God Makes Ugly Beautiful

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Isn’t springtime delightful? The landscape seems to go from ugly and barren to beautiful as new life emerges. Practically every day, I go outside to my garden, pushing aside dried leaves to see what is coming back up from the ground after the cold winter. The contrast from the ugly barrenness of winter to the beauty of new life emerging in the spring inspires worship. Easter belongs in the spring, doesn’t it? Spring reminds us that God makes ugly beautiful. This blog will discuss how and why God makes what is ugly into something beautiful.

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The ugly happened.

On this day, almost 2000 years ago, something very ugly happened. Jesus, the sinless God-man who walked among us people, was hung on a cross to die. The beautiful son of God experienced the ugliness of sin and took on its punishment—for our sakes. As the spring storms hit my area in March, I realized that our house took on the punishment of the 70 mile-per-hour winds for Ron and me. My friends’ houses took on the punishment of the softball-sized hail for them. Without the interceding of our houses, we could easily be dead. What our houses did, Jesus did for us when He took on the punishment for our sin in our place. In the ugliness of that moment, we were preserved. I am so grateful.

Sin is the fatal disease.

I remember the first time I heard the description of our sinful spiritual condition as “death caused by a fatal disease.” That illustration wasn’t hard for me to understand. A close friend of mine died of cancer. She took the treatments that were supposed to kill the cancer cells, but they didn’t get rid of all of them. Those that evaded the toxic drugs found new places to multiply and continue their destruction. My friend could clean and dress her body, fix her hair, put on makeup and look lovely on the outside. But, hidden beneath her skin, the cancer cells did their ugly work on her body. The death sentence is upon every human being. Hers came earlier than expected. Cancer is like the ugliness of sin. Even when you get it under control, the threat of its return is always present.

Sin is “the disease,” and everyone has it. It’s fatal because the result of the sin disease is always death. Our sin separates us from having a relationship with our holy God.

Humans are not holy. You already know that. The prophet Jeremiah describes the human heart as being deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). This is the sinful cancer in every human, and it is beyond cure. The Bible says (and you have no doubt seen this) that people willingly suppress the truth and exchange the truth about God for a lie. Such sickness leads to destructive behavior. That creates an infinite gap between God’s holiness and human sinfulness.

But, God’s love for people and His mercy toward us led Him to take action. The Son of God came to earth to live as a human without sin and to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin once for all. Never again would an animal need to die for human sin. Jesus Christ did that for us on the cross. Crucifixion was ugly. It was a place of agony and disgrace.

The agony and disgrace of a crucifixion

Psalm 22 poetically describes the agony and the disgrace that Jesus experienced during his crucifixion. The Romans didn’t invent crucifixion although its infamy is associated with the Roman Empire because of Christ. It was adopted from the Greeks and then used by the Romans as their severest form of execution, mainly for rebellious slaves, thieves, and other criminals, but also for anyone guilty of rebellion and treason. Roman citizens could not be executed by crucifixion. Jesus was not a Roman citizen.

If you’ve seen any movie portraying the life of Christ, you have seen how a crucifixion was likely done. The crucified victim hung by his outstretched arms attached to the crossbeam. Usually, heavy wrought-iron nails were driven through the wrists and the heel bones (Psalm 22:16).

As the victim hung dangling by the arms, the blood could no longer circulate to his vital organs, and he felt like he was suffocating. His bones would get out of joint (Psalm 22:14). The victim would sweat profusely and be thirsty (Psalm 22:15). Sometimes wood was nailed to the main post as a sort of seat. Only by supporting himself on this or by pushing against the nails in his feet could the victim lift himself up to gain any relief.

Then exhaustion set in, and death followed, although sometimes not for several days. To hasten death, the victim’s legs were broken with a club so he couldn’t keep pushing up to stay alive. The fact that Jesus’ bones were not broken fulfilled another prophecy. Psalm 22 is a graphic picture of the agony of death by crucifixion that Jesus experienced on the cross.

Then, there’s the disgrace that Jesus experienced during His crucifixion. The words in Psalm 22:6-8 describe the humiliation of public execution and match what the crowd actually said to Jesus. And, the casting of lots seen in Psalm 22:18 was literally fulfilled.

I am sure that neither the Jews nor the Romans were trying to fulfill Psalm 22 that day. Only God the Holy Spirit inspiring David to write these words 1000 years earlier could ever explain how closely they match the day Jesus died. Crucifixion was God’s plan.

Why the cross?

Why the cross? After all, the usual method for Jewish execution was death by stoning. And, the sacrificial lamb was bled and burned. Could Jesus have paid the penalty for our sin through another means of execution? Yes. But, the cross was there, it was predicted, and neither Jew nor Gentile (anyone who wasn’t a Jew) would have thought of it as an acceptable plan for salvation. And, crucifixion provided the best scenario for Jews and non-Jews alike because both groups participated in the sinful act of executing God’s Son. See what Peter in Acts 2 clearly tells the Jews.

“This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” (Acts 2:23)

It was God’s plan for His Son to die on that cross for all of mankind’s sin. No human being would ever come up with that plan. Accepting it requires faith alone. Exactly what God wanted. In 1 Corinthians 1, the apostle Paul sums it up best,

“We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and [Gentiles], Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:23-24)

The cross has been a major stumbling block in the way of the Jews, preventing the majority of them from accepting Jesus as their messiah. To the Jewish people, crucifixion represented the most disgusting form of death, yet the Jewish leaders sought and obtained Roman authorization to have that very thing done to one of their own. No self-respecting Messiah would ever get himself hung on a cross. Right?

For the Roman or the Greek or any other non-Jew, following a religious leader who showed such weakness would be absolute foolishness. We think nothing of it now after 2000 years of Christian teaching. Of course, God came to earth as a man to die on the cross as a ransom for many. But, to them, the cross represented humiliation and shame.

The Greek mind pursued knowledge and education and the highest wisdom of their world. That was what elevated anyone above criminals and the despised poor. Our cultural emphasis on academics can produce the same kind of puffed-up mindset. But, to those of us who recognize the ugliness of our sin before God and the hopelessness of our efforts to please Him, the message of the cross is amazingly powerful.

In his book “Paul, the Apostle of the Heart Set Free” (page 253), F. F. Bruce writes:

“But as Paul persisted in preaching Jesus as the crucified Savior and sin-bearer, the unexpected happened: pagans, as well as Jews and God-fearers, believed the message and found their lives transformed by a new, liberating power, which broke the stranglehold of selfishness and vice and purified them from within. The message of Christ crucified had thus accomplished something which no body of Greek philosophic teaching could have done for them.”

Isn’t that so true? We can’t think ourselves out of the ugliness of our sin. Every bit of our sin is so ugly to God. As ugly as the most heinous crime you can think of. As ugly as the crucifixion. But, our redemption is absolutely beautiful. God makes ugly beautiful.

Psalm 22 ends with these words,

“future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it! (Psalm 22:30-31)

That people yet unborn is us. We have been told about the Lord. We have been told that Jesus isn’t still on the cross, nor is He in the grave. Jesus was resurrected from the dead, declaring that the debt for sin has been paid and accepted. He has done it! And, our need for deliverance from death has also been answered. God takes the ugliness of the cross and makes it beautiful in our lives.

My favorite hymn is “In Christ Alone.” The words are pure gospel put to song. You can hear this beautiful hymn on YouTube if you do not know it.

The second verse reads:

In Christ alone! who took on flesh, Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness Scorned by the ones he came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live.

Here in the death of Christ, I live because He didn’t stay dead.

The beauty of Christ’s life in us

Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, believers are cleansed of all sin and made new creations of life when God plants His Spirit within us. We are made alive as Christ is alive. That’s beautiful. Colossians 2:13-14

God gives us eternal spiritual life from the moment we believe, and we have complete acceptance before a holy God by faith alone. That which stood against us, the ugliness of our sin, is gone. Christ’s life is given to us, living in us. That’s beautiful.

Not only do we have this beautiful eternal spiritual life now, but God also promises us eternal physical life in the future. So, when we die, we now have hope of eternal life in the presence of God so physical death is no longer to be feared. Jesus wanted to take away our fear of death.

The writer of Hebrews tells us this,

“Since the children have flesh and blood, [Jesus] too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14-15)

He’s talking about flesh and blood death here. Jesus frees us from the fear of death. That is beautiful.

The process of dying is hard. I watched my Dad pass from earth to heaven. I know he is supremely happy there. I will see him again one day. Death, as one friend put it, is just a comma between earth and heaven. Life on earth—comma—life in heaven. The Bible talks about it as sleep. The believer falls asleep and wakes up in heaven, and Jesus is right there.

If you are unsure about your future life, you might not have ever trusted in Christ as your Savior. You can do so today and receive a beautiful new life now and eternal life with God after you die. Just say yes to believing that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross for your sins. Accept His free gift of life.

We are made alive as Christ is alive. That’s beautiful. God gives us eternal spiritual life from the moment we believe, and we have complete acceptance before a holy God by faith alone. That which stood against us, the ugliness of our sin, is gone. Christ’s life is given to us, living in us. This is so beautifully expressed in the third verse of “In Christ Alone”:

There in the ground His body lay Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine – Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

Something ugly—a dead body—becomes something beautiful—resurrected Savior. Sin’s curse—once ugly—is powerless. It has lost its grip on you and me. It can’t separate us from God any longer. We belong to Him. That relationship is beautiful!

Live out the beautiful.

So how should we now live this beautiful new life each day? There is one verse I learned as a young Christian that sums it up so well. Why the ugliness of the crucifixion needed to take place. Why Jesus’ resurrection gave me a beautiful new chance at life. Paul tells us how to live this beautiful new life each and every day:

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)

The ugliness of the crucifixion became the beauty of Christ’s life in me. I am grateful for the beauty that God has made out of my ugliness. Are you? I have a longing to worship Him for it. Do you?

Here’s the last verse of “In Christ Alone”:

No guilt in life, no fear in death, This is the power of Christ in me; (sin forgiven, no fear of death thanks to the cross and the resurrection)
From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home, Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.

Sin is forgiven. There is no fear of death thanks to the cross and the resurrection. We have the security that nothing can take us out of His hand.

What ugliness in your life has God made beautiful because of Jesus Christ living in you? Let your heart sing out to Him joyfully today and every day. God is making ugly beautiful. In your life. In my life. Thank you, Jesus.

Enjoy reading these other articles related to the gospel of Mark:

• Mark 1: The announcement about the kingdom of God coming to earth and how that related to Jesus.
• Mark 2: Jesus is with us in our homes and uses our homes to reach others around us.
• Mark 5: As Jesus interacted with people, He satisfied the most desperate hearts with hope when they needed healing and comfort. He does the same for us today.
• Mark 7: Jesus showed love for shunned women by demonstrating kindness toward them.
• Mark 8: Jesus challenged His followers then and now to dare to be different from your world
• Mark 12: Jesus revealed to us the God we can know and love because He is a trustworthy God.
• Mark 13: Avoiding deception trails while following Jesus daily and waiting for His return.
• Mark 16: The resurrection. Read “Resurrection…What Does It Really Mean?”

Related Resources

• The Gospel: God’s Cure for Our Fatal Sin Disease
• Resurrection…What Does It Really Mean?
• Satisfied Series 12 Podcasts (The Gospel series)
• Graceful Living Bible Study
• Pathways to a Joyful Walk Bible Study

AI was not used to generate this post.