Heart Meditations on Arthur Pink's Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross.

Introduction

The Cross The Greatest Revelation of God

The cross of Jesus Christ is the clearest and most radiant display of God's attributes ever made known to man. Nowhere else do the holiness, justice, love, mercy, and wisdom of God shine more brightly. At Calvary, we see God's hatred for sin and His boundless love for sinners meet in perfect harmony. It was not merely a Roman execution. It was a divine transaction, decreed in eternity past, to redeem a people for God's glory.

Here we are humbled to the dust. Sin must indeed be infinitely vile if nothing less than the death of God's own Son could atone for it. And here we are lifted to the heights of joy. What amazing grace! That He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The cross is not only a place of substitution, but of revelation. It reveals the heart of God in a way that creation never could. At the cross we see the outshining of the attributes of God as nowhere else. The cross is the blazing center of the divine perfections.

The cross of Christ exhibits, in the most solemn and awe-inspiring manner, the inviolability of God's justice. Sin can only be put away by the shedding of blood. In the cross, God did not relax His justice in order to manifest His love. He satisfied His justice in the outpouring of His love.

Nowhere does the love of God shine forth so fully and gloriously as at the cross. There we behold His heart laid bare as He spared not His own Son. The cross reveals the infinite wisdom of God. None but an omniscient mind could have devised a plan whereby divine justice could be satisfied and mercy flow freely to the chief of sinners.

The cross demonstrates the holiness of God more clearly than Sinai. There, the law was given. Here, the penalty of that law was exacted upon the sinless substitute. Calvary was not merely the place where man's sin reached its climax, but where God's grace triumphed in its fullness.

Christ crucified is not only the foundation of the Christian faith, it is the focal point of all God's dealings with man. The cross is the key that unlocks the mystery of divine providence. There we see that God is able to bring the highest good from the worst evil. To stand at the foot of the cross is to witness the confluence of God's hatred of sin and His compassion for sinners.

Let us draw near with reverence and worship, for we are treading on holy ground. May our study of these seven sayings stir repentance, kindle gratitude, and deepen love for the crucified Savior.