"The apex of the glory of Christ is the glory of His grace – treating people infinitely better than they deserve – giving Himself for the everlasting joy of the worst of sinners who will have Him as their Treasure. And the apex of His grace is the murder of the God-man outside Jerusalemaround A.D. 33. The death of Jesus Christ was murder. It was the most spectacular sin ever committed.
At the all-important pivot of the human history, the worst sin ever committed served to show the greatest glory of Christ and obtain the sin-conquering gift of God's grace. God did not just overcome evil at the cross. He made evil serve the overcoming of evil. He made evil commit suicide in doing its worst evil.
Evil is anything and everything opposed to the fullest display of the glory of Christ. That's the meaning of evil. In the death of Christ, the powers of darkness did their best to destroy the glory of the Son of God. This is the apex of evil. But instead they found themselves quoting the script of ancient prophecy and acting the part assigned by God. Precisely in putting Christ to death, they put His glory on display – the very glory that they aimed to destroy. The apex of evil achieved the apex of the glory of Christ. The glory of grace."
- John Piper, Spectacular Sins: And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/BySeries/80/
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