If the Bible makes anything clear, it is the fact that the secret of all Godβs good news to man is centered at Calvary. It was because Christ was to die for sin that God could proclaim good news to sinners down through the ages.
It was not until some time after the crucifixion, however, that βthe preaching of the crossβ was widely proclaimed as a message by Paul in βthe gospel [good news] of the grace of Godβ (Acts 20:24; I Cor. 1:18).
The proclamation of βthe gospel of the grace of Godβ was the natural accompaniment to the revelation of the cross as the secret of Godβs good news to man. In this proclamation of His over-abounding grace to sinners, everything centers in the cross.
According to Paulβs epistles βwe have redemption through His [Christβs] bloodβ (Eph. 1:7), we are βjustified by His bloodβ (Rom. 5:9), βreconciled to God by the death of His Sonβ (Rom. 5:10), βmade nigh by the blood of Christβ (Eph. 2:13) and βmade the righteousness of God in Himβ because God βhath made Him to be sin for usβ (11 Cor. 5:21).
The βcovenantβ of the law was abolished by the cross (Col. 2:14), the curse of the law was removed by the cross (Gal. 3:13), the βmiddle wall of partitionβ was broken down by the cross (Eph. 2:14) and believers in Christ are reconciled to God in one body by the cross (Eph. 2:16). Little wonder Paul calls his message βthe preaching of the crossβ!
To the believer it is thrilling to see the cross as Godβs reply to Satan when, at first glance, it had appeared that Calvary had been Satanβs greatest triumph! Thus we can exclaim with Paul:
βGod forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!β (Gal. 6:14). source
