Easter is the time of the year that we hear a lot about the cross of Calvary. But what does it really mean?

To some, it is a good luck charm to be worn around the neck. Yet others display it as evidence that they are Christians. It has become a decorative piece to adorn church edifices. To too many, the cross is an object to be worshipped. None of this, however, embodies what God intended this emblem of supreme sacrifice to be. The cross of Calvary was not designed to be taken lightly as so many take it to be. God never desired that this act should be reduced to any of the above or to an annual festival of display and revelry that cheapens the cost of our salvation.

The Bible records that man was created in the image of God: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (1:27).  That image is one of love, grace mercy, goodness and truth (Exodus 34:6). It has been marred because of sin which is the breaking of God’s law ( 1 John 3:4).

The cross of Calvary is God’s object lesson illustrating to the world the cost of sin and the redemption of sinners. It is the price paid for the restoration of the image of God in man-the image that he [man] lost through sin. It is here that justice and mercy meet each other. At Calvary, love and hate confronted each other and praise God, love won. The apostle Paul illustrates it best. Says he: “For the wages of sin is death, but the Gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:23).

The prophet Isaiah talks of Calvary thus: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised and we esteemed Him not… Surely He had borne our grief and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted… but He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed… All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all… He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb; so He opened not His mouth”  (Isaiah 53: 3-7).

And that was just the down payment. Jesus Christ is our all in all. This is what Calvary reveals. It further points to the day when He shall return to consummate the deal. His promise to His disciples given on that fateful night echoes down through the ages to you and I: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).

The apostle John, with a sense of unexplainable curiosity, asks: “What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1). Then he declares: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down His life for his friends”   (John 15:13).  The Man of Calvary teaches us: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on Him will not perish but have everlasting life…for God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16,17).

On Calvary, we witness the greatest demonstration of love the world ever knew or will ever know. We beheld the supreme sacrifice of all eternity. The One who is infinite in power, rich in principalities and planets gave it all up to become one with us sinners; that we may one day become one with Him. The apostle Paul therefore declares: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who knew now sin, became sin for us that we may become righteous in Him. He took upon Him our transgressions in which He had no part; so that we may obtain salvation which we do not deserve. Paul continues: “For He had made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin: that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The Man of Calvary subdued His power of divinity that He may suffer with humanity.    This is a great mystery that our finite minds cannot comprehend. It is the enduring appeal of Calvary. Paul attempts to explain it to the young minister Timothy: “And without any controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit; seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1Timothy 3:16).

He was slain from the foundations of the world that we may live with Him in eternity. He endured the pain and agony of an ignominious death on Calvary, that we may enjoy the bliss of eternal life. On Calvary, He cried so that we may rejoice. He became mortal that we may be made immortal. In the process, He traded His righteousness for our unrighteousness. He descended to earth that we may ascend to heaven. This is the true meaning of Calvary. Contemplate it today.

The Jesus of Calvary, not the sun of Easter, is the One we should worship, every day of our lives. Through His suffering, He became victorious that we may yet have an Advocate with the Father. The apostle John counsels us: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).

As you contemplate Calvary, don’t neglect to meditate on His life before the cross. The apostle Peter reminds us: “ For even hereunto were we called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we may follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). Paul agrees: “…For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).

As we go from the manger to the cross, let us ever remember that He is no longer a babe in Bethlehem. We cannot neglect or belittle His sacrifice on Calvary; but He is no longer suffering on the cross either. He is our risen High Priest sitting on the right hand of His father and our father interceding for us. So the apostle Paul lovingly implores us: “For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin… Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in a time of need” (Hebrews 4:15, 16).

What is your challenge today? Whatever you may be going through, contemplate Calvary. But don’t stop there. Follow the slain Lamb as He becomes your risen Savior and faithful High Priest pleading on your behalf with His Father and your Father. Get ready for Him as He shall soon burst the clouds of heaven and come to take His faithful ones to spend the ceaseless ages of eternity with Him. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

In His last prayer before marching to Calvary, the Savior pleaded with our Father, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me (John 17:21-23). Jesus’s prayer can only be answered by beholding the Man of Calvary (2 Corinthians 3:18, 4:6). Contemplate it today.

Whatever your temptation, whatever your challenge, your Savior has been there. As He has overcome, so with Him, you can also overcome. Ellen G. White, in her book, Desire of Ages, a classic on the life of Christ, tells us: “By His humanity, Christ touched humanity; by His divinity, He lays hold upon the throne of God. As the Son of man, He gave us an example of obedience; as the Son of God, He gives us power to obey” (E.G. White, Desire of Ages, pg. 23).    So  Paul assures us: “ There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear”  (1 Corinthians 10:13).

That way of escape is through Calvary. Contemplate it today. Contemplate it not as a time of revelry, painted eggs or bunny rabbits, nor a time of worshiping the sun of Easter; but contemplate Calvary as the supreme sacrifice and great mystery that ennobles the character, tempers the passions, fortifies the mind and refines the taste. Contemplate it as the means to prepare you for service here below and equip you for residency in the mansions He has gone to prepare for you in the heavens above. Contemplate it as God’s unfathomable love for us sinners. Contemplate Calvary as the only means that gives peace beyond understanding. There is no problem you are facing that Calvary cannot solve.

Contemplate it today.
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