The Glory of the Cross
April 15, 2010
Where do you see glory? What stands out to you as weighty, magnificent, brilliant, and notable?
If we take our cues from the magazine covers at the check-out line, we find our culture searching for glory through agile athletes, shapely models, charismatic leaders, and popular musicians. To be fair, at a deeper level the stories of romance and war and survival we experience through various media identify glory in self-sacrifice, passion, commitment, endurance, and other noble values.
Even non-believers would admit, however, that there is always a partiality about this glory. It is never full, lasting, and absolute. Thus we as believers look to God’s story for the true glory, and we find it where we may least expect it.
God’s story reaches a climax of glory in its most inglorious moment. When Jesus was on earth, the greatest concentration of “glory” in his teaching and prayers surrounded the horrors of his sufferings and crucifixion which we commemorate on this Good Friday. “Father, glorify your name” (John 12:28), Jesus prayed as he embraced his role as the grain of wheat that was to fall into the ground and die. And in his high priestly prayer, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (John 17:1).
In what sense was God’s glory on display in Jesus’ death? Consider how the glory of God’s various attributes were brilliantly manifested on the cross:
-At the cross we see the glory of God’s love, as Jesus chose to sacrifice himself to reconcile his enemies to God.
-At the cross we see the glory of God’s wisdom, as God eluded Satan by accomplishing his great plan of redemption through his Son’s death (1 Corinthians 2:7-8).
-At the cross we see the glory of God’s power, as Jesus defeated Satan by eradicating and conquering his greatest weapons of sin and death.
-At the cross we see the glory of God’s holiness, as he turns away from even his own Son once Jesus bore our sins.
-At the cross we see the glory of God’s mercy, as he goes to these great lengths for sinners who deserved his wrath.
-At the cross we see the glory of God’s grace, as Jesus purchases forgiveness, redemption, and eternal life for us to receive freely by faith.
-At the cross we see the glory of God’s justice, as he goes so far as killing his beloved Son for our sins, since some payment had to be made for our guilt.
As we meditate on Christ crucified this Good Friday, let us eschew our culture’s outlets of seeing glory and find true, lasting glory in Jesus who died for our sins.
Pastor Chris