When I survey that wondrous cross

 As we approached Easter this year, I kept thinking about Jesus' death on the cross. I considered the various ways his death and resurrection impact us and the meaning it holds for us. I realized that sometimes I have assumed that the whole purpose or significance of Jesus' death on the cross was that Jesus became the sacrifice to pay for our sin. But I now appreciate that there is much more to that significant act of suffering than our atonement, as significant as that is.

I started compiling a list of verses in the Bible that I could think of that addressed Jesus' death and its meaning for us. I tried to sort them into categories based on what they described about the meaning of the cross. Disclaimer here - this was my personal exercise, not an authoritative or exhaustive review. I know that there are books written about the significance of the cross; Bob even took a class in seminary called the 'Theology of the Cross'. But that is why I wanted to share this personal exercise with you - hoping that it will prompt you to reflect on this too and you will share which verses or categories have been particularly meaningful to you or commenting if you think something should be added or changed. Please do let us know what you think!

In our healing and reconciliation workshops, a significant session is a practical exercise where we identify wounds or pain we have been holding on to, and give it over to God, knowing that Jesus on the cross not only took on our sin but also 'takes up our suffering' (Is 53:4). This Easter season seems like the perfect time to take a fresh look at Jesus' death and resurrection, and the significance it has for us.

 

Meaning/significance of the cross, of Jesus’ death on the cross

1. Atonement: God giving and becoming the sacrifice to pay for our sin. A death that was because of and for our sin. Jesus’ death on the cross opens the way for us to be righteous, if we accept that Jesus’ death alone makes us righteous.

a.    Isaiah 53:10-11 Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

b.    John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

c.     Romans 3:23-25 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. (NLT)

d.    Romans 5:6,8 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

e.    2 Corinthians 5:21 (CJB) (Complete Jewish Bible) God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.

f.      Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

g.    Col 2:14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

h.    Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

i.      Heb. 10:1-10 (10) And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

j.      1 Pet 2:24  “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

k.     1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  

2. A death of humiliation and injustice, a giving up of self for others.

a.   Isaiah 53:4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

b.    Matt 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23, Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

c.     Philippians 2:5-8 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross.

3. It is a symbol/reminder of our unrighteousness that caused Jesus to die. It is offensive because the cross reminds us that our attempts to be righteous by following laws or rituals are in vain.

a.    Gal 5:11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.

b.    1 Cor 1:17-18 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

4. An expression of God’s love and grace for humanity.

a.    John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

b.    Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

c.     Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

d.    Ephesians 2:4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.

e.    1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  

       5. A means of reconciling people to relationship with God and with each other.

a.    1 Corinthians 5:17-19 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

b.   Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

c.   Eph 2:16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

d.     Col 1:20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.    

6.    6. An invitation to follow in Christ’s footsteps of suffering, to die to our sinful natures, to be made new.

a.    Romans 6:6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

b.    2 Cor 5:15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

c.     1 Peter 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

d.    1 Pet 2:24  “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

7.    7. Victory over sin and death, accomplished by Jesus’ death.

a.    Col 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross

b.    Heb 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

8.    8. Through the cross, Jesus gives us healing and freedom. “By his wounds we are healed.”

a.    Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

b.    Mark 10:45 - For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

c.     Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

9.    9. Jesus’ death establishes him as ‘high priest’/administrator of a new covenant between God and people, one based on faith

a.    Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:10,12 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. …For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

b.   Luke 22:20, 1 Cor 11:25 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

c.    Hebrews 5:8-10 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

d.     Hebrews 7:22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

e.   Hebrews 9:15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

10. Jesus’ death on the cross is an act of solidarity with suffering and oppressed humanity, and a way that we can know God understands what we are going through.

a.    Isaiah 61:1-2, Luke 4:18-19 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,

b.   Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.