0406 神与罪的碰撞
他被挂在木头上，亲身担当了我们的罪孽。《彼得前书 2:24》
基督的十字架是神对罪的审判所揭示的真理，永远不要将殉难的概念与基督的十字架连接。那是至高无上的胜利，它震撼了地狱的根基。在时间或永恒中，没有什么比耶稣基督在十字架上所成就的更绝对地确定和无可辩驳的事——祂使整个人类有可能重新被带回到与神有正确位份的关系。祂使救赎成为人类生命的基础；也就是说，祂为每个人开辟了一条与神相交的道路。
十字架并不是发生在耶稣身上的事——祂来是为了受死；十字架是祂来的目的。祂是「从创世以来…被杀之羔羊。」（启示录13:8）。基督的道成肉身若无十字架，就毫无意义。要小心，不可将「神在肉身显现」从「神使那无罪的，替我们成为罪」分开了（提摩太前书 3:16；哥林多后书 5:21）。道成肉身的目的是为了救赎，神以肉身来到世间是要除去罪，而非为自己成就什么。十字架是时间里和永恒里的中心事件，也是两者所有问题的答案。
十字架不是人的十字架，而是神的十字架，它永远无法通过人类的经验来完全理解。十字架是神展示祂的本质，它是任何人和每个人都可以进入与神合一之门；但它不是我们直接穿过的门，而是我们必须通过的门，是我们在其中找到生命和居住的地方。
救恩的核心是基督的十字架，救恩之所以如此容易获得，是因为神付出了如此巨大的代价。十字架是神与罪人巨大碰撞而融合之处，也是生命之路被打开之处；但所有碰撞的代价和痛苦都被神的心所吸收了。
来自章伯斯的智慧
新约根本不容许那些声称他是靠着恩典得救却未生出恩典的好果子的人。耶稣基督以祂的救赎可以使我们的实际生活与我们的宗教信仰相符合。《登山宝训研究》
0406 The Collision of God and Sin
…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree… —1 Peter 2:24
The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.
The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus— He came to die; the Cross was His purpose in coming. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of separating “God was manifested in the flesh…” from “…He made Him…to be sin for us…” (1 Timothy 3:16 ; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both.
The Cross is not the cross of a man, but the Cross of God, and it can never be fully comprehended through human experience. The Cross is God exhibiting His nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there.
The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession. —Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R