#144 THE CROSS HE BORE 9-16-26

There are many crosses in the world today. Some are worn around the neck, placed on church buildings, carved into stone, or displayed in homes. But there was one cross that changed everything. It was the cross Jesus carried to Calvary. The Son of God, who had done no sin (1 Peter 2:22), was led away to be crucified. “And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull” (John 19:17). He was not carrying His own guilt. He was carrying ours.

HE BORE THE CROSS

The road to Calvary was a road of suffering. Jesus had been betrayed, falsely accused, beaten, mocked, scourged, and condemned. When His strength failed beneath the burden, Simon of Cyrene was compelled to carry it behind Him (Luke 23:26). Yet Jesus was still the One going to the cross. He had already said, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself” (John 10:18).

The cross was not an accident. It was the purpose toward which His earthly ministry had been moving. Jesus told His disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer many things” (Mark 8:31). He knew what awaited Him, yet He set His face toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).

HE BORE OUR SINS

This is where the cross becomes personal. Jesus was not merely suffering because wicked men hated Him. He was suffering for sinners.

Isaiah had written centuries before, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). Then Peter looked back at Calvary and declared, “He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).

Think about that. Our sins were not imaginary to God. They were so serious that Christ had to die because of them. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), but “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

The cross tells us two things at the same time: sin is terribly serious, and God’s love is immeasurably great.

HE BORE OUR SHAME

Hebrews says that Jesus endured the cross, “despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). Crucifixion was designed not only to cause pain but also to humiliate. Jesus was stripped, mocked, spit upon, and publicly displayed. Yet He endured it all.

Why?

Because He loved us.

“He was despised and rejected by men” (Isaiah 53:3), yet He willingly stood in our place. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

The cross was His pathway to our reconciliation.

And then came the words that echo through history: “It is finished!” (John 19:30). The work had been accomplished. The sacrifice had been offered. The Lamb had given Himself.

So when we look at the cross, let us never see merely an instrument of Roman execution. Let us see the love of God, the seriousness of sin, the willingness of Jesus, and the hope of redemption.

“He loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

That is the cross He bore.

And He bore it for us.

BDD