“The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:18).
“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14).
“That He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby” (Eph. 2:16).
“Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8).
“Having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself” (Col. 1:20).
“Looking steadfastly on Jesus the leader and completer of faith; who, in view of the joy lying before Him, endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2 JND).
“Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).
Not an Object of Veneration
For many years some have misused the symbol of the cross, but we will receive much blessing to our souls if we contemplate the great subject and teaching of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a parallel in Israel’s history to the abuse of a symbol of the death of Christ. “He [Hezekiah] . . . brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan [or, a piece of brass]” (2 Kings 18:4). The brazen serpent that once meant the salvation of the children of Israel had become an idolatrous object of worship. Today, some will also readily display the symbol of Christ’s suffering and death, while casually defaming the name of the Son of God. God has no pleasure in such a demonstration. He desires to see love for “our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity” (Eph. 6:24).
We do well to remember that God did not dispense with the value of the type of the brazen serpent even though man had corrupted its significance. The Lord Jesus personally referenced this account in speaking to Nicodemus: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14). Let us not, then, neglect the precious truth connected with the cross, while taking care not to make a symbol of it an object of veneration.
It is easy for us to have a limited view of the cross. We may presume that when the cross is mentioned, it speaks only of the place of suffering that our Saviour endured in order to tell out His heart of love and to save us from our sins. Admittedly, this is profound beyond wonder, yet there is more for our hearts and consciences to contemplate. The facts of the cross are set forth in the Gospels, but the doctrine of the cross, as unfolded in the epistles, takes us far beyond this.
This is not to deny that there are instructive distinctions to consider in the Gospels. For example, why is it in John’s Gospel that there is no mention of Simon the Cyrenian carrying the Lord’s cross? Instead, we read, “He [Jesus] bearing His cross went forth” (John 19:17). Is it not because, consistent with John’s Gospel, we have the Lord Jesus presented in all the dignity of the Son of God? All others must fade from view before the majesty of the eternal One. He bore the cross alone, or, “by Himself ” (Heb. 1:3). When Abraham was told to offer up his son Isaac, his young men are directed to stay back, as father and son “went both of them together” (Gen. 22:56). In keeping with that theme, in John’s Gospel the Father and the Son abide in precious communion; no mention is made of either the cry of abandonment or the hours of darkness. But we must pass on to consider something of the significance of the cross in the various epistles.
Man’s Wisdom
In Corinth, the assembly was being influenced by secular wisdom, and here the cross sweeps aside man and his wisdom. Paul shows it was this wisdom that led man to crucify the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:6,8). Calvary means “skull” (Luke 23:33). The wisdom of this world will never lead us to comprehend the mind of God, for the believer understands by the Spirit of God.
Occasionally we hear the verse, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2), explained to mean that the only subject Paul spoke about was Christ dying for our sins, and therefore that is all we should talk about. While even a cursory reading of Paul’s letters would prove otherwise, we should note the expression, “among you” — that is, you Corinthians. (Compare “crucified among you,” Galatians 3:1, as it related to the assemblies in Galatia.) The force of this passage is that Paul did not come to those proud, educated people on a line that would appeal to their intellect. On the contrary, he rejected man’s methods and learning and an approach that would have appealed to man in the flesh. The cross set aside that entire approach (1 Cor. 2:35).
Man’s Religion
In Galatians the cross sets aside man and his religion. False brethren were promoting such things as circumcision and the keeping of holy days, to advance their cause and corrupt the purity of the gospel. Paul contrasts circumcision with the cross. The Judaizers were glorying in the ritual of what typically spoke of the cutting off of man in the flesh — while doing the very opposite of what the figure was intended to teach! Further, he contrasts the mark of circumcision with the marks, or brands, he suffered when persecuted for Christ. Paul was circumcised, but he suffered because he refused to make that a mark of spiritual standing. He gloried in the cross, that which separated him in heart and practice from the religious world that gloried in the flesh, and for which he was reproached by the religious world (“the offense of the cross,” Galatians 5:11). The cross not only symbolizes death, but the reproach connected with crucifixion.
The Wall of Partition
In Ephesians, the leading thought of the cross is the means by which the middle wall of partition was broken down and the enmity between Jew and Gentile removed. Christ is our peace, not here between God and man, but between man and man. Now we both have access to the Father (Eph. 2:11-22).
Service in Lowliness
Perhaps few verses are read among us as frequently as Philippians 2:5-11. The subject here is not the atoning sufferings, but rather we have the cross brought before us as the end of the path of lowly service of our blessed Lord and the pattern for us to follow as a remedy for matters of strife that arise among the saints. The cross was intended for criminals. The blessed Lord Jesus was numbered with the transgressors. Are we content to follow Him there? We could never have part in His atoning sufferings, but in the path of humble service, He permits us to know, in measure, the fellowship of His sufferings. Have we been maligned? misrepresented? mistreated? If so, may we consider Him and learn something of that character of suffering that He passed through in perfection.
Blessing and Reconciliation
In Colossians, the cross is brought before us in yet another aspect. It is the basis upon which the Godhead can bless and reconcile. God is not at war with this world. True, He will judge this world in righteousness (Acts 17:31), but at this present time God is reconciling man to Himself. He will reconcile all things in the heavens and earth. (Note it does not say “under the earth” as in Philippians 2:10, because there the subject is confession that Jesus is Lord — not reconciliation.) The Godhead has already reconciled believers. The “handwriting of ordinances that was against us” (the Jews’ obligation to the law —Exodus 24:3,68) was annulled at the cross; therefore, it was neither for the Jew nor Gentile (Gal. 2:14 JND).
Sacrifice and Devotion
The Jewish believers addressed in the Book of Hebrews were enduring many trials. After seeking to encourage these suffering saints in their unique trials, by outlining various examples of those who lived by faith, the writer directs their eyes away from all others, as noble as they were, to look steadfastly upon Jesus as the object of faith. He endured. While He despised the shame, He must endure the cross. Had they endured the contradiction of sinners against themselves? So had He. But they had not yet resisted unto blood (that is, given their lives as martyrs). They might be called to do so, but He had gone before. The cross is then seen as the ultimate measure of sacrifice and devotedness to God.
The Place of the Curse
Finally, in 1 Peter we have the cross referred to as “the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). As in Galatians 3:13, this expression connects the cross with what the Jews knew experimentally from Deuteronomy 21:22-23. (Crucifixion was Roman.) The tree brings before us death under the curse of a broken law, the horror of which we will never know. If in Exodus 15 the tree cast into the waters made them sweet, we must remember that there was no sweetness in the cross. The Lord Jesus must taste its bitterness that we might drink of the resulting sweetness. When the poet penned the expression “rugged cross,” perhaps it was intended to reference Acts 5:30. The KJV translates as “the tree”; the JND as “the cross,” but with a marginal note indicating that literally the word is “wood,” suggesting the roughness of that death.
In the midst of the Garden of Eden stood the tree of life (Gen. 2:9). Likewise, it stands in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev. 2:7). In the place where our Lord was crucified there was also a garden (John 19:41). While we know from other Gospels that two others were crucified with Him, only in John do we read, “And Jesus in the midst” (John 19:18). To Him it was a tree of death, but to us a tree of life.
Oh cross of Christ! Oh glorious
tree!
What place can be compared with
thee?
W. Brockmeier r