Mar
09
2010
What Does the Cross Mean? (2)
More from Sinclair Ferguson’s Grow in Grace:
The Cross demonstrates the justice of God.
Sometimes when we explain the message of the gospel to others we say something like this: ‘God has laid aside his justice. He no longer deals with us as sinners; he forgets our sin, and accepts us.’ But when we say this we distort the biblical teaching. For the New Testament’s message is not ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses.’ Rather, it is: ‘God was in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them‘ (2 Cor. 5:19). Do you see the difference?
God did count our trespasses. It is not on Mount Sinai that we discover this. There we hear God telling us what our trespasses are, and that he will in no way pass by sin. But it is only on Mount Calvary that we witness God counting men’s sins, demonstrating his perfect justice. Yes, it is wonderfully true that he does not count our sins against us. But it is not the ultimate wonder. The wonder of all wonders is that God counted our trespasses against his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not pass them by; he punished them to the full in the person who ‘himself bore our sins in his body on the tree’ (1 Pet. 2:24). That was why Jesus cried out on the cross: ‘My God, I am forsaken–why? why?’ Heaven’s answer was ‘Because you stand in the place of sinners; you bear their guilt; now you must sustain their punishment.’ And so stroke upon stroke of divine judgment fell upon Jesus:
He was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (Is. 53:5-6)