Have you ever stopped to consider the contrast of the Cross?  The cross is both terrible and wonderful at the same time.  On the one hand, the cross demonstrates the worst of humanity.  It pictures the height of human sinfulness.  It is the culmination of the enmity which exists between God and man.  In the Garden, Adam and Eve determined that they would elevate themselves to the position of God.  Because man could never elevate himself God’s stature, he chose to put God on the cross, ridding the world of the one they would not submit to.  The multitudes who cried out “crucify Him” represent the cries of the human race who would rid themselves of God and all that He represents. At the same time, the cross was a wonderful thing.  Though consistently rejected by the world beginning in the Garden, God has persistently pursued redemption for those who preferred to be left alone.  The whole of the Old Testament is the account of God’s plan of redemption of sinful man as an act of His love.  The cross was not simply a demonstration of God’s love; it was an act of atonement for sinful man by which He made the offer of peace with God available through His blood which was shed there that day.  The cross is the picture of a man who would lay down his life for his friends.  Such an act leaves us with mixed emotions of both sadness and joy. The glorious truth is that resurrection morning turns the darkness of the cross into light.  It turns the sadness of sacrifice into the joy of atonement.  While Jesus died physically, He arose gloriously in both body and spirit.  It is His resurrection that fills our days with joy and our hearts with hope.