The Cross

Let us consider the message of the Cross as (1) a stumbling-block and foolishness; (2) as the power of God and the wisdom of God; and (3) as the cause of persecution.

To the Jews the word of the Cross is a stumbling-block. They were accustomed to sacrifices for sin, and to sweet savour offerings; but a Deliverer upon a Cross had not been within their view.

This Person had come under the curse of the law. Their law said:

"If a man hath committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree; his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt surely bury him the same day; for he that is hanged is accursed of God; thou shalt not defile thy land which the DORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance" (Deuteronomy 21.22, 28).

You will remember that the Jews were careful to have the bodies of those who had been crucified taken away that same day. Besides, the sabbath, a high day, was approaching.

That message of the Cross is still a stumbling-block to the Jews. They regard the Lord Jesus worthy of death because He said He was the Son of God. We are glad, however, that many among the Jews have learned that it was man's guilt that brought Christ under that curse. They had come to see and to say, what the nation of Israel will see and say in a coming day, namely,

"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows ... He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53.4, 5).

On the other hand the Gentiles regard the message of the Cross as foolishness. This we are told in 1 Corinthians 1.28. The Greeks seek after wisdom (verse 22). Among them arose many great and wise men, philosophers, lovers of wisdom; but the world through its wisdom knew not God (verse 21). To hear men set forth salvation for mankind through One who had been crucified was folly in their eyes. To earthly reasoning there could be no benefit to man through one dying a criminal's death. Mr. Worldly-Wise-Man fails to see that the Cross declares man's utter depravity, and at the same time God's immeasurable love.

God has made foolish the wisdom of the world:

"For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the prudence of the prudent will I reject."

To accept the crucified Christ as Saviour involves a real humbling for the religious Jew, and also for the wisdom-loving Greek. Man is guilty of the murder of God's Son. This the Lord expresses in the parable of the husbandmen, who, when they saw the son, said among themselves, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance. And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him" (Matthew 21.38, 89).

When the Lord was before Pilate they demanded that He die by crucifixion, and Pilate acceded to their clamour; but when they heard Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost, and their awful guilt was brought home to their hearts, they cried, "What shall we do?', They were told to repent, as they had denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted unto them, and killed the Prince of life. Repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ were necessary. And now God "commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent."

THE POWER OF GOD AND THE WISDOM OF GOD.

The structure of the earth and the amplitude of the seas, with their myriad upon myriad forms of life, the planets of the solar system with their axial and orbital rotations, rolling in what appears to be unlimited space, yet bound by laws fixed by the word of the Lord's power; still further-flung systems obeying His voice in dazzling distances-all conspire to tell that,

"The Hand that made us is Divine."

Thus creation shows the power and the wisdom of our God.

But there is a still greater display of the power and the wisdom of God. It is in the Christ.

To them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, the preaching of the Cross is the power of God and the wisdom of God; and it has pleased God through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe.

The devil had the power of death, but as the result of the death upon the Cross, on the occasion of His appearing to John in Patmos in resurrection power and glory, the Lord could say, "Fear not; I am the First and the Last, and the Living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades" (Revelation 1.17, 18, R.V.M.).

The death of Christ has brought to naught him that had the power of death, and Christ has delivered "all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2.15). It has enabled God to be just, and yet the Justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.

What a wonderful power then is the Gospel message, the message of the Cross! We can see its effects in the changed lives of drunkards and others who are rescued from the depths of sin; but how much awaits still to be seen! Think of sinners snatched from the jaws of hell and brought through the gates of heaven by means of the atoning blood of Him who bled on Calvary's Cross! We can surely appreciate the words of R. Murray McCheyne :"When I stand with Christ in glory,

Looking o'er life's finished story:

Then, Lord, shall I fully know,

Not till then, how much I owe."

The eternal day will find the redeemed still seeking to explore the wisdom of God which conceived such a wondrous plan of salvation. Even now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places is being made known through the Church the manifold wisdom of God. And we, despite all our folly by nature, can rejoice that Christ Jesus has been made unto us wisdom from God. "0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past tracing out!"

CAUSE OF PERSECUTION.

Paul says, "If I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? then hath the stumbling-block of the Cross been done away" (Galatians 5.11). But Paul did not preach circumcision. It belonged to a past dispensation. He preached Christ and Him crucified; and did so, not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming the mystery of God. He determined to know nothing among the Corinthians save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

This preaching of the Cross of Christ secured for him the most intense hatred of his countrymen, and their fiercest persecution. Soon after his conversion, both in Damascus and in Jerusalem, they sought to kill him (Acts 9.23, 29). Gentiles also joined with Jews to stone the apostle and his fellow-workers, as is recorded in Acts 14.

Persecution will still be the portion of all who faithfully proclaim the Cross of Christ. In our lands where good laws prevail lawless persecution is retarded, but hatred of God on the part of the enemy is still the same, and will find expression in numerous ways. The Lord Himself promises the disciple this: "A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for My name's sake, because they know not Him that sent Me" (John 15.20, 21).

unknown | Mar 1953
For Young Believers