, and the character, righteousness, and grace of God. Stott (2021) observes that “it is not easy to decide which is the most luminously revealed, whether the justice of God in judging sin, or the love of God in bearing the judgment in our place, or the wisdom of God in perfectly combining the two, or the power of God in saving those who believe.” In the Cross, one sees that God’s desire is truly that none should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of God (2 Peter 3:9).
References
- Garcia, J. (2022). Why we can call Jesus’ death the glory of the cross. Bible Study Magazine. Retrieved on September 2, 2024, from https://www.logos.com/grow/bsm-glory-of-cross.
- John Stott. (2021). The Cross of Christ. IVP.
- Keough, G.D. (1973). Lightened by his glory. The Ministry, 46(9), p. 10-11.
- Wilson, H. (2021). If the cross could speak. Ministry International Journal for Pastors, 93(6), p. 22-25.
