The Power of the Cross

I cannot get the words of this Keith & Kristyn Getty hymn out of my mind this morning, nor do I want to.

Verse 1: Oh, to see the dawn of the darkest day;
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

Verse 2: Oh, to see the pain written on your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Every bitter thought, every evil deed
Crowning Your blood-stained brow.

Verse 3: Now the daylight flees; now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two, dead are raised to life;
"Finished!", the victory cry.

Chorus: This, the power of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath,
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Verse 4: Oh, to see my name written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death; life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

Chorus: This, the power of the cross:
Son of God, slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Jesus was delivered to His tormentors to be scourged. Our human, finite minds cannot grasp the awfulness of what that was. The Roman scourge was an instrument of torture. It was made out of the sinew of oxen and intertwined with bits of bone; every time that lash came down on the back of our Lord these bones inflicted deep lacerations and tore the flesh off. No doubt Jesus was tied to a column of some sort for this beating. This picture of my Savior leaves me horrified and weeping over His body. As a believer, can I truly grasp such agonizing love? As a believer, I can claim the verse in Isaiah 53, "With His stripes we are healed"! What hope and love wells up in me!

I go to commune with Him tonight knowing and sorrowing that my sin cost Him so dearly- and yet! rejoicing in my deliverance and knowing I am complete in Him. Because He was numbered among the transgressors and because I am truly saved, I am numbered among the believers in Christ.

Where are you in regards to the cross? Are you content to follow from behind, curious but not committed? Are you ok with contemplating Christ but never communing with Him? Have your sins kept you separated from Him? Is your heart at rest? Can you live contentedly without the present enjoyment in the Savior? Do you sorrow over the hardness of your heart? If yes, then Go To The Cross! It is only there that you will find answers. No matter how hard, how insensitive, how dead you have become, you can be made clean in the fountain that flows with His shed blood. By His stripes, you are healed and by His power over death you are made alive!

Hosea 10: 12- "...For it is time to seek the Lord..."

It's Friday, but Sunday is coming!