This blog is appropriately titled: “Hallelujah for the Cross’” The reason is that the cross speaks vividly of the suffering, death, and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Chris, the Son of God, who died on the cross for the complete forgiveness of mankind’s sins. This was God’s intent and only righteous way for sinful man to be reconciled to God.
Horatius Bonar (1808-1889), the writer of the hymn; “Hallelujah for the Cross,” knew about the significance of the shed blood and death of Jesus Christ. This is clearly reflected in his hymn quoted here:
It is the old cross still — Hallelujah, hallelujah! Its triumph let us tell — Hallelujah, hallelujah! The grace of God here shone Thru Christ, the blessed Son, Who did for sin atone — Hallelujah for the cross!’
Twas here the debt was paid — Hallelujah, hallelujah ! Our sins on Jesus laid — Hallelujah, hallelujah! So round the cross we sing Of Christ our offering, Of Christ, our living King — Hallelujah for the cross!”
Without the cross there is no salvation. The Bible says: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV).
The words “being saved” in the text means ‘having salvation.’ “The Hebrew and Greek words for “salvation” imply the ideas of deliverance, safety, preservation, healing, and soundness. “Salvation” is the great inclusive word of the Gospel, gathering into itself all the redemptive acts and processes: justification, redemption, grace, atonement, imputation, forgiveness, sanctification, and glorification.
“Salvation is in three tenses: (1) The Christian has been saved from the guilt and penalty of sin and is safe. (2) The Christian is being saved from the habit and dominion of sin. (3) The Christian will be saved at the Lord’s return for all the bodily infirmities that are the result of sin and God’s curse upon the sinful world. Salvation is by grace through faith, is a free gift and is wholly without works” (C. I. Scofield, D.D.).
The cross is foundational to the principles of Christianity because it was absolutely necessary for Jesus Christ to die and make atonement for the sins of mankind and thereby obtain pardon and forgiveness.
The word sin means ‘missing the mark’ — the failure to meet God’s divine standard, “and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
There is an abundance of sin in the world today; such as lawlessness, unrighteousness, unbelief, enmity toward God, corruption, immorality, to name a few.
Sin has it’s origin in Satan. The Scripture says this about Satan: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God; I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:12-14).
Sin entered the world through Adam. “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
We than therefore conclude that the one and only effective remedy for sin is through the shed blood and death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The Bible says Christ “has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26).
Hymn writer Bonar got it absolutely right when he said in his hymn quoted above: “The grace of God here shone Thru Christ, the blessed Son, Who did for sin atone . . . Twas here the debt was paid . . . Our sins on Jesus laid . . . So round the cross we sing of Christ our offering.”
First Peter 2:24 tells us that Christ “Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
The cross of Christ reveals the saving love of God for all mankind. And this is what kept Him on the cross when He paid the penalty for our sins.
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