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Christ’s Cross-work

So this past Sunday when we were studying Christ’s cross-work from John 18:28-19:42, I wanted to include a few quotes that reflected on the power of Christ’s coronation and crucifixion. I wanted to keep the sermon to a reasonable length, so (sadly) I had to cut all of them. But because there some that I find to be so powerful and moving, I thought I’d provide a few for you here for your reflection and encouragement.

“The cross was an act simultaneously of punishment and amnesty, severity and grace, justice and mercy” [John Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, Ill.; InterVarsity Press, 1986), 159].
“When Christ uttered, in the judgment hall of Pilate, the remarkable words – ‘I am a king,’ he pronounced a sentiment fraught with unspeakable dignity and power. His enemies might deride his pretensions and express their mockery of his claim, by presenting him with a crown of thorns, a reed and a purple robe, and nailing him to a cross; but in the eyes of unfallen intelligences, he was a king. A higher power presided over that derisive ceremony, and converted it into a real coronation. That crown of thorns was indeed the diadem of empire; that purple robe was the badge of royalty; that fragile reed was the symbol of unbounded power; and that cross the throne of dominion which shall never end” [J.L. Reynolds, “Church Polity Or THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST in its Internal and external Development,” found in Polity, ed. Mark Dever, p.298].
“Let us ever glory in the cross of Christ; let us regard it as the source of all our hopes, and the foundation of all our peace. Ignorance and unbelief may see nothing in the sufferings of Calvary but the cruel martyrdom of an innocent person: faith will look far deeper; faith will see in the death of Jesus the payment of man’s enormous debt to God, and the complete salvation of all who believe” [J.C. Ryle, Day by Day with J.C. Ryle, “The Cross”, 48].
“Thus knowledge of Christ’s death for us as our sin-bearing substitute requires us to see ourselves as dead, risen, and alive forevermore in him. We who believe have died - painlessly and invisibly, we might say - in solidarity with him because he died, painfully and publicly, in substitution for us” [J.I. Packer, In My Place Condemned He Stood (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2008), 86].
“The kingdom of God has come because God’s king has come. At times he does not look much like a king, not least when he dies in weakness on the cross. But that is the moment of his greatest victory when he defeats his enemies and sets his people free. And then, on the third day, he is raised to life again and later ascends to the right hand of the Father. The resurrection proclaims beyond doubt that he is not simply the son of David; he is also the Son of God” [Vaughn Roberts, God’s Big Picture, p.114].
“In the cross of Christ, all the divine perfections are gloriously and harmoniously displayed. Infinite love, inviolable truth, and inflexible justice are all seen, in their brightest and most beautifully mingled colors. The heavens declare the glory of God; but the glory of the cross outshines the wonders of the skies” [J.L. Dagg, Manual of Theology, p. 233].

Praise God for the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.