3 – Upon that place stood a cross
John Bunyan’s pilgrim, Christian, continues on his way, burdened with a load on his back.
“He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a Cross, and a little below in the bottom a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the Cross, his burden loosed from his shoulders, and fell from his back; and it began to tumble and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in and I saw it no more.”
Christian’s burden is sin. He has been weighed down by all of the things he has done which have fallen short of God’s standards. But at the Cross, the burden is taken away from him and his sins end up in the grave. They have been dealt with; they are as good as dead; they cannot stop Christian enjoying a relationship with God.
People come to faith in all sorts of ways. There is no pattern. But all of us, whichever route we have come to faith, end up at the Cross. The Cross is where we are put right with God because of the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus.
Peter writes:
Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds have you been healed. 1 Peter 2: 24 [NIV]
Sin kept us from enjoying the presence of God, who is holy. But we have been put right with God through the death of Jesus on the Cross. Now, no matter what we have done in the past, we can be forgiven if we put our trust in Jesus.
Lord God, thank you for the death and resurrection of Jesus. Thank you that my burden of sin has been taken away from me. Thank you that I can live my life in the knowledge that you love me.
David Long
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