Christian Living

The Cross, Part 5—The Greatest Display of God’s Love

by J.W. Phillips
03/17/25
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The Cross, Part 5—The Greatest Display of God’s Love 

There can be no doubt that the cross of Christ is the greatest display of love ever seen on earth. The more we inspect its staggering accomplishments, the more we see its astounding depths.

Describing God’s love, A.W. Tozer wrote:

He loves us so that no creature—neither seraphim, nor cherubim, nor archangel, nor principality, nor power, nor all of them added together in all the vast universe of God—can ever hope to know how over passingly great is the love of God, and how tenderly, how sweetly and how much he loves us.¹

The Puritan Thomas Manton declared, “God loves the lowest saint infinitely more than the highest angels love God.”²

Once the cross reveals God’s love to us, this love touches the deepest part of our heart.

The very idea that God himself would come to dwell among us—from manger to marketplace to that monstrous mount called the place of the skull—and that he would do so to identify with us in the closest of ways—overwhelms the heart.

The tender kindness to be found in such a mission—the mercy and love that inspired it, the faithfulness and courage that sustained it—causes thoughtful men to gasp at such graciousness and to be shocked by the anguish Father and Son endured.

With characteristic eloquence, F.B. Meyer described the worth of this love:

The cross is the expression of a love which is older than the oldest star; more ancient than the most venerable elder that stands in the zenith light of heaven; long as eternity, vast as infinity, deep as the being of God. In this was manifested the love of God, that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.³

That God loved us to this extent, saved us at so high a cost, is not anything that should ever fade from our memory!

Other facts we come to know may be sorted out and given proper place in the passing of days.

This is the nature of life: Events occur, experiences transact, seasons come and go, and much of this is forgotten. But what should remain fixed in our viewing—so singular in significance, worthy of constant consideration, meriting the utmost appreciation—is the love of God the cross reveals.

Ultimately, it is the love of God that will motivate us to part company with sin, once we see the passion that produced this love and the great gain it achieved for us.

What sets God’s love apart from all others is that he has full insight into all that is bad about us; the love from others does not. And does he love what’s bad? No, but he loves us enough to do something about it!

In his book, The Place of Help, Oswald Chambers said this about God’s love:

The cross of Christ reveals that the blazing center of the love of God is the holiness of God, not his kindness and compassion. If the Divine love pretends I am all right when I am all wrong, then I have a keener sense of justice than the Almighty.⁴

Fully agreeing with this point, James S. Stewart observed, “If love is to deal with sin, then it must deal with it in a way that does not minimize its gravity. There must be no blending or blurring of the eternal difference between right and wrong.”⁵

The holy love that dealt decisively with our sin should now be returned to the Lord with a desire to do the same thing.

To view the cross with sentiment, and to speak of the love of God with gusts of emotion, achieves little if we aren’t moved to do as God did: withstand every encroachment of sin, refuse every accommodation to it, and completely reject coexistence with it much like Samuel did when he hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord.

By contemplating the cross and the love of God shown there, we both soften our heart toward God and steel our will against sin. Charles Spurgeon explained:

A sense of blood-bought pardon and undeserved mercy is the best means of dissolving a heart of stone. Are we feeling hard? Let us think of the covenant love, and then we shall leave sin, lament sin, and loathe sin ….⁶

F.B. Meyer, a contemporary of Spurgeon, also recognized the unique way God’s love can motivate us when nothing else can. A fresh flexing of will, the apprehension of some new truth, a spasm of raw emotion, will never do. There has to be a better way. And indeed there is! In his biography of the prophet Jeremiah, Meyer wrote:

We are tired of a cold heart against God. We complain because of our sense of effort in Christian life and duty; we would gladly learn the secret of being so possessed by the Spirit and thought of God that we might not be daunted by opposition, nor abashed by fear. The source of the inward fire is the love of God … not primarily our love to God, but our sense of his love to us.⁷

Whenever trials occur, whenever disappointment does its damage, and whenever life becomes friendless and fruitless, one great truth should loom large over all: The God of the universe loves us deeply, watches over us intently, avails himself to us completely, and will not allow anything to separate us from him!

The same love that wills our good also shepherds us through every valley, protects us from ultimate harm, and makes full provision for every need.

The Lord of our lives knows every thought we have, understands every limitation we have, smiles easily at our progress, releases mercy for our sin, and with godly pleasure anticipates our resurrection to glory.

This love is more readily believable to us when we, through Bible study or hymn, focus on the cross. Yet how easily this love loses credibility whenever trials and perils come upon us! Never mind the cyclone of calamity that came upon Job! One frosty morning of misfortune that visits us, one ill wind that forecasts trouble for our plans, may be all that it takes to assault the emotions and to usher in the impression that God’s love is being taken away.

This distress of soul, foolishly blind from the outset, can well be avoided if we will receive the counsel A.B. Simpson offered in his book, The Fourfold Gospel. Simpson wrote: “… when any trial enters into your life, even if it be through your unbelief and sin, even if you have been to blame for it all, behind it all is the divine love ….”⁸

This is a love that will meet you where you are without condemnation, and will begin the work of restoring you with a great and gladly relinquished mercy.

There can be no wiser decision for the straying saint than the one which yields heart and will to the Lord with an expectation that he will renew what we were destroying.

Can you see how such love invites love to be returned? Purity is easy when God’s love holds sway! Devotion is instinctive when the love of God melts our hearts! On any other basis, these enterprises would lose steam and eventually falter. But it is the love of God that draws us to himself, causing us to want to be like the one we truly love.

In his book, The Cross of Christ, A.B. Simpson offered this further reflection: “The secret of walking closely with Christ and working successfully for him is to fully realize that we are his beloved.”⁹

Not just respected as a citizen of Heaven,
Not just revered as a rewarded saint,
Not just venerated as a ruler of angels on some heavenly mission.

No, higher than all that: adored forever as the bride of the King seated on the Throne of Heaven!

There is yet another accomplishment of Calvary’s love that must not be overlooked. Love draws us to our Lord’s bleeding side with a willingness to be grafted into him through a crucifixion God will administer.

Love gives the Spirit of God a freehand to cut where it is needed. It is the lamb-like love of Jesus, so winsome in its appeal and amazing in its display, that produces a willingness in us to have our lives poured into the mold of his life. We do this because the words of the hymn writer have inspired our hearts.

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary.

Much motivated by this love, Alexander Maclaren said, “We should live each day as if Christ had died yesterday, rose again this morning, and is coming again tomorrow.”¹⁰

With his supreme sacrifice deeply touching our hearts and his glorious victory strongly confirming our faith, our mission should proceed with inspired urgency. For once the cross is in our hearts like this, the love of the Lord will become so magnified that the people we know shall hear him gladly.

Notes

1. A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God, Volume Two, (Christian Publications, Camp Hill, PA., 2003), p.198.

2. Thomas Manton, A Treatise of Self-Denial, (Public Domain), Epub. p.174.

3. F.B. Meyer, Tried by Fire, (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, CLC Publications, 2001), p.127.

4. Oswald Chambers, The Place of Help, (Fort Washington, PA., Christian Literature Crusade, 1935), p.65.

5. James S. Stewart, A Man in Christ, (Vancouver, Regent College Publishing, 2002), p.233.

6. Charles Spurgeon, Faith’s Check Book, (South Plainfield, New Jersey, 1987), p.27.

7. F.B. Meyer, Jeremiah, (Fort Washington, PA., CLC Publications, 2002), p.96.

8. A.B. Simpson, The Fourfold Gospel, (Orland, Fl., Bridge-Logos, 2007), p.228.

9. A.B. Simpson, The Cross of Christ, (Harrisburg, PA., Christian Publications, 1969), pp.136, 137.

10. Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scriptures, Psalms, (Public Domain Books), Kindle locations: 2763-2764.