During Old Testament times, did anyone see that the repeated sacrifices for sin were mere shadows?  Did anyone begin to imagine that the reality to which the sacrifices  pointed was the self-offering of one man as the once for all sacrifice for sin? Furthermore, would anyone dare to envision that the person offering himself as the sacrifice for sin would be God as human?  Would anyone dream that God himself would act to reconcile the world both as Judge and judged; priest and sacrifice.

On this side of the cross, and in the light of resurrection, we now see that Jesus has done the unimaginable in himself.  We now know that through the cross God himself, as the man Jesus, tastes death for all.  We now discern that through the cross our old fallen humanity is brought to an end and is replaced by a new humanity in resurrection.  We now recognise that through the cross, sins are forgiven and captives set free. Yes, we grasp all this and more!  However, we still cannot penetrate fully into the meaning of his cross, for it is all an impenetrable mystery.

We can only begin to see something of the meaning of the mystery as God’s Spirit opens the eyes of our hearts.  Only then can we begin to see something of the mystery that brought about the new creation in Christ. So, as T F Torrance says, “We cannot think our way into the cross of Christ but only out from it”.  And, with Torrance, I must add, that we can only do so from the resurrection side of the cross as the Spirit of Christ opens to us the mystery of Christ.  For the meaning of the cross transcends our attempts to define it and even what was prefigured in the Old Testament.  And so we survey the wondrous cross in awe.