Romans chapter 5 verse 8. God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. At the very centre of God's eternal purpose stands the cross of Jesus. Calvary is not merely a tragic moment in history, it is the appointed place where divine justice met divine mercy. There the spotless Lamb of God bore the sins of His people that they might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The crucifixion of our Lord was not an accident of human hatred, but the outworking of God's sovereign and eternal decree. It was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. There, on that cursed tree, our Saviour accomplished the ultimate demonstration of divine love, his substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of his chosen people. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him.

How precious is the sin-atoning death of Jesus? Divine justice demanded a payment, and divine mercy provided it in Jesus. Every blow of the whip, every thorn pressed into his sacred brow, every nail driven into his sinless flesh, every bit of spit spewed on his blessed face was the due penalty of our transgressions, yet he bore it willingly, out of his great love for us. How utterly vile must sin be to the thrice holy God, that nothing less than the horrifying death of his only beloved Son could take it away! How vast must his love be, that he would not spare his only begotten Son from undergoing the full punishment that our sins rightly deserved!

It is here at the cross that the believing soul sees the unchanging character of God. His holiness did not relax. His justice was not bypassed. His truth was not compromised. Here is the glory of the Gospel, that God might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The cross of Jesus calls every believer to a crucified life. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The true Christian cannot gaze long at the cross without being inwardly compelled to live for the one who died for him. The cross that once stood on Calvary must now influence everything about me. Sin must be mortified, self must be denied, the world must be crucified, and Jesus must be magnified.

May we stand at the foot of the cross and count the purple drops by which we have been pardoned from every sin. What astonishing love is this, that the infinite Son of God should stoop to die for worm-like rebels! What mercy, that we who once despised and hated Him are now clothed in His righteousness, forgiven of our every sin, adopted as His sons, and given eternal life! Let every redeemed heart cry out, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is not only a doctrine to be admired in our minds, but a fountain in which we must daily bathe. It humbles, sanctifies, comforts and compels. Let us cling to the cross with ever-deepening awe, gratitude and love. May we look again and again to Calvary's centre cross and bow in reverent gratitude that Jesus loved me and gave himself for me.