For God's Glory

Christ's work on the cross displays God's glory most clearly.

As we set our hearts and minds on worshiping God, his various attributes can begin to seem contradictory to our finite minds. He is merciful and gracious, compassionate, forgiving, abounding in steadfast love. But he's also pure, holy, and righteous, and he “will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus34:7). How do we worship this God in truth without minimizing any aspect of his nature? 

We do it by worshiping him as he has revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ. God has given us “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Where do we find God's glory? “In the face of Jesus Christ.” “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3).

It is in Christ, and specifically in his atoning work, that all the attributes of God shine most clearly and brilliantly. As John Owen wrote in The Glory of Christ: 

In Christ we behold the wisdom, goodness, love, grace, mercy, and power of God all working together for the great work of our redemption and salvation.The wisdom and love of God are in themselves infinitely glorious. But we cannot see how glorious they are except in the redemption and salvation of the church which is achieved only in and by Christ. 

In the cross we see the justice of God requiring a perfect payment for sins committed against a perfectly holy God.

We see the holiness of God acting to judge the sin that spoiled hiscreation by punishing his own Son.

We see the mercy of God in providing a substitute for those who should have been condemned. 

We see the wisdom of God in providing a glorious solution to an impossible dilemma.

We see all this about God and more. So much more. As David Prior has written, “We never, therefore, move on from the cross of Christ, only into amore profound understanding of the cross.