I love to watch “Air Crash Investigations” on DSTV. I enjoy the process of unravelling the cause or causes of malfunctions or even pilots’ errors that lead to disaster, and to the development of safer flying.
In the process of watching these episodes, I learn so much about flying that I can almost pilot a commercial plane! Well, not really!
Aparrently, the most dangerous part of flight is in the takeoff and landing of the plane. Two skilled pilots must monitor one another to ensure that they configure their aircraft for getting safely into the air and back on the ground. One omission or error can end in a horrific crash.
It’s fascinating to understand how much radio, together with radar, plays a major part in flying an aeroplane. Air Traffic Controllers (ATC), via radio, keep pilots in contact with the ground from start to finish, tracking and guiding them to their destination, protecting them from midair collisions, helping them in emergencies, and so much more.
Radio also plays a vital part in keeping the aircraft flying on course and landing safely at the correct destination. Pilots get their direction both from the ATC and from a series of “way points”, radio signals from the ground that plot the course to their destination. Pilots receive warning signals from the information the plane receives from radio signals, for example, too close to the ground, too close to another aircraft, etc.
A fascinating part of radio signal guidance systems, for me, is what is called the “glideslope”. An instrument on the instrument panel in the cockpit, a digital display in the form of a cross, picks up radio signals from radio beams in the ground and guides the aircraft down onto the runway. The horizontal beam on the display shows the pilot where his plane is in relation to the ground and the perpendicular beam where his plane is in relation to the runway. By a series of radio signals at decreasing altitudes from the ground, the pilot can safely land the plane as he keeps the two digital beams on his instrument panel perfectly aligned in the form of a cross.
What a picture of the cross of Jesus in our lives! The cross is God’s “glideslope”, guiding us safely to our destination in glory.
Our glideslope is Jesus. He is the radio beam we lock onto by faith that brings us safely home. To ever reach our eternal “runway”, we must align our lives with the cross.
The cross of Jesus plays many parts in our lives. It is the foundation of our salvation; the remedy for sin, past present, and future; death to our old sin nature; the centre and core of our earthly lives; and our security on judgment day.
Let’s examine some of the functions of God’s “glideslope” that keeps us on course and lands us safely in glory.
1. The cross is the foundation of our salvation.
Isaiah 53:5-6NLT
[5] “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. [6] All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.”
Unfolding before him in a prophetic vision, Isaiah saw the cross in all its gory detail…God’s Ebed Yahweh, His Messiah, suffering and dying for the sin of His people.
When Jesus disclosed to His disciples what lay ahead for Him, Peter was outraged, rebuking Him for such unthinkable words. Jesus, in turn, rebuked Peter because death on the cross had to be. Even in His final hours, He bowed to the will of the Father and submitted to suffering without protest.
1 Peter 2:22-23 NLT
[22] “He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. [23] He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.”
Only though faith in what Jesus did on the cross can we connect with the glideslope that takes us to the Father.
John 14:6 NLT
[6] “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
2. The cross is the remedy for sin.
Romans 5:1 NLT
[1] “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”
There can only be peace with God when the debt of our sin has been paid and the barrier removed.
Romans 4:25 NLT
[25]”He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.”
John 19:30 NLT
[30]”When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
“Paid in full!” were Jesus’ last words before He died. Through the cross, all our sin was forever blotted out, removed from God’s sight and obliterated from His memory.
Hebrews 8:12 NLT
[12] “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
3. The cross is death to our old nature.
So, although sin and its penalty are gone, done away with through the cross…what of our old nature and sin’s power over us?
Romans 6:1-7 NLT
[1]”Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? [2] Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? [3] Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? [4] For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. [5] Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. [6] We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. [7] For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.”
God has not removed our old sin nature from us with its relentless pull towards sin but…He has given us the way to subdue it through our union with Jesus in His death. Our role us to put to death our fleshly desires so that we can share in Christ’s holiness.
God’s “glideslope”, the cross of Jesus, motivates and empowers us to stay on course and follow the “radio signals” that lead us to a safe landing.
Romans 8:12-13 NLT
[12] “Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. [13] For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.”
4. The cross is the centre and core of our earthly lives.
Galatians 6:14 NLT
[14] “As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.”
Paul used God’s glideslope to keep him on track as he navigated his way to the Father. His eyes on the cross, the horizontal beam showing him where he was in relation to the world and the perpendicular beam his relation to Jesus, kept his eyes of the world and it’s allutements. He was able to stay on track and in balance in all “weathers” and in all circumstances.
5. The cross is our security on judgment day.
God’s wrath against sin was satisfied when Jesus died on the cross. This act is called “propitiation”.
“The word propitiation carries the basic idea of appeasement or satisfaction, specifically toward God. Propitiation is a two-part act that involves appeasing the wrath of an offended person and being reconciled to him.”
https://gotquestions.org, article “What is propitiation”
1 John 2:1-2 NLT
[1] “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. [2] He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”
1 John 2:2 KJV
[2]”and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Hebrews 9:27-28 NLT
[27] “And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, [28] so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.”
John 5:24 NLT
[24] “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
Romans 8:1-2 NLT
[1] “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. [2] And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”
John 3:16-18 NLT
[16] “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. [17] God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. [18] “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”
How reassuring is God’s Word, that those who believe in Jesus will never come into God’s judgment because God has already laid all our sun on Jesus and judged all sin on the cross.
What better way to celebrate the “glideslope” of the cross and to follow its directions than in the words of a great hymn…
1. Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty Rock
Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
A rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat,
And the burden of the day.
2. Oh, safe and happy shelter!
Oh, refuge tried and sweet!
Oh, trysting place where heaven’s love
And heaven’s justice meet.
As to the holy patriarch
That wondrous dream was given,
So is my Savior by the cross
A ladder up to heaven.
3. There lies beneath its shadow,
But on the farther side,
The darkness of an awful grave
That gapes both deep and wide;
And there between us stands the cross,
Two arms outstretched to save,
Like a watchman set to guard the way
From that eternal grave.
4. Upon that cross of Jesus
Mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One,
Who suffered there for me;
And from my smitten heart, with tears,
Two wonders I confess,
The wonders of His glorious love,
And my own worthlessness.
5. I take, O cross, thy shadow
For my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
The sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by,
To know no gain nor loss,
My sinful self my only shame,
My glory all the cross.
https://hymnary.org
Author: Elizabeth Cecelia Clephane, 1830-1869