We have talked about the Growl of God. We’ve spoken briefly about the Grace of God. Today I want to talk about where the Growl of God, and the Grace of God are seen in their fullest, most magnificent display: The Gospel of God!

The Gospel takes, “Who can stand before His indignation?” (Nahum 1:6) and “The Lord is good” (Nahum 1:7), and ties them together in full array at the cross.

The cross is where my sin was paid for. The cross is where I was bought by the shed blood of God, the Son. The cross is where Christ Jesus was crushed for my transgressions. The cross is where the furious indignation (anger; wrath) of God was unleashed without hinderance on the Son of God. He was killed and raised again bodily so that we would die to sin and live in Him forever. We will behold Him in joy, face to face, because Christ beheld and endured the wrath of God face to face.

God is good to us, and is loving and gracious to us because Christ was forsaken for a time. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” is a cry on our behalf so that we who believe in Him for salvation, would never cry that cry.

We have much to rejoice about in the gospel. My weakness in explaining things is so apparent when I try to explain or think about this glorious gospel. My prayer is that God would give us (give me, give you) a joy that His Growl and His Grace were unleashed all at once at the Cross of Christ!

Let us meditate on this. CJ Mahaney has said, “If there’s anything in life that we should be passionate about, it’s the gospel. And I don’t mean passionate only about sharing it with others. I mean passionate about thinking about it, dwelling on it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to color the way we look at the world. Only one thing can be of first importance to each of us. And only the gospel ought to be.” (The Cross Centered Life, 20-21)

In Him,
Jim