That’s really the message of the cross. The love!
Love is a noun, a verb and an adjective. Love is all encompassing!
In the garden, God and Adam and Eve had perfect communion. God walked with them in the cool of the day; they talked about the things they saw and did. But that communion was interrupted when disobedience took control.
The cross restored that!
Romans, chapter 5, shows what God has done to restore the relationship that was broken. It touches my heart deeply. I will ask you to read it, sometime between now and Easter. Let it speak to you, let God reveal to you the depth of His love expressed on the cross.
“Christ died for us at a time when we were helpless and sinful. 7 No one is really willing to die for an honest person, though someone might be willing to die for a truly good person. 8 But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.
9 But there is more! Now that God has accepted us because Christ sacrificed his life’s blood, we will also be kept safe from God’s anger. 10 Even when we were God’s enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by the life of his Son. 11 And in addition to everything else, we are happy because God sent our Lord Jesus Christ to make peace with us.” Romans 5:6-11 CEV
“16 There is a lot of difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gift. That one sin led to punishment. But God’s gift made it possible for us to be acceptable to him, even though we have sinned many times. 17 Death ruled like a king because Adam had sinned. But that cannot compare with what Jesus Christ has done. God has treated us with undeserved grace, and he has accepted us because of Jesus. And so we will live and rule like kings.
18 Everyone was going to be punished because Adam sinned. But because of the good thing that Christ has done, God accepts us and gives us the gift of life. 19 Adam disobeyed God and caused many others to be sinners. But Jesus obeyed him and will make many people acceptable to God.” Romans 5:16-19 CEV
God’s plan was for us to be reconciled and restored in our relationship with Him! Jesus’ love for the Father was so great that He willingly gave His life for our redemption. There is no greater expression of love than that.
The words to an old hymn are rising in my heart.
” O the love that drew salvation’s plan!
O the grace that brought it down to man!
O the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary. [Refrain]
Refrain:
Mercy there was great and grace was free,
Pardon there was multiplied to me,
There my burdened soul found liberty–
At Calvary.”
This song was written in 1895 and has been sung hundreds of thousands of times. So many have walked the road to the cross and found mercy, grace, forgiveness, and liberty but if I had been the only one Christ still would have died – just for me, just for you!
He’s not willing that anyone should perish. His desire is for all to come and find new life, At Calvary!