Why write a book on the cross? Since having first experienced the forgiveness and love of Jesus nearly 50 years ago, I have become more and more convinced that understanding the significance of the cross is important for a healthy perception of what Christianity is all about. It shapes the key issues – how you become a Christian, how you grow as a Christian, how you can find certainty in your relationship with God, and how you can be sure about where you are heading in the life beyond death.

However, I have another reason for writing this book. Over the last 100 years, there have been endless debates in the name of “scholarship” surrounding what we can really know about Jesus, what he really taught, and what he achieved – if indeed such a person ever actually existed. Today, with the prominence and influence of the mass media, the situation is even more confusing. The media tends to focus on the sensational and so highlights beliefs that would not be accepted by the vast majority of Christians. The result is a mass of misinformation that can confuse ordinary people and make them suspicious of Christianity.

One of my main purposes in writing this book is to let the Bible speak for itself. The wonderful God that the Bible describes didn’t plan to make it difficult for us to understand his central message. He has given us a book that holds plenty of clues as to its divine inspiration and that contains an essential story that is not hard to understand. Though the Bible contains parable, symbolism, poetry and other literary styles, it usually means exactly what it says. The reader has every right to disagree with what it says, but no one has a right to say that it says something that it doesn’t, or deny that is says something that it does – even if they do so in the name of “scholarship”.

My goal is simply to open up the Bible, and focus on its teaching about the cross. The Bible contains a mass of material that can be daunting for someone sincerely seeking the truth. Key passages can easily be missed if someone doesn't know where to start. I have sought to clarify the Bible’s central message in a manner that makes it impossible to miss. God planned the universe and the creation of a race of humans with whom he could enjoy a loving relationship both in this life and in eternity. My belief is that those who seriously consider this message will not find it easy to resist its appeal. It is a message that can satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart.

Dick Tripp