Magnificence

O yes, He cares, I know He cares,

His heart is touched with my grief;

  When the days are weary,

  The long night dreary,

  I know my Savior cares.

The place called Calvary!

(John Stott, "The Message of Galatians")

"When they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him!" Luke 23:33

Every time we look at the Cross, Jesus seems to say to us,
"I am here because of you! It is . . .
 your sin that I am bearing,
 your curse that I am suffering,
 your dept that I am paying,
 your death that I am dying!"

Nothing in the universe cuts us down to size, like the Cross! All of us have inflated views of ourselves--until we have visited the place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the Cross, that we shrink to our true size.

"When we were utterly helpless, Christ died for the ungodly!" Romans 5:6

Addition Dr. Morris: 

It has always been interesting to hear the uninformed talk about religious subjects. One woman said, "Golgotha was the giant who slew the apostle David." There was nothing pretty about Calvary, Golgotha, where crucifixions occurred. There were flies, still parts of crosses, sniffing dogs roaming around, and it was there our Blessed Lord was put to death.

Every day of this writers life, I thank God for what Jesus did for me at Calvary... salvation of my soul and the healing of my body. "By his stripes we are healed," (Isaiah 53:5) and Peter looking back, "By his stripes we WERE healed," (1 Peter 2:24). The cross is at the epicenter of all creation and civilization. Those on the other side of the cross look forward to the cross, we, on this side of the cross, look backwards to the cross. Just two pieces of timber. The vertical piece of wood points towards heaven, the horizontal piece of wood points east and west around the world. There are many symbols in the world, not one of them compares to the cross.

We sing, talk, even wear crosses. but is the cross the centerpiece of our life, the constant remembrance in our church. I can remember going to so many church houses and never seeing a cross (this was back when I had sight). There are many things with which I cannot agree in Catholicism. One thing which I can agree on is their emphasis on the cross, in their cathedrals, hospitals and schools. There are many things with which I cannot agree, in recent years, attempting to please young people, the beat and clatter of modernistic music in the church house... I like the old hymns which remind us of the cross... "Jesus Keep Me Near The Cross", "Beneath The Cross of Jesus" etc.

The soil is level at the foot of the cross, just as available to the poor as for the rich, the ugly as well as the beautiful. Too many stumble at the foot of the cross. Not depending on it's complete fulfillment, wanting to cling to a denominational belief, some book or some interpretation of man. The cross is complete, free, glorious. We are expected to deny self and take up his cross (Matthew 16:24). Jesus chooses the cross for us to bear... even disability, even poverty, even blindness.

Must Jesus bear the cross alone, 

And all the world go free? 

No, there's a cross for everyone, 

And there's a cross for me.