Next to the personhood of our precious Lord Jesus Christ, no other topic in Scripture is as important to all who read its pages, as our Lord’s atoning work on that old rugged cross over 2,000 years ago!

The apostle Paul affirmed this so clearly when he said, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Therefore, the priority of our study of Holy Scripture must always be to come face to face with the sinless Son of man (Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, ‘yet without sin’”).

However, this pristine portrait of our “…great God and Savior” (Titus 2:10, 13; 3:6), should not be all that catches our eyes about Him. Oh yes, we must move from our affectionate gaze upon His person to His blessed sacrificial death on our behalf (Acts 2:23; Philippians 2:8), and then back again. Then, back and forth, again and again! And with each of these sacred rotations we assuredly will grow more and more in love with Him! And when a believer grows more and more like Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18), he finds himself increasingly and more penetratingly mining the depths of Christ’s work for Him.

It’s at these times when we must pause with amazement, and stand as “Christian” did (in “The Pilgrim’s Progress”), uttering John Bunyan’s memorable words, “…it was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked, therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent waters down his cheeks.”

Oh people of God, do you often gaze upon the cross? When was the last time you meditated upon the key texts of Scripture pertaining to the blessed and effectual cross-work of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Allow me to encourage you with just a sampling of them: Colossians 1:18, “And he is the head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent”; Galatians 6:14, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”; Hebrews 12:2, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”; and Luke 9:23, “And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’” Is it any wonder now as to why John Paton, the great 19th century missionary to the cannibals in the South Seas, described himself as “a missionary of the cross!?”

Oh may we gaze upon the empty cross tomorrow as we worship Him in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23)…

Jerry Marcellino is pastor of Audubon Drive Bible Church in Laurel. He can be reached by e-mail at pastorjerry@audubonchurch.org