The story of the Cross and all that goes with it is too overwhelming. I mean how on earth (definitely not on earth) can you explain what happened on the Cross? Why would God give up His Son to serve wretched men; what was in it for Him? What did He seek to gain by taking our place and dying a death we deserve?
I happened on this beautiful song called His for mine, which wonderfully summarizes, in three stanzas the story of the Cross.
His heart was broken, mine was mended
He became sin, now I am clean.
The cross he carried bore my burden.
The nails that held him set me free.
Chorus:
His life for mine, his life for mine
How could it ever be?
That he would die, God's son would die
To save a wretch like me
What love divine, he gave his life for mine.
His scars of suffering brought me healing
He spilled his blood to fill my soul.
His crown of thorns made me royalty
His sorrow gave me joy untold
Chorus:
His life for mine, his life for mine
How could it ever be?
That he would die, God's son would die
To save a wretch like me
What love divine, he gave his life for mine.
Bridge:
He was despised and rejected, stripped of his garments and oppressed
I am loved and accepted and I wear a robe of righteousness
Chorus:
His life for mine, his life for mine
How could it ever be?
That he would die, God's son would die
To save a wretch like me
What love divine, he gave his life for mine, for mine!
I must admit, this song had me all teared-up. So often than not, in my relations with friends, I choose to get a better share; if I am to trade off my place, there must a better prospect. But not so with Jesus, He chose the opposite. He left the loftiest place in heaven for a world so marred as ours, not to be enthroned as some earthly king, rather to die in my place! He was made sin for us, Him who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him [2 Corinthians 5:21]
Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. "With His stripes we are healed." {DA 25.2}
And so, since by His loss we have everything to gain, is it then too much to ask if Jesus tells us to give up our all, take up our cross and follow Him?
God gave all--life and love and suffering--for our redemption. And can it be that we, the unworthy objects of so great love, will withhold our hearts from Him? Every moment of our lives we have been partakers of the blessings of His grace, and for this very reason we cannot fully realize the depths of ignorance and misery from which we have been saved. Can we look upon Him whom our sins have pierced, and yet be willing to do despite to all His love and sacrifice? In view of the infinite humiliation of the Lord of glory, shall we murmur because we can enter into life only through conflict and self-abasement? {SC 45.1}
Doesn’t something about the Cross awaken in us a sense of wanting to let go of all so that we might gain Christ, doesn’t it motivate us to surrender; to stop chasing after sin and yield to Him who loved us even before we knew what love was?
Mercy!
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