God’s Great Plus Sign

For it pleased the Father that in him [Jesus] should all fullness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself.

Colossians 1:19–20

Thousands of people suffer from guilt complexes. Almost everyone senses that somehow they are wrong, like the little boy who said, “I guess I was just born wrong.” God said from the cross, “I love you.”

He was also saying, “I can forgive you.” The most glorious and thrilling word in any language is forgiveness. God in Christ had a basis for forgiveness. Because Christ died, God can justify the sinner and still be just.

Christ’s dying on the cross was more than the death of a martyr. It was more than His setting a good example by offering His life for His fellow man. His was the sacrifice that God had appointed and ordained to be the one and only sacrifice for sin. The Scripture says, “The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all . . . it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:6, 10). Because God Himself has set forth Christ to be the covering for human guilt, then God cannot possibly reject the sinner who accepts Jesus Christ as Savior. “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood” (Romans 3:25).

This is what the communion table in the church is all about. Every time we eat the bread we are remembering the body of Christ nailed to the cross for us, and every time we drink the wine we are remembering the blood that was shed on the cross as a covering for our sins. A little girl, seeing a cross on the communion table, asked, “Mama, what is that plus sign doing on the table?” The cross is God’s great plus sign of history.

Our Father and our God, please accept my humble gratitude for Jesus, my Savior and Lord. His cruel death has given me hope and life. His sacrifice has given me salvation. You burdened Him with sin so that I can be free from that sin. Thank You, God, for Jesus and for life eternal. Through Jesus I pray. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).