Lisa Notes: The cross reveals who God is

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

All chapter summaries

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htow3651 1p · 709 weeks ago

Lisa, I posted before but don't think it was sent as I wasn't logged in. Just wanted to tell you I agreed with your comment on Tim's blog about getting bogged down with Stott at times, but then he says something quite clear that speaks to my soul. Enjoyed your summary here. It was a blessing as well. I blog at www.hisglorymyjoy.wordpress.com

Abiding in Him,
Luana

1 reply · active 709 weeks ago

Lisa notes 103p · 709 weeks ago

Luana,
It’s nice to get confirmation that I’m not alone in slogging my way through Stott. This is the first book of his that I’ve read so I didn’t know what to expect. So far the insights have been worth the work. :-)

barbarah 65p · 709 weeks ago

I remember an EE devotional marveling that what looks horrible and seems like a failure to the world was actually Jesus's glorification.

Love the different emphases there under "Love of God."

I haven't been inclined to read this book, but I have enjoyed the richness of these meditations by proxy.
My recent post Friday’s Fave Five

I actually feel like I am doing an injustice to the book by my summaries, but hopefully some of the rich message of the cross is coming across anyway. I still recommend Rebekah’s posts for anyone wanting more from the book without actually reading it:

http://bekahcubed.menterz.com/blog/tag/the-cross-of-christ

From Chapter 8 she quoted this paragraph of Stott’s, which is excellent:

“So when we look at the cross, we see the justice, love, wisdom, and power of God. 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 believer. For the cross is equally an act, and therefore a demonstration, of God’s justice, love, wisdom, and power. The cross assures us that this God is the reality within, behind, and beyond the universe.”
~John Stott, The Cross of Christ