John 3:16-20
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
Have you ever wanted to peek into someone’s heart—his very spirit—to see what is really going on in there? We all desire this at times; in fact, the more we are able to get glimpses into a person’s heart, the better we can determine what kind of man he is. That is a basic way we grow to trust and love other people.
If we want to apply this concept to our relationship with the Lord, we need to look only one place: the Cross. There we can see a perfect picture of God’s heart and His view of sin, love, and mankind.
The most overwhelming image of the Cross is the complete justice of God. The Lord’s “justice” simply means He does the right thing—the righteous thing—in every situation. When it came to dealing with mankind’s sin and wickedness, a problem arose that needed an eternal solution. The issue was the fact that God’s perfect holiness stood in complete opposition to man’s sinfulness. Because of His unwavering justice, He could not simply ignore our sin. Therefore, He had only two options: either abandon man to his sinfulness or provide a perfect sacrifice to atone for the sin of the world. In His love, He chose the latter.
The Cross of Jesus represents the only answer to a cosmic problem. Despite the great cost—His only Son—God worked to bridge the gap caused by sin. With His justice satisfied by Christ’s sacrifice, God’s eternal love can now welcome us into His holy presence. Have you trusted Jesus as Savior and acknowledged the sacrifice He made on your behalf?
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