God’s Son was innocent, yet we read how His body was hanging on the cross, wounded from scourging. His hands, which were always ready to bless others, were nailed to the cross. His royal head was pierced with the crown of thorns, and from His trembling lips was heard an agonizing cry. He who calmed the raging sea, and walked on its foaming waves, He who made evil spirits to tremble, and who expelled sicknesses, and who opened the eyes of the blind, and who raised up the dead back to life, gave Himself a sacrifice for you on the cross because of His love towards you.
Let the cross be the separating wall between us and the world. If the world is tempting you to sin, then go to Calvary to behold the price that was paid for your redemption; it gives us victory over temptation. If you doubt God’s love, then lift up your eyes to look upon the cross. God’s love upon the cross is the great floodlight which has cast its light into the dark night of the world for thousands of years. In this light the believers of the old covenant traveled, and in this light we are prepared to lift the cross of Calvary.
Paul writes, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Galatians 6:14. The cross was the glory of Paul; it had become very dear to him. But only a few years earlier the cross had destroyed the faith and hope of the followers of Jesus, and pressed them into utmost despair, and into the greatest disappointment, greater than what God’s people had ever met before.
When we turn our faces to look to our Redeemer being nailed to the cross, then we have a better understanding of the greatness and the meaning of the sacrifice given for us by the majesty of heaven.
As we are looking at our Redeemer being nailed to the cross, the plan of redemption comes clearer to us. When we contemplate the scenes of Calvary it wakens in our hearts strong and holy feelings. To him who is beholding our Saviour’s marvelous love, his thoughts will be ennobled, his heart will be purified, and his character will be transformed. The more we contemplate on the cross of Christ, the more completely we join with the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 6:14: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Amen.
Enni Marttinen
(translated from Finnish by her son Timo Marttinen)