The first message of the cross is not God loves you, but God’s law has been broken. Viewing the cross without the law is like trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle in thin air…the spirit of the cross is eternal love, but the base of the cross is eternal justice.
Ernest C. Reisinger, The Law and the Gospel, 1997, P&R, p.158 in Michael A. Robinson, God Does Exist!, Author House 2006, p.159