What is the meaning and significance of the cross?
it is much more than a mere symbol of christian faith.
by Gavin Beers
If I asked you to describe Christianity by using only a symbol, the first thing that would likely come to mind is a cross.
It is common to see crosses on church buildings and even hanging from necklaces around people’s necks. If you visit military graveyards from the Second World War in France, you will find row upon row of white crosses commemorating the fallen. In the Bible, the Apostle Paul tells us that the message of the church is to preach “the cross” (1 Cor. 1:18), and the Christian is to glory in nothing but “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). It is the very center of the message of the whole Bible.
However, something that is so easily identified as the central message of the Bible is sadly not well understood. To miss the meaning and significance of the cross is to miss the heart of the whole Christian faith and to shut your soul out of the hope of salvation and eternal life. So what is the cross all about?
our need as sinners
God created man righteous and upright in the beginning. Man was without sin and did not need salvation. Adam and Eve sinned against God, and because of this, all mankind after them were born sinners. The Apostle Paul writes, “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Simple experience proves this truth. We know that all men die. Why? Because all men are sinners.
Sin has separated us from God. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were cast out of the garden of Eden. They were no longer friends of God who rejoiced in fellowship with him. They were his enemies who ran from him in fear and hid in the garden. Their hearts were no longer inclined to God but to evil. They had a guilty conscience, and their sins had separated them from God. Since then, mankind has continued in this state. We are cut off from God as his enemies because of our sins, and we need to reconcile with him, or we will perish and live in the torment of hell forever.
Sin has brought all of mankind under God’s righteous condemnation. We have broken his law, and that carries with it a penalty: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). All men are now liable to God’s wrath and curse. This reality is why the Bible speaks so frequently about hell and the judgment of God: “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Ps. 9:17). Jesus speaks more about hell than any other person in the Bible: “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matt. 23:33).
You need to realize this in your own heart. One reason the cross is not understood is because men do not know they are sinners. All the symbols, necklaces, and talk about the cross will remain a total mystery to you until you are first brought to a sense of guilt before God as a sinner facing death and hell. It is like Jesus said: Those who are sick need a doctor, not those who think they are healthy. The cross of Christ is what sin-sick sinners need to be saved.
god's answer in the cross
The cross is where Jesus died. He was crucified outside Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha. Roman soldiers fastened his arms and legs to a wooden cross with nails and hung him up to die. But the cross is much more than a mere crucifixion. The Romans crucified many people. There were two criminals crucified on both sides of Jesus, but it is only the cross of Christ that can meet your need as a sinner.
The person crucified was the Son of God. God gave his only begotten Son to the world and called his name Jesus (which means Jehovah is salvation) because he came to save his people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). We said that the penalty of sin is death. Jesus, the Son of God, went to the cross to die and receive the penalty of sin. Though he was perfect and without sin, God poured out his wrath on his Son and caused him to cry out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). The most important thing about the cross is not what the Jews did in condemning Jesus or what the Romans did in crucifying him; it is what transacted between the Father and the Son.
On the cross, Jesus took the place of sinners as their substitute. What happened to Christ is what all sinners deserve. In pouring his wrath out on his Son, who did not deserve it, God provided the way of salvation for sinners who do deserve his wrath. Jesus did not die merely as an example of love or to give us an illustration of self-sacrifice; he died to take God’s righteous condemnation and reconcile lost sinners to God.
The word the Bible uses to describe what Jesus did at the cross is “atonement.” In the Old Testament, God’s chosen people, the Israelites, were taught they needed atonement through a blood sacrifice. An animal had to die in their place because of their sins. These animal sacrifices pointed to the cross, where Jesus, as “the Lamb of God,” would provide an atonement for all of our sins. The word atonement simply means a covering. Jesus shed his blood in death to provide a covering and shelter for sinners from the wrath of God. The punishment that fell on Jesus will not fall on those who run for shelter by faith to Christ.
The word atonement also helps us understand what happened at the cross. If you divide the word “atone” in two, you get “at-one,” which is what atonement essentially means. God, through the cross, punishes Jesus so that sinners who are separated from God can be “at-one” or reconciled to him forever.
The death of Christ on the cross is the only way you can have your sins forgiven and go to heaven. Jesus and his work on the cross is the only way. As John 14:6 says, no man can come to the Father but through him. Jesus has made peace for sinners through his blood shed on the cross (Col. 1:20).
the preaching of the cross
Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected from the dead. He then commanded his church to go into all of the world and preach the good news of the gospel. That gospel is described in shorthand as “the cross.” The Apostle Paul says, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18).
Christian churches throughout the world are to preach this message, and the articles in this magazine are preaching it to you as well. It demands a response. We said that the cross is well-known as a symbol of Christianity, but it is not well understood. It needs to be more than understood in the head. Its true significance must be embraced from the heart for you to be saved.
You need to first recognize your need as a sinner who is worthy of God’s condemnation and an eternal hell. If God sends you there, he only does what is just and right. When you are convicted of your sins, you are to look away from yourself and all of your own works and to the work of God’s glorious Son on the cross. “What must I do to be saved?” asked a jailor in the city of Philippi. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” was the good news brought to his heart by the Apostle Paul (Acts 16:31).
Jesus did not die for the righteous. He died for sinners. The gospel is preached to you as a sinner. The cross of Christ is the answer to your need as a sinner. God offers to you all that was accomplished there with the hearty invitation: “Come unto me.” Remember, there is only one way: the way of the cross. But come, repenting of your sin and believing in a crucified Jesus, and his cross will be the door of salvation and the gate of God to everlasting life. ❦
The Rev. Gavin Beers is the pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Burlington, North Carolina.