The cross stands alone.

There were other points, at other times, where the redemptive plan of God peeked through our bondage to sin. God’s admonition to Cain. His preservation of Noah. His covenant with Abraham. Deliverance from Egypt through the Red Sea. The Law and tabernacle. The giving of Canaan and removal of the Nephilim, when God fought for Israel. Cycles of salvation in Judges. David. Preservation of a remnant of Israel. The rebuilding of the temple.

But the cross stands alone.

On it was Jesus. God’s unique son. Fully God, fully man. Sinless. Perfect. And on that cross, a sacrifice for you and for me. He took the curse, the full weight of sin, upon his sinless shoulders, and atoned.

He cried out, from Psalm 22, “it is finished.” His work was the answer, the final work, the finished work. His sacrifice paid it all. In his death—and the life that preceded it, and the resurrection that followed—is our redemption and rescue and salvation.

His cross does not simply proclaim rescue from sin and death. It proclaims life. It provides our way back, our restoration, our sanctification as well as our justification, because in the work of Jesus is our entire hope.

Our identification with this Savior, on this cross, is our life. We have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. And the life we now live in the flesh we live by trusting this Son of God, Jesus, who loves us and gave himself for us (Galatians 2:20).

In power, in finality, and most amazingly in love, the cross stands alone.

Can’t wait to meet our Savior face to face, who for love bore it all so we might live.