他被挂在木头上亲身担当了我们的罪。(彼前二24)
耶稣的十字架,说明神对罪恶的审判。但千万别以为耶稣的十字架是一种殉道精神;十字架是至高无上的胜利,连地狱的根基也震动了。不论今生或是来世,再没有比耶稣基督在十字架上所成就的更加确实。他挽回了全人类,使他们与神恢复正常的关系。他使救赎成为人类生命的根基,也就是说,他为人开了一道通往神的途径。
十字架并非偶然临到耶稣的,他是为此目的而来。他是“那创世以先被杀的羔羊”。道成肉身的整个意义,就是十字架。当心别把神在肉身显现,与人子成为罪分开来看。道成肉身的目的,正是为了救赎。神成为肉身,目的就是为了除去罪,不是为了显露自己。十字架是今生与永世的中心,是两者的谜底。
十字架不是人的十字架,是神的十字架,神的十字架永远不能以人的经历去体验。十字架是神本性的显露,是任何人得以达致与神合一的通道。我们是来到十字架面前,不是穿过去;而是住在十字架所带进来的生命里。
救恩的中心,就是耶稣的十字架;救恩所以如此易得,是因为神付出了重大的代价。十字架是神与罪人碰头的地方,这猛然的撞击,开拓了生命的路;可是,这撞击是发生在神心里的。
祈祷◆噢,主啊,为着你在我们最核心的问题上施行大能的救赎,我赞美你。愿藉着你的大能,使我复活,进入新的生命。
April 6: The Collision Of God And Sin
“Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” 1 Peter 2:24
The Cross of Jesus is the revelation of God’s judgment on sin. Never tolerate the idea of martyrdom about the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Cross was a superb triumph in which the foundations of hell were shaken. There is nothing more certain in Time or Eternity than what Jesus Christ did on the Cross: He switched the whole of the human race back into a right relationship with God. He made Redemption the basis of human life, that is, He made a way for every son of man to get into communion with God.
The Cross did not happen to Jesus: He came on purpose for it. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The whole meaning of the Incarnation is the Cross. Beware of separating God manifest in the flesh from the Son becoming sin. The Incarnation was for the purpose of Redemption. God became incarnate for the purpose of putting away sin; not for the purpose of Self-realization. The Cross is the centre of Time and of Eternity, the answer to the enigmas of both.
The Cross is not the cross of a man but the Cross of God, and the Cross of God can never be realized in human experience. The Cross is the exhibition of the nature of God, the gateway whereby any individual of the human race can enter into union with God. When we get to the Cross, we do not go through it; we abide in the life to which the Cross is the gateway.
The centre of salvation is the Cross of Jesus, and the reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it costs God so much. The Cross is the point where God and sinful man merge with a crash and the way to life is opened – but the crash is on the heart of God.