God Is for Real by Todd Burpo

Author:Todd Burpo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 2017-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

A Cross of Payment

In my human mind, I don’t know why the cross was so necessary. I know it was predicted. When Abraham was tested about offering his son to God, it foreshadowed how severely God would be tested offering his son for us. Even though a substitute was found for Isaac, no substitute was found for Jesus. He is the substitute. You see, Abraham’s offspring should have paid the price for his own rebellion. But God in his love made the most painful decision possible. He planned even then to give his son in exchange for us to make our lives new again and provide unfailing love. God never fails to keep his promises.

In fact, Jesus asked the same question while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Even Jesus was wondering if it was necessary, so I think it’s okay for us to ask God this question. But the answer from the Father was that this was the plan. Jesus checked on it already—and yes, it was not “his will” but it was the “will of the Father.”

Clearly sin is not okay. And something needed to be done about it. Jesus took our sin upon himself to solve the problem of sin—to provide a way to defeat sin and death and start a powerful revolution that changed all of history. He needed to walk through this valley to guide us up the glorious mountain on the other side.

The cross represents a story; it is bigger than symbolism. The kind of wood doesn’t matter, the way the cross is formed doesn’t matter. In fact, many traditions form the cross in different ways; some have interpreted the cross to look like an X or like a T. Some show a fancy cross, some a simple one. The reality is that the cross was just the method for how the son of God died. When we say “the cross” we don’t mean that the actual cross was key. If Jesus was beheaded, as his prophet cousin John was, perhaps that would be immortalized like the Crucifixion. The point was to take on our sin, to die in our place, to provide a path to victory afterward, and to begin a revolution for all time.

There is a great passage in the Bible that helps us think through how to focus our attention on what matters about the cross, Hebrews 12: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”49

Let’s talk about the different parts of these verses.

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