The cross was a word as well as a work...listen attentively to it.
~ JOHN STOTT, The Cross of Christ
The cross doesn’t just save us. It also shows us who God is.
In Chapter 8—The Revelation of God—Stott expounds on this as the second achievement of the cross (the first is our salvation; the third is the defeat of evil.)
Here are five aspects of God revealed in the cross.
The Glory of God
According to John’s Gospel Jesus referred to his death as a “glorification,” the event through which he and his Father would be supremely “glorified” or manifested.
As Jesus emptied himself, he was lifted up. We see the glory of both Son and Father in their “self-humbling and self-giving.”
The Justice of God
We also see God’s justice through the cross. This was where God dealt with the cost of sin, taking its burden away from us and placing it onto His Son.
The Love of God
If we are looking for a definition of love, we should look not in a dictionary but at Calvary.
Stott places emphasis like this:
- God gave his Son to die for us.
- God gave his Son to die for us.
- God gave his Son to die for us.
It would still have been wonderful if God had given his Son, and so himself, only to become flesh for us, to live and give and serve for us on earth.
But the incarnation was but the beginning of his self-giving.
Having “emptied himself” of his glory and taken the nature of a servant, he then “humbled himself” and became “obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:7-8).
The Wisdom and Power of God
God wisely combines his satisfaction for justice and our need for a Savior in the cross. He also demonstrates his power there by saving all those who believe.
Seeing God’s glory, justice, love, wisdom, and power exemplified through the cross, we have a fuller image of the God so worthy of our worship!
* * *
More on Chapter 8 at Challies
