The Cross: From Son to Savior

Introduction & Scripture Reading

On Ash Wednesday, we examined the Cross as the fullest expression of God’s glory, because it is the fullest expression of His nature – both his impersonal wrath against sin and evil, and of His great personal love for humankind – each one of us. On the first Sunday of Lent we preach specifically on how Christ’s on the Cross embodies the love of God both as the Father’s giving up of His Son and of Christ’s self-sacrifice for us. We talked about how the measure of that love was the greatest possible love, in many ways – the value of the gift to the Giver and to the recipient, the unworthiness of the recipients and the horrific manner of by crucifixion. Finally, we gave illustrations from the Bible and from literature that in some way showed aspects of God’s great love.

Today, we are going to look at the Cross from the standpoint of what God accomplished by His great act of salvation in relationship to His creation. With that in mind, let us read from the Book of Hebrews, chapters 1:1-3 and 2:9-12, 14-15. But first, let us ask God for illumination. Let us bow our heads: O God of our salvation, it is true that your thoughts are above our thoughts, and your ways past our finding out. Nevertheless by the revelation of Your Word and by the watering of Your Holy Spirit, awaken us to the saving Truth by which we are transformed into the image of Your most blessed Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. In whose Name we ask it, Amen.

Hear God’s Word: >

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than divine, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered , so that by the grace of God he might taste for everyone. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

Since the children have flesh and , he too shared in their humanity so that by his , he might destroy him who holds the power of - that is, namely, the - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of .

This concludes the reading of Holy Scripture. May God add His blessing to the Word.

The Miracle of Redemption

This passage begins by rehearsing the facts that God throughout the Old Testament has revealed his nature at different times and in different ways. He had revealed Himself through creation and through His great acts of salvation and judgment – judgment at the time of Noah and election and favor with Abraham, and salvation through Moses, as well as a God of law. Many times throughout Israel’s history God speaks through the prophets, but each time is a partial revelation. Each time there is room for misunderstanding.

Then it says, “But in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.” The contrast is dramatic. Whereas in former times God has revealed Himself partially at various times and in various – partial ways, in these last times He has revealed Himself through His Son, through whom He created the universe. The Son is the exact representation of His being.

As a young man, I simply could not understand how an eternal Creator could become a mortal human being. It appeared to me a logical impossibility. I even asked that question to one of my professors, who answered me, “What do you think it means to say God is Trinity – three persons sharing one perfect nature? The Father sustains the universe while the Son takes on flesh and becomes a part of it.” The first part of the miracle of redemption is that a part of the Godhead (the Son) became a human being – entering into the creation He had made.

It is difficult for us to conceive of how huge a divide was crossed in the Incarnation. I once heard a Sunday School teacher say it would be like one of us becoming a roach. But I doubt the appropriateness of that analogy. First of all, we did not make a roach, but God did. And secondly, a roach is not made in our image. For the divine Word, the Son of God to be born a human baby, means for the Ancient of Days to become a new born , a few moments old. God crossed the divide between eternity and time, between the infinite and the finite, between glory and a fallen world stained with sin. Yet it would never have happened if there had not been an original kindship between the human creature and His creator. We were originally made in God’s image, and Jesus is the exact representation of God’s being – the perfect image. It would have been meaningless and absurd for God to become something He created that was in its original design alien to Him.

But in a very real sense Jesus became man to live the life that God created Him to live – a life of perfect obedience, without sin and in perfect fellowship and harmony with God. By the incarnation a new and second Adam enters the world, an Adam who refuses to give into temptation, and who images the character and purpose of the Father in the world. Not only does Jesus show us a human being the way he was meant to be, but in so doing, He reveals to us the face of God Himself. Hence, he says to Philip, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father!”

It is not difficult to see what God accomplished in the incarnation – he became one of us and left an indelible record and impression of His character in our history. It is not the same as giving a Law or speaking through intermediaries, because in Christ Jesus we see in human form the Father, the God of our salvation. I love Paul Harvey’s story of the man and the birds because it illustrates the problem of communication and how it was overcome. The man does not believe in Christmas, but one Christmas Eve it begins snowing and birds begin flying against his picture window trying to find shelter and get warm.

The man has compassion on them, but cannot let him into his house, so he goes out to the barn and tries to get them to take shelter in the barn. He opens the door to the barn wide, turns the light on, makes a trail with food; he even tries catching them, shooing them into the barn with wide gestures, but they only scatter. He realizes that they are afraid of him, and reasons that to them he appears as a strange and terrifying creature. “If only I had some way of convincing them that I am not trying to hurt them but to help them,” he thought. But any move he made frightened and confused them. They would not follow him nor be led by him or shooed, because they were afraid. “If only I could become a bird and mingle with them and speak with them, then I could gain their trust, tell them not to be afraid, and show them the way to safety.”

At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. And he stood there listening to the bells - Adeste Fidelis - listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow.

But that is only the first half of the miracle of redemption. Not only does God become man in Jesus, but, so says the text, “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.” Now in saying that Jesus became perfect through suffering, it does not imply that Jesus was not perfect to begin with. But that by his suffering, he became a perfect Savior.

God has always revealed His power to save and to judge as God, but never before had He revealed His saving power through human weakness. We owed God our obedience as Creator, but as fallen creatures, we were unable to give it. Our best efforts failed, but now God, entering into our human experience not only shows for us humanity as it was meant to be, but then allows this divine man to take our suffering upon himself and die for our sins – not only ours but the sins of the whole world. Only an infinite God could absorb the divine wrath for the sins of the world, but only a human being untouched with sin, a lamb without spot or blemish, could pay the price. Hence, the Word become flesh, the Son of God, becomes a sacrifice for our sins, and by becoming one with us, also achieves a basis for our oneness with the Father through faith in His Name.

Just as Jesus has given Himself to us and for us on the Cross by suffering for our sins, we become one with him by picking up our cross and identifying with him and following him. The path of salvation is never free from suffering, as we see in the faces of those who opposed Jesus and sought his , the very principalities and powers of the god of this world, who rules by the guilt and power of sin. The cross will forever be the dividing line between those who turn toward God in repentance of sin, and those who remain hostile to God by worshiping the god of this world.

For those who believe, the Cross becomes both the place where God shows us the ugly face of sin – the unbelief, the cynicism, the expedience, the grisly , the mockery, the malice, the contempt – everything that a human establishment can throw against the Christ, for they will have God in their own image and on their terms or not at all, and God shows us at the same time the implacable determination of Jesus to bear His cross, His compassion and forgiveness of sinners even as He suffers, His human concern for his mother, the fulfillment of prophecy even as He confesses his abandonment, the dignity of his , as he announces “It is finished.” At one and the same time, we see God’s love as the very opposite of easy tolerance that winks at sin. We see God upholding the law and all righteousness by willingly taking upon Himself for our sake what we cannot bear, thus, offering us a new life in Him of faith.

Let me be clear – God is always God, but in relationship to man there is a change wrought by God where the Son of God, heir to all things, is not ashamed to call brothers those who turn from sin and trust in Him. There is also this great moment of abandonment – this ripping asunder the Godhead when the full weight of the divine wrath falls upon the sinless man. Yet this lamb who dies in humiliation becomes the lion of Judah who bursts open the gates of hell. Before the incarnation, though the Word may have been the Father’s only Son, the Word became flesh in Jesus and then became a perfect Savior through suffering. That is what God did for you out of His passion and love, so that you could become an adopted child and live with Him forever in glory.

Let us pray: Father, though there are many things we do not understand, we confess that by your revelation in Holy Scripture we understand enough by faith to worship You – a God who does all things well, and who has provided us with the gift of salvation and of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We can never know how much it cost for the God of the universe to trade his glory for our poverty and to die a human gift, but we pledge our willingness to pick up the crosses You assign us so that as we suffer with Jesus we shall also be glorified with Him. We are Yours twice over, by creation and by redemption, so let us glorify You by our lips and our lives, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

This Sermon was published on 03/7/2009 and filed in