The Cross: Where Divine Justice and Mercy Meet
Exploring the Atonement: Why God Became Man
Message 3
Opening Story: The Shaming Parade
Imagine for a moment it’s the year 70 A.D. The Roman Empire is at its peak, and the streets of Rome are packed with thousands of spectators, all gathered for one of the empire’s most powerful spectacles: a Roman triumphal procession.
A conquering general returns from battle. He rides a magnificent chariot, clothed in a robe of victory. Behind him follow the spoils of war—gold, artwork, weapons, even the gods of defeated nations, carted like trophies. And last in line: the captives—the defeated kings, the enemy generals, the soldiers. Bound, beaten, humiliated. They are paraded before the people in disgrace, a vivid symbol of the empire’s dominance.
Connection to Colossians 2:15
Hold that image because Paul borrows this imagery in Colossians 2:15 when he declares that God, through the Cross, made a public spectacle of the powers and authorities, triumphing over them by Christ. It’s as if the Cross was God’s unexpected, divine parade—where Satan, sin, and death weren’t the victors but the humiliated captives.
But here’s the twist: This victory didn’t come through brute force. It came through what looked like defeat—a bloodied man crucified on a Roman cross. A scene the world would call shameful… yet in that moment, divine justice was satisfied, and divine mercy was unleashed.
Transition to the Message
So, how do justice and mercy meet in such a scandalous public display? And what does it mean that God chose the Cross as His victory platform? Today, we will answer these questions as we investigate The Cross: Where Divine Justice & Mercy Meet.
Colossians 2:13-14
And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us,and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.
How Did God Cancel Our Debt and Not Compromise His Divine Justice?
Explanation of the Passage
Paul begins a background experience (when we were dead in your wrongdoing and uncircumcision of your flesh). We have learned this one of the major problems of sin--original sin.
However, Paul transitions to teach on the divine action God, the Father has taken to restore us from such a problem; Paul says, He (God the Father) has made us alive together with Him (in Christ).
Paul affirms this is real life, the purpose of life. Paul expands this act of God further by saying it is through Jesus that God the Father has forgiven us all our wrongdoings. Paul describes to us the how of this forgiving act of all our wrongdoings again by calling to our minds the cross of Christ: Jesus was God’s divine plan to cancel (the certificate of debt) consisting of decrees against us.
The Canceled Record
In the Greco-Roman world, the “record of debt” was a written note of indebtedness. Paul uses this as a word picture to characterize each person’s indebtedness to God because of sin. God himself has mercifully resolved this problem for all who put their faith in Jesus All people (Ro 3:23) owe God an unpayable debt for violating His law (Gal 3:10; Jas 2:10; cf. Mt 18:23–27), and are under sentence of death (Ro 6:23). Paul graphically compares God’s forgiveness of believers’ sins to wiping ink off a parchment. Through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, God has totally erased our certificate of indebtedness and made our forgiveness complete while satisfying the debt and death of sin.
Illustration: Canceled Debt
Picture this: You're standing in a courtroom. The judge sits high on the bench, beside him a stack of papers—your record. Every wrong you've ever committed is documented in detail: every lie, every moment of jealousy, every angry word, and every selfish thought.
The courtroom is silent, but the evidence is loud. There's no denying it. You know you're guilty. And the penalty? It’s not community service; it’s not a fine. It's a sentence you can’t serve your way out of—eternal separation from God. The doors swing open just as the judge prepares to declare the verdict.
Jesus walks in.
He steps between you and the judge and says, “I’ll take it. All of it. The guilt, the shame, the sentence—it’s mine now.” Before your eyes, He walks over to the stack of charges, picks it up, walks to the cross, and it’s nailed there—pierced through.
It’s public.
It’s final.
And the judge says, “Paid in full. Case closed.”
Then He stamps the record:
“Cancelled. This record will never be used against you again.”
Paul’s Point
When Jesus went to the cross, He took our charges and publicly displayed them, so no one could question the verdict:�Mercy given.�Justice satisfied.�Debt erased.
Application to the Audience:�
You don’t have to live trying to beat your record anymore.�You don’t have to fear the guilt of your past.�In Christ, your record is sealed, and your sentence is served.
Don’t Miss God’s Love and Mercy for the Justice.
Justice is a result of his covenant of love and mercy.
I Peter 2:24
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Explanation of I Peter 2:24
Peter, like the Apostle Paul, desires his readers to long for the pure teaching of the word, not only long for it but to grow in respect of the salvation they have tasted in Jesus.
He reminds them that Jesus is the Cornerstone. Those who believe in him will not be put to shame but are chosen living stones in the sight of God—stones that God has chosen to build as a spiritual house and holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus. Therefore, Peter urges them to display glorifying behavior to God: submission to kings, honor people, and serve Jesus.
Peter teaches that Jesus is the example of such an offering, and this is the church’s calling: follow Jesus' example and footsteps. He returned no evil for evil; instead, he brought our sins in his body up on the cross, that we might die to sin and live for him. We may be straying sheep, but he has made a way for us to return to the true Shepherd, the Guardian of our souls. By His wounds, we have been healed,
What Does it Mean: By His Wounds We Have Been Healed?
Peter’s Point
He personally carried our sins. The Greek wording emphasizes Jesus’ personal involvement in the act of paying the price for our sins. that we might die to sin . . . and live for righteousness. The purpose of Christ’s bearing our sins is that we might live to please Him.
Christ died for our sins, in our place, so we would not have to suffer the punishment we deserve. This is called “substitutionary atonement.”
Illustration: First Responder
In a small city neighborhood, a house goes up in flames in the early morning. Inside, a mother and her two children are trapped on the second floor. Smoke fills the air. Time is running out.
A firefighter races inside, dodging flames and falling beams. He finds the family and wraps them in wet blankets, leading them toward the stairs—only to discover the exit is blocked. He lifts one child over his shoulder, carries the second in his arms, and tells the mother to hold onto his gear.
He pushes through fire, smoke, and heat. The children make it out. The mother stumbles through. But the firefighter collapses just a few feet from safety—burned, unconscious, overcome.
He doesn’t survive.
Application
Days later, at the funeral, the mother whispers through her tears, “My children are alive because he gave everything.”
That’s divine mercy. That’s the Cross.
Jesus ran into the fire of our sin. He didn’t turn away. He carried us out while He stayed in. His wounds became our rescue route. His death became our survival.
By His Wounds Were Are Healed
So when Peter says, “By His wounds you have been healed,” he isn’t offering a poetic metaphor—he’s declaring the greatest act of rescue in history.�And now, our healed lives are walking testimonies to the mercy that bled for us. The wounds of Jesus are the signatures of divine love that purchased our freedom.
How Can This Understanding These Truths Enhance our Witness?
Understanding that “by His wounds we are healed” (1 Peter 2:24) and that Jesus publicly triumphed over sin and death through the Cross (Colossians 2:15) doesn’t just shape our private faith—it empowers our public witness.
Here is How
Here is How
2. It Grounds Our Testimony in Love, Not Judgment—When we grasp the sacrificial love of Jesus—how He took our debt, bore our wounds, and canceled our guilt—we realize:
People don’t need more critics—they need someone to say, “If He saved me, He can absolutely save you too.”
Here is How
3. It Makes Our Wounds Part of the Witness—When we understand that His wounds heal us, we also begin to see how our past pain, sin, and stories of healing can be used to connect with others.
Here is How:
4. It shows that God’s Mercy is for them too. If God would cancel our debt record, how much more could He do the same for the person still enslaved by sin?
Invitation & Challenge
Three Questions for Bible Study