A Christless cross no refuge for me;
A Crossless Christ my Savior may not be;
But, O Christ crucified! I rest in thee!
- B.B. Warfield
If the cross remains without anyone in my place upon it, then on it I must die and pay for my own sins. Someone must die for sin and the soul that sins shall die. If I die to myself, but Christ does not die for me, then even the carrying of my own cross proves insufficient to fend off God's wrath.
If Jesus only came to correct our misunderstandings about God without dying for them, I find no harbor in Him. I will have a better realization of how far I fall short, but I will have no mechanism or means of bridging the ever increasing gap. Awareness of the problem does not fix the problem. My ignorance of the problem, in other words, is not my only problem. Knowledge only reveals how bad it really is in increasing measure.
My hope is in Jesus' vicarious life, sacrificial death, triumphant resurrection and glorious ascension. Because He lived the life I should have lived and died the death I should have died, my life's work is covered by His death and His life's work covers my death. Because He rose from the grave defeating sin, Satan and death, I can rest assured that the Father has received and accepted Jesus' sacrifice on my behalf as paid in full and can fully expect to be saved from the penalty of my past sins, from the power of my present sins and from the presence of sin altogether in the resurrection. Because He lives and is seated next to the Father even now, He can hear me and intercede for me constantly until His return when I will meet my crucified Mediator face to face.
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