The Cross at the Mouth of Hell

The Spanish conquistadors found their way to the top of the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua.  As they peered into the crater, they thought they saw the glitter of gold in the cavern.  When a friar was lowered over the side, they soon found out that it wasn’t gold but molten rock they saw. The heat and smoke nearly killed the friar.    They had never seen anything like it before and declared the place to be the mouth of hell.  So, in 1529 the friar had a cross placed on the top of the volcano.  A replica of that cross can still be seen on the edge of the Masaya Volcano.

Of course, that volcano was not the mouth of hell.  But according to the scriptures, hell is a real place of eternal separation from God.  All of us are born in sin and bound for that place of torment.  But God loved people so much that He is not willing that anyone should perish and end up separated from Him.  So, God placed a cross at the mouth of hell.  On that cross He sent His only Son to the earth to suffer and die.  When Jesus died, He took the place of every person that has ever been born into this world: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).  He died on the cross in our place.  He suffered that we do not have to be separated from God.

During this Easter season we celebrate the death and the resurrection of God’s Son Jesus Christ.  It is a jubilant time of hope and triumph.  God loved us so much that He made a way that we can spend eternity with Him.  He did it by sending His Son to die on the cross for you and me.  Have you received the wonderful gift God made possible?  Have you trusted Christ as your Savior?  Embrace the cross at the mouth of hell.