The Cry of God's Heart — Denny Kenaston

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www .charityministries .org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1 -800 -227 -7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, AFPA, 17522.

These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Thank you very much. Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus.

This evening, this first night of the feast, what a blessing to find ourselves at this place. It's Thursday night. Lots of labors have gone into what we find ourselves in. I mean, I think I can remember back seven or eight months when we started talking about the Missions Conference and here we are.

So, it's beautiful, you know, when your faith becomes sight. Amen? And, of course, we know that that's the way that God is and God wants His people to be that way. He wants us to live by faith, but He also does reward us with sight.

After we have labored, after we have dreamed, after we have prayed, after we have seen with the eyes of our hearts, God does let us see with the eyes in our head at times on this side of glory. And so, this Missions Conference is just one of those.

The Cry of God's Heart and the Great Commission

I'd like us to open our Bibles this evening to Isaiah chapter six. We are gathered together in this place because we share a common interest in God's burden for a lost and dying world. That's why we're here.

It thrills our hearts to see how much common interest there is in God's burden for a lost and dying world. I guess the title has already been given for my message, but the burden of my heart and the responsibility that was given to me was to speak to you this first opening meeting on the cry of God's heart.

We're going to be looking at several different cries through the weekend, but I think it's good and important that we begin by looking into the heart of God, because that's where it all starts. That's the foundation of it all.

Every other cry that we're going to look at flows out of the cry that's on the heart of God, on the heart of the God of Heaven. So that's what we want to look at here this evening. In simplicity, we are here because we have been commanded to go.

And I think that all of us, to a greater or a lesser degree, we understand that command. God has commanded us to go. Mark chapter 16 says, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

That's quite an all-encompassing command when you think about it. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's what Jesus said in the book of Mark in chapter 16. In Matthew 28, He said it this way, Go ye therefore and teach or make disciples in all nations.

And Jesus put that therefore there, because He said to them before that, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore. We rejoice in words like that this evening, knowing that though God gives us a great command, and at times it seems overwhelming, the words of command and commission that He's given to us, He didn't just leave us to do that by ourselves, but He, the God of the universe, that the One who has a name which is above every name, has promised us that He will be with us all the way to the end.

Hallelujah! So that does change the perspective quite a bit. Amen? All power has been given unto me. Go ye therefore and lo, I am with you always. We thank God for that this evening. It's not our work, it's His.

And Jesus said it this way, again looking at the commands or the commissions of Christ, As the Father has sent Me, even so send I you. As the Father sent Me, even so send I you. There are many, many things in there, and I'm disciplining myself to not preach on these verses, because I want to take my text out of Isaiah chapter 6.

In simplicity, we believe that these verses that I've just given to you are to be obeyed. And as it is in all Scriptures, if you begin to obey anything in the Word of God, you will begin also to see deeper.

You will begin also to see the heart behind the command that God gives. And I think that's one of the reasons why we're gathered together here. We don't need to give you the command. We don't need to give you the commission.

You already know it. You've read it. You can quote it. You've probably memorized it. But oh, that God would help us in these next three or four days to get down below the simplicity of the commission and see the very heart of God.

What is on God's heart? Why did He say those words? May God open the eyes of our understanding and help us to see into the depths of His heart. And not only to see into the depths of His heart, but that His very heart would be written upon the depths of our hearts so that it is no longer just something that we should do because we know it's right, but we are moved in our being to do it.

Although I do firmly believe that it needs to be done, no matter how deep or shallow you may see the commission, it needs to be obeyed. All right. This evening, we want to look a bit deeper and look at the heart of God behind these commands.

Isaiah's Vision of the Holy God

We're going to be reading here in Isaiah chapter 6. This is a famous missionary text. It's used for other things also, but it is an oft-used text on missionary issues. And so, we want to look at it here this evening.

And I guess probably the reason why it is so used is because of those words there in verse 8, which we will get to. Whom shall I send and who will go for us? So, let's look at this text a little bit and just read it.

Verse 1 through 9, first of all. In the year that King Uzziah died, I, Isaiah, saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings.

With twain He covered His face, and with twain He covered His feet, and with twain He did fly. And I was thinking about that a little bit, and I wondered how many of them are there. And as I was studying a little later on in my studies, I found four of them creatures in the book of Revelation, I think chapter 4.

But anyway, here it just says the seraphims were there above this throne that Isaiah saw. And the one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.

And the posts of the door moved at the voice of Him that cried. And the house was filled with smoke. That is a pretty powerful being. It shakes the whole posts when it cries holy. Then said I, Isaiah, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. And he said, Go and tell this people. Hear ye indeed, but understand not. And see ye indeed, but perceive not.

I want us just to ponder for a few minutes here the scene that we have come upon as we have opened up the Scriptures. I believe it's good for us to picture what we have read in words. These words describe a scene, a holy scene, an awesome scene, because God is in the midst of it.

A life-changing scene for Isaiah the prophet. In the year that King Uzziah died, somehow Isaiah found himself in the midst of a vision. I don't know if he was in despair because Uzziah died. I don't know all the reasons behind it.

The Bible doesn't say. But he found himself in an earnest place before God. And in the midst of that, he had a vision. He saw the Lord high and lifted up. And it seems to me as I look at this text that he was transported in the Spirit into the throne room and saw things that many men never get to see.

Saw things like maybe the Apostle Paul. Heard things that maybe he thought shouldn't even be uttered. But nevertheless, we see that Isaiah got a glimpse of some very holy things here in chapter 6 of the book of Isaiah.

Some say this is Isaiah's call to be a prophet. I spent some time studying that. I'm not sure of that because it's in chapter 6 and not chapter 1. And it's at the end of Uzziah's life, not in the middle somewhere.

But nevertheless, God did some beautiful and powerful things in Isaiah's heart and his life and so affected his ministry from this day all the way to the end because of what he saw. What he saw. Oh, may God open up the eyes of our heart that what we see would also so change our lives that we will never be the same.

Amen. I'm sure that's one of the burdens that you brought along with you when you came here. Lord, change me. Isaiah saw the king. He says that. He testifies. Mine eyes have seen the king is what Isaiah said.

The seraphims, they also saw the king. Very interesting. The different responses of the seraphims who saw the king and Isaiah who also saw the king. Very different. These heavenly beings also saw the king high and lifted up in the throne room.

What did they see? That's a question this evening. Isaiah doesn't give us a lot of description. Other men in the Bible have. Ezekiel gives us quite a description of what he saw. And I believe he saw this same throne.

He saw it in a different setting, in a different scene, but I believe it was the same throne. John, he saw a throne. I believe it's the same throne that Isaiah saw, that John saw. Daniel, he also saw a throne and one sitting on the throne.

I believe it's the same throne because it's the throne of the God of Heaven. But what did they see? I ponder that a bit. You know, the Bible says God said to Moses at one place when Moses was asking if he could see His glory, God said to Moses, no man can see My face and live.

So I don't know how all that fits into the things that Isaiah saw, but obviously he must not have looked right into the face of Almighty God here. But what did he see? We know that Ezekiel saw some beautiful and some powerful things and they changed his life.

And we know that Job saw the Lord and it changed his life. And we know that Daniel, he also saw the Lord and it changed his life. And John saw the Lord and it so affected his life. And here we see that Isaiah saw the Lord and it so affected his life.

Oh, let us also see the Lord. Not necessarily in a vision like Isaiah did. I don't expect that God will transport you and I right into that throne room. But oh, listen, brothers and sisters, these words were inspired by the Spirit of the living God that we might use our imagination a bit with the Holy Ghost helping us and get a glimpse into the same things that they saw.

They all seemed to respond the same way. Ezekiel, Job, Daniel, John. Woe is me! Fall down on My face! I abhor Myself in dust and ashes. Isaiah saw the King. And what they saw was awesome. It was awesome.

And I mean that word in the sense that the Bible uses it. That word is changing, you know. I don't see how they can use it the way they do, but I know it's because they don't know God. What does the word awesome mean?

It means filled with awe. Awe mingled with admiration and reverence. It means dread inspired by greatness. What Isaiah saw was awesome. Amen? It was awesome. Pizza is not awesome. Did you get that, young people?

Pizza is not awesome. God is awesome. God is. Let the world have their slang. Let's use the words right. God. Only God is awesome. And Isaiah saw Him. And Isaiah was filled with dread. He saw the Lord.

He saw God altogether other than anything that he ever knew before. That's what he saw. You know, we read some of the other accounts in the Scripture. You know, Ezekiel talks about colors and blues and amber and orange.

You know, he talks about colors and colors that glow. And you read over in the book of Revelation and it talks about rainbow and things like that. And I believe that Isaiah saw all those things, but he doesn't say anything about those colors there.

But by the way, colors don't change your life. It wasn't colors that inspired him and caused him to cry out from the depths of his heart, woe is me! It wasn't pretty colors. He saw God, brothers and sisters.

He saw God. He saw the King. Multiplied attributes of the King emanating out of His being all at the same time. That's what he saw. Yeah. And all he could say was, woe, woe is me! He saw purity. He saw omissions.

He saw an all-knowing, all-seeing God. He saw omnipotence. He saw justice. He saw judgment. He saw the absence of all evil and the presence of everything right all at once. That's what he saw. He saw mercy.

He saw kindness. He saw love. He saw mercy. All of these things emanating forth out of the being of God. And that's why Isaiah said, woe is me! How can it be, brothers and sisters, that this God loves you and me, that we sit here this evening washed in the blood of the Lamb, having received in our own hearts an understanding about this God that Isaiah saw.

And when Isaiah saw Him, woe is me! I am undone. I am shattered. He saw God. He saw infinite moral perfection all at the same time. That's what he saw. He saw holiness in its perfection. That's what he saw.

Well, you know, the seraphims, they also saw the same thing. Their response was different. But they saw the same thing. And these are the seraphim. They do that day and night, it says in Revelation 4.

Day and night they're there. Day and night they're before the throne. Day and night they're there with God. Day and night they see God in all of His graciousness, in all of His justice, in all of His holiness.

Day and night they see God. And the Bible says that up out of their hearts, not a memorized word, by the way, but up out of their heart comes the highest word in their vocabulary in all of heaven to describe what they see as they fly around in the throne room with God.

And that is the word holy. Holy! So set apart! So other! So different! So high! So transcendent! So other than anything else that ever was in all the world or all the universe that you God is! Holy! Holy!

Holy! Is what they said. Being heavenly beings, they could be there and take all of that in. And up out of their heart came those words. We're going to get to be there someday. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Wouldn't it be nice to take somebody along? Wouldn't it be nice to take somebody along? We're going to be there. So the seraphims, they said, holy, holy, holy! But Isaiah said, woe is me, I am undone!

He saw God. He saw God who He is. And he also at the same time saw who Isaiah was. And this wasn't a wicked man. This is Isaiah the prophet. You read the things that he preached already. Chapter 1 through 5.

This is not a wicked man. This is a holy man. This is a godly man. But when this godly man got in the presence of the holy God of the universe, all of a sudden he was an unclean man. Maybe you feel the same way this evening as you come here to this missions conference.

Woe is me. I am a needy man. That's alright. Because I want us to notice here that Isaiah's response was a response of honesty. Isaiah's response was a response of open confession. And because of Isaiah's response of honesty and open confession, Seraphim Winton got a hot coal off the altar and touched his lips.

Hallelujah! So if you feel that way here this evening, there's blood on the mercy seat. Even tonight. So God, through that angel, cleanses Isaiah. And immediately after that cleansing, Isaiah hears a voice.

He hears a voice. The voice of God. And by the way, these words that we read here are way more than just words. Remember, this is God speaking those words. And as you well know, if you've ever had any of those sweet times along with God, that when God speaks to you, it's way more than words.

Amen? When God speaks, it's way more than just words. God speaks His very heart when He speaks to us. God speaks His very nature when He speaks to us. And that's what flowed into the heart of Isaiah. He heard words.

He heard the words of the longing heart of God. I don't know. It's a little hard for me to tell for sure, but it seems almost like Isaiah is hearing a conversation. Because it's not like God turns and speaks to him and says, Isaiah, I have something to do.

Will you do it? But it's almost like he hears a conversation. Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? I wonder who you think that us is. Who will go for us? Is what he heard. And I like to think that Isaiah was just kind of tuning his ear into the counsels of the Trinity there.

Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And Isaiah responded, Here am I, Lord. Here am I, Lord. Send me. Down through the ages, men who have drawn near to God, it seems to me that they hear the longing heart of God.

They may not hear those exact words that Isaiah heard, but they hear the longing heart of God. And brothers and sisters, the longing heart of God doesn't change. It's always the same. His burden is for a world that does not know.

That's the longing heart of God. I don't know. Did Noah hear that voice? That day when God shared His heart with him? Did Abraham hear that voice? Did Moses hear that voice? Is that the voice that David heard?

The man after God's own heart? The history of God's movements among peoples bears testimony to this fact that whenever an individual or a people draw close to God, they begin to hear the heart of God.

Their heart begins to beat just like God's heart begins to beat for the lost around them. And that's what this mission conference is all about. It's that our hearts would begin to tune in and hear the heart of God, and the heart of God is for a lost and dying world around us.

Whether it be Ephrata, or whether it be Harrisburg, or whether it be Manitoba, or whether it be on the other side of the world, God's heart is the same. His heart is everywhere. His heart is burdened.

His heart is brooding over those who do not know. The history of God's movements among peoples would bear testimony to this. I think of the Moravian movement which started in 1727. Those dear Moravian people drew near to God.

Those dear Moravian people had a revival in the midst of a communion service. God came and visited them. Very interesting to me to read the accounts of all of that and to see what happened. In not too long of a time, all of a sudden, the brethren at Hernhut were hearing that voice saying, Whom shall I send?

And who will go for us? Who will reach out to the world? To those who have not heard? And brothers and sisters, this was 1727. People were not sending missionaries in 1727. But those Moravian people began to hear the heart of God.

And the heart of God was saying, There's people all over this world. There are people groups. There are nations who have never heard about Jesus Christ. I thought about this afternoon, I thought about the early Anabaptists again.

Think about them. It's 1525. God's heart hasn't changed. The fullness of time has come. The dark ages are passing. Europe sits in darkness. The people sit waiting. The people are searching. The people are hungry.

But God needs some men who are willing to step up to the plate and serve their generation. Amen? God needs some men who are willing to do that. Those twelve men that gathered there in that little upper room at Conrad Grebel's house, do you realize this is what they were coming to grips with?

God's heart for the world who has not heard. That's what they came to grips with. Those were the issues. There wouldn't have been any problem at all if they would have just kept quiet, heard a voice, brothers and sisters.

They heard the voice of God. Oh, it may not have been exactly the words that we read here in Isaiah, but they heard the heart of God. And the heart of God was brooding over Europe. And the heart of God was looking for somebody who would step up to the plate and serve their generation and open up their mouth and tell the people at all costs that Jesus Christ is Lord.

That's what God was looking for. And He found twelve men that were willing at all costs to start. You say, it's amazing what those twelve men did and it's amazing what the people after them did. Yes, it is amazing, but I want you to remember, they heard a voice.

And the voice they heard, it wasn't just a few words written down on a piece of paper somewhere. The voice they heard was the very voice of God. And when God speaks, God doesn't just give words. He infuses His very nature in the words that He speaks.

And His very nature is a burden for a lost and dying world. And those men were consumed with a burden for the lost world that was around them. And they shook Europe because they heard that voice. You say, well, they read it in the Bible.

Yes, they read it in the Bible. But it was a rhema to them, not just logos. It wasn't just a written word to them. It was God's Word to their very heart and life. So much so that they were able to go in the grace of God and lay down their lives for the people in Europe who had never heard.

God has not changed, has He? I think of the Great Awakening in 1858 and 1859 when God's Spirit began to brood over this land of ours, America, 150 years ago, something like that. I think it was a stock market crash or a recession or something like that when all the people's security was taken away and the businesses weren't going too well and the businessmen didn't have much going on, so they decided to have a prayer meeting at noon every day and closed down their businesses and went to the prayer meeting.

Two or three months later, God was moving in beautiful ways. And I'm not going to tell a lot to the story of that, but the only point that I would like to make is as God's Spirit drew near to the hearts of God's people 150 years ago, 100 ,000 young people raised their hand and said, I will either go or I will do everything I can to support those that are going.

100 ,000 young people raised their hand and said, I'll go or I'll support. 10 ,000 of them went and 90 ,000 of them supported in prayer and finances and all those things. Ten percent. They tithed. They tithed people.

How did that happen? Was that just somebody going around saying, hey, you know, it would be a good idea if you'd just go to the mission field. No, we know by now you don't get people to go to the mission field just by making little suggestions like that.

They heard a voice. They heard the voice that Isaiah heard. They heard the voice that Ezekiel heard. They heard the voice that David heard. Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Over there. Who will go for us?

What about the heathen over there in Africa? It's very evident that in this our day that people are also hearing that voice. That's why we're here. Because we're hearing that voice. I wonder if you realize that that's why we're here.

Not here in this building. Here. Born again. Created by God. Growing all the time. I wonder if you realize that's why we're here. I thought about Isaiah's ministry. You know, you heard those little words there.

And as I said already, those weren't just little words. They were powerful words. From there, Isaiah became the Christ-centered prophet of the Old Testament. Is it not true? Isaiah. He became the gospel prophet of the Old Testament.

Isaiah became the missionary prophet of the Old Testament. That's what God did with Isaiah. I mean, that's where Paul got his missiology, by the way. On the back side of the desert, reading in the Old Testament.

And you can be sure he spent a lot of time in Isaiah as he searched the Scriptures and saw that word again and again. Gentile. Gentile. Gentile. You know, that's the word that he took to the wilderness.

Gentile. Yes, Paul. You Pharisee. Yes, Paul. You who will not even talk to a Gentile. Yes, Paul. You who see a Gentile as a dog. Gentile. I've called thee to go to the Gentiles. And Paul, in Arabia, searching the Scriptures.

Gentile. And he started reading those verses. That was his Bible, wasn't it? I mean, he didn't have the New Testament. That was his Bible. Imagine the threshold as he read through the book of Isaiah and saw that word again and again.

I have made thee a light unto the Gentiles and the isles shall wait for my law. That's where he developed his missiology. Got that from Isaiah. Isaiah got it from God. And from the heart of God, when God spoke those words into his heart.

You know, God's still saying that today. Do you realize that? Maybe not in exactly those words, but He's still saying it today. What about Christ? We know that Christ also heard these words, don't we?

In eternity past, He heard those words. In eternity past, Christ heard those words. What was His response? It was very much like Isaiah's. Very much like Isaiah's. In Psalm chapter 40, we find these words.

Sacrifice an offering thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it is written of me.

I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. These are messianic words. We find them again in Hebrews chapter 10. They're messianic words. We get a glimpse into the heart of Christ and by these verses and other ones we can see very clearly that Christ also, the Son, heard the Father say those very words.

And the Son said the very words that Isaiah said. Send me. Aren't we glad this evening that Christ said, Send me. Although the Father sent me into the world, even so send I you, is what Christ said to His disciples shortly before He ascended back to His Father.

The Atonement Reveals God's Love for the Nations

Hear the cry of God's heart in the commissions in the New Testament. Do we realize that this is the burden of God's heart even as we sit here this evening? Yes, there may be many other good things that God wants us to do.

Yes, God wants us to be a holy people. Yes, God wants us to raise up a godly family. Yes, God wants us to be a testimony where we are. Yes, God wants us to have good stewardship over our finances. Yes, there are many, many things that God wants us to do in the Bible, but brothers and sisters, do you realize that all of them flow to this?

God wants us to be a testimony, yes, that a world, a lost and dying world, may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in Heaven. God wants us to raise our families for Him. But why? For us?

No, for Him! That He might take them and shoot them like arrows around the world. God wants us to have control over our finances. We're supposed to be stewards of our money. But what do you do with that money?

Build bigger barns? Buy bigger farms? No! There's a world out there. There's a world out there. It seems to me, brothers and sisters, that all roads lead to Rome on this one. All roads. God's heart for the nations of the world, for the people of the world who have not heard.

Some of them are right here in Ephrata, New Holland. Some of them are in Harrisburg. Some of them are in Lancaster and in Samaria and in the outermost parts of the earth. That's God's heart. Christ heard those words.

Aren't we glad this evening that He responded properly to them? There's another place where we see and hear the heart of God. If I may just take us a little bit deeper yet this evening. And that is in the actual atonement itself.

We see the heart of God in the atonement, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of His Son. We see the heart of God in the atonement. Oh, if somehow God could take us beyond the beautiful reality that the atonement was for me and it was for me, and I thank God for that this evening, that I've been washed in the blood, that that atonement was for me, and that there's blood on the mercy seat this evening.

And yes, that's there for me. Hallelujah! But oh, it's not only there for me. It's also there for the rest of the people of the world who have not heard. It's also for them. Oh, we can see the heart of God so beautifully in the atonement itself.

The atonement is actually the expression of several of God's attributes being worked out. That's what the atonement is. You know, I thought about those verses over in Hebrews. Hebrews 1. There's a couple of staggering verses in Hebrews 1 and 2.

Listen to what God says through the Hebrew writer. He says that God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, in the past, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. And we thank God for that, don't we?

That God, through the prophets, spoke. And we have the writings. And we read some of them this evening. That God spoke through the prophets. And God even speaks to us this evening through the prophet Isaiah.

But listen to the next verse. It goes on to say that God, who spoke that way in time past, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. God has spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, and by whom also He made the worlds.

God has spoken to us by His Son. Now, there are many ways that we could say that God has spoken to us by His Son. God has spoken to us by His Son. We have His words. The beautiful words that flowed. The gracious words that flowed out of the mouth of Jesus.

God has spoken to us by His Son. By the beautiful life that He lived while He was here upon this earth. God has spoken to us by His Son. Yes, it's true. But, oh, dear people, do you realize that God spoke to us through the atonement of His Son like God has never spoken to man before?

Do we realize that? That God has spoken to us. God has shared His heart with us through His Son in these last days. He has. The atonement is actually the expression of several of God's attributes. It is God responding to the tragedy of the fall on the basis of who He is.

That's what the atonement is. God is who He is. He is the just God that He is. He is a God of judgment. He is a holy God. But He is also God who loves. He is also a God of mercy. How does a holy and a just and a right and a judging God deal with the fact that He has love in His heart for mankind?

How does God respond to those two when He sees the fall of man? The atonement. God has spoken to us. God has shared His heart with us in the very atonement. You see, that's beautiful, Brother Denny, that God would do that for me.

Yes, it is, isn't it? That God would do that for me. That is beautiful. That God did that for me. That somehow God, through the atonement, worked out His very character and being so that He could make a way to bring Brother Denny back into the fold of fellowship with God.

That's beautiful. Thank you, Lord, for that. But do we see, brothers and sisters, this evening, can we look deeper into the heart of God in the atonement? We know the verse so well that I don't think we know it anymore.

Did you hear me? We know it so well, I don't think we know the verse anymore, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God so loved the world, brothers and sisters. Not just me.

Not just you. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son through the atonement. In simplicity, the cross of Jesus Christ is the holiness of God, the justice of God, and the love of God coming together in one radiant display of God's glory.