Cross of Christ
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God – Hebrews 12:2
We learn many things as we look to Jesus on the cross. We learn how to suffer pain, we learn how to endure injustice, we learn how to respond with goodness.
But there is infinitely more to the cross than good examples set by a sorrowful martyr. When we see the cross correctly, we see far more than that — we see that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, and we see that the cross was a milestone on the way to a joyful coronation.
Jesus is the author and finisher of saving faith because of what he accomplished at the cross. His work of putting away our sins and transfusing us with his righteousness is what faith springs from and rests in. True faith rests in a true reality, and there is no real salvation outside of Christ’s work on the cross.
It was the joyful accomplishment of his people’s salvation for which Jesus endured the ignominy and suffering of the cross. And, having attained this great purpose, he afterward rose from the dead and rose into heaven.
He sits there now, at the right hand of God, as the great intercessor and mediator of his people. Are you looking to Jesus as he is, the successful and reigning Savior and Lord?