Today the cross is everywhere you look – not just on churches but in art, in jewelry – people have crosses hanging in their homes and crosses hanging around their necks. How did the cross, once a symbol of humiliated defeat, become a symbol of hope-filled victory? The cross’s transformation is itself a miracle. Once a symbol of death, the cross today is a symbol of life. And not just life, but eternal life! This transformation is the result of a miracle that took place upon a particular cross just over two thousand years ago.

The cross had always been an instrument of torture and death. It was the means used to carry out crucifixion, a cruel form of capital punishment, involving the nailing or tying of a person’s hands and feet to a wooden cross, where they would hang humiliated and tortured until they died. Crucifixion was used by the Persians, Carthaginians, Romans and others from about the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD. It was reserved for the worst offenders, those whose crimes were deserving of death. Crucifixion was also very public. Meant to shame and humiliate those who were being punished, crucifixions often drew large crowds. People showed up wanting to witness the humiliation of those being publicly punished by death for their unforgivable offenses.

The crucifixion of Jesus was no exception. The crowd was large and loud in its derision and mockery of Jesus as He hung on a cross, placed between two convicted criminals who hung on the crosses next to Him. The taunting must have seemed endless. We read this account in the gospel of Luke –

“The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at Him. They said, ‘He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.’ The soldiers also came up and mocked Him. They offered Him wine vinegar and said, ‘If You are the king of the Jews, save Yourself.’ One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him: ‘Aren’t You the Christ? Save Yourself and us!’ ” (Luke 23:35-39)

Little did they know that they were right. Jesus is the Christ of God, the promised Messiah, the Word become flesh to dwell among us for a time. He could have saved Himself from the agony, the suffering and the humiliation of the cross. He had a choice. Jesus told His disciples as much when He said to them –

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. . . . The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life – only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.” (John 10:11, 17-18)

The jeering, mocking crowd was actually correct – Jesus could have come down from that cross. But then He would not have saved you and me from our death sentence. Jesus stayed on that cross while His blood and His physical life ebbed away, because He was paying my sin price and your sin price with His own blood and with His own perfect life, so that you and I could be reconciled to a holy God that cannot look upon sin, any sin, including my sin and your sin.

But if someone could cover our sin with his blood – that would make the impossible, possible. Which is exactly what Jesus’s death on the cross did – made the formerly impossible, now possible. Jesus made a way for us to be connected to our Creator, where previously there had been no way. That’s why I read in Revelation this about Jesus –

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9)

That’s why Jesus stayed on that cross – to pay the price of our sin and in so doing “purchase us for God.” It was necessary. There was no other way. In Hebrews I read this –

“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22)

I’m so grateful Jesus chose to stay on that cross in order to pay my sin price – a price that I could never pay no matter how long I was given or how hard I tried. What the despising crowd could not know as they watched the crucifixion of Jesus, was that three days later there would be an empty tomb and a risen Savior! These words would come true –

“Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)

Because Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross brings each and every one of us the offer of forgiveness of our sins and eternal life, the cross is no longer a symbol of death. It is the place where we were given the possibility and the promise of eternal life. The cross is a symbol of hope, of redemption, restoration, reconciliation – all things made possible for us by Jesus’s sacrificial death on that cross in our place. God has taken something that was ugly and made it beautiful.

The cross is where God showed us plainly just how much He loves us, to what lengths He would go to redeem us, to rescue us from certain death and give us eternal life with Him. The cross leaves no doubt. Jesus could have come down from that cross at any time, but He didn’t. He chose to stay. And that has made all the difference. Because Jesus stayed on that cross, the cross is no longer a symbol of defeat but one of victory, not a symbol of despair but of hope, not of punishment but of forgiveness, not of bondage but of freedom, not of hate but of love, not of death but of life. Jesus transformed the cross even as He transforms you and I, by doing what we read in Hebrews –

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

I wonder if those who wear cross necklaces and other cross jewelry today fully realize the beauty of the cross. Although, they must have some idea, because otherwise they would be wearing a symbol associated only with death and destruction. But God has taken what was evil, crucifixion, and used it to accomplish what is good – His eternal purposes in this world. He used the cross of crucifixion to bring us eternal life through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.

God transformed the cross from an instrument of death to an instrument of life – the very thing that makes possible the forgiveness of our sins and brings us eternal life. Today the cross is a symbol of hope, of love and of life. It is the promise that the impossible is possible with God. The cross is the symbol of God’s great, sacrificial love for me and for you, dear readers. The cross cries out and leaves no doubt!

“But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. . . . He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:5, 12)

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

sincerely, Grace Day