In the New Testament God has revealed to us two wondrous truths—the cross and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a solemn and blessed subject for the contemplation of our hearts—the death of the Son of God upon Calvary's cross on the earth, and His glorification at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven above. How little our souls enter into these precious things, although the glory of God, and the eternal destiny of the whole of Adam's race, depends upon them. Without the death of Christ there is no salvation; without the resurrection, the death would have been ineffectual.
The death of Christ was the voluntary act of a perfect, sinless, holy Man. Death had no claim upon Him, for death is the wages of sin, and in Him is no sin (1 John 3:5). And death is Satan's power (Heb. 2:14). But Satan had no power over Him. "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me." John 14:30. Jesus laid down His life for the glory of the Father, the salvation of His own, and the deliverance of creation. The foundation of all this was perfectly laid in His death. God was infinitely glorified, and sin's judgment borne by the Holy One. He cried, "It is finished," and gave up the ghost.
If all, however, ended there, the cross would simply show that man had wrought his own will against the Christ of God, and that Satan had won the victory. But where is He now? He was buried in the grave, but God raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory. The enemy's greatest victory proved to be his greatest defeat. The cross is vacated, the grave empty, and Christ is risen. The resurrection of Christ is a complete and eternal triumph over all the power of the enemy. The whole question of sin, sins, Satan, death, judgment and hell, found its answer at the cross. The resurrection is God's testimony to the whole universe to the fact that His holy claims have all been perfectly met, once and forever, and that He is infinitely glorified in the work of His Son. He has exalted the blessed Man who did it, to His own right hand. The One who was crucified is now the glorified One. The cross is exchanged for the throne. Jesus is made both Lord and Christ. Soon every created intelligence will celebrate His praise and own Him worthy as Man of that exalted place.
We must never separate the glory from the cross. If I am occupied with Christ on the cross only, and my death with Him there, I shall stop far short of my proper blessing and privilege as a Christian. If I am occupied with Christ in glory, and my association with Him there, and forget the cross, I shall become lifted up, and impractical in my walk and ways. The knowledge of the gospel of the glory of Christ involves corresponding responsibility. If Christ, the Beloved in glory, is the measure of my acceptance before God, Christ, and Christ only, is the standard and model for my walk and ways. May God in His rich grace give us to enter more and more into our wonderful position before God, and to walk worthy of our elevated calling in our daily life and circumstances until we behold our Savior face to face.