The Cross 

The Beauty of the Cross

The Cross’s definitive message of God’s love and justice is unparalleled. What does the Cross mean to you? Is it a gory depiction of torture, separation, and death? Yes, but so much more than that. It was considered a curse to die on a tree. In the Hebrew tradition, hanging was not a traditional means of execution. Individuals who shamefully violated the Law were hung and considered cursed. How does God make something beautiful out of a curse? The answer to that is sprinkled all through Scripture, especially in the first chapter of Genesis. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2). God, the Creator, saw that earth was formless, empty, and dark. The first few verses of Genesis teach us that our God is the Creator who brings beauty out of the void of life.

This is who God is—He is the One that makes all things beautiful, even curses. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). The Cross is made beautiful because of Jesus—our lives, broken as they may be, are made whole and beautiful because of Jesus. Wherever the Gospel of Jesus finds you today, know that He who made the Cross a blessing for all nations can turn your life into something beautiful. God used a curse to redeem humanity. Is there anything too hard for our God to do? No.