Daily Devotions-Good Friday

Today being Good Friday I thought we would share some thought on a great hymn of the faith that has been sung in churches across our land for many years. The hymn, “The Old Rugged Cross” tells a story when considered in sequence.
As we ponder the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, a fuller understanding should bring us to an ever-deeper reliance on and identification with Him. In this hymn we will find its words reflecting a deep and abiding love for Christ and His cross.
The first verse states the general doctrine of the cross. Truly His cross involved great suffering (1 Peter 2:21, 24). Likewise, it involved great shame (Galatians 3:13). But this suffering and shame was not in vain, it was on our behalf (John 15:13).
However, God’s dearest and best, indeed God’s “only begotten Son” (John 3:16), was slain, not so much for “friends,” but for enemies! A world of lost sinners put Him on the cross (Romans 5:8, 10).
The second verse contains much truth, rich and deep. The world despises the cross and the One on the cross (Isaiah 53:3). But yet, even in His bloodied and broken form, there’s a wondrous attraction (Isaiah 53:4-5).
His death substituted for ours. He was the sacrificial “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). This Lamb is none other than God the Son (Philippians 2:7-8). The apex of Christ’s suffering came when God the Father separated Himself from His beloved Son, “forsaking” Christ to suffer for three hours the awful pangs of hell that we deserved,
The third verse gives details of the crucifixion and what it accomplished. That old rugged cross was stained with blood, but this blood was special (1 Peter 1:18-20).
The divine Lamb of God suffered and died on the cross (Colossians 1:14), “that he might sanctify the people with his own blood” (Hebrews 13:12).
But the old rugged cross wasn’t the only thing stained that day (1 John 1:7). The saints in heaven are portrayed as having “washed their robes, and made them white in he blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14; Isaiah 1:18).
The last verse rehearses the results, both now and in the future. It contains a commitment to follow Christ in this life and looks forward to life with Him in eternity.
In this life, we have both the victorious examples of many that have gone before (Hebrews 11), and Christ Himself. Both He and they have suffered joyfully, and so can we (1 Peter 4:12-14).
Once Jesus fully “endured the cross,” He rose from the dead in victory over death to take His rightful place “at the right hand of the throne of God.” He now calls us to be “crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20), “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7). He’ll call us some day to Himself, where we shall “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6), “and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
The chorus reminds us that there is no worth in any deed of our own, including even a full adherence to the law of Moses (Galatians 6:12-13). Only through the cross and the salvation by grace made possible by the cross do we have any standing before God. We must cherish the cross, and cling to it! We can say with Paul that this “world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Its sinful allurements and the recognition of men of no value (2 Timothy 4:8). All our legitimate accomplishments, those true trophies or “crowns of rejoicing” (1 Thessalonians 2:19) done in His power and for His glory, will be cast before His throne (Revelation 4:10) in recognition of His worth and kingship. His cross made it all possible.
So I’ll cherish The Old Rugged Cross.”