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CONSIDERING THE
CROSS
The Easter season is the time of
year when thousands of pilgrims from
all over the world converge upon
Jerusalem. Many of these pilgrims
try in some way to commemorate and
even reenact the awesome event of
the crucifixion of Christ which
happened almost two thousand years
ago. Large groups are often seen
carrying crosses and walking
sorrowfully along the Via
Dolorosa in Jerusalem’s Old
City. This may be a small picture of
the awful crucifixion but let us
endeavor to get the real picture of
this event fixed in our minds.
The station of Calvary inside
the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Crucifixion
was a cruel punishment that was
practiced by the Phoenicians,
Carthaginians and Egyptians. It
involved cruel lashings with whips
laced with bone and bits of metal.
After this the condemned person was
often made to carry the cross beam
to the place of crucifixion. The
person was then stripped and nailed
to the cross. A placard was often
displayed stating the person’s
crimes. Sometimes large groups of
political criminals were crucified
together. On one instance Alexander
Jannaeus crucified 800 prisoners
together while their families
watched.
In 1968 at Givat
ha-Mitvar, a northern suburb of
Jerusalem, the remains of a
crucified man were found. The rusty
nail was still affixed in his heels.
Interestingly, the man’s legs had
been folded up under him with the
nail piercing both heels at once.
Such a position might well have
increased the helplessness and
suffering of the condemned.
Over the
years many physicians have commented
on how one might suffer and die on a
cross. Certainly such a death was
one of utmost agony and shame.
Physicians tell us that in
crucifixion the blood would sink to
the lower extremities and the blood
pressure would drop drastically. The
pulse rate would then rise as the
heart was deprived of blood,
resulting in fainting spells. We are
told that it could take from two to
three days for a condemned person to
die. Sometimes the legs were broken
to hasten the process and also a
stupefying potion to ease the pain
could be offered (Mk. 15:23). Can we
even imagine that to such a death
the co-equal of God descended (Phil.
2:5-8)? This horrible cross became
the central theme of Christianity.
Let us try to grasp it and
understand four things the cross
accomplishes.
A remaining portion of the
Hill of the Skull, inside The Church
of the Holy Sepulcher
THE CROSS PUTS AN END TO MAN'S
EFFORTS TO REACH GOD
Religion
all over the world is a sad story of
man’s attempts to reach God. The
world was literally sprinkled with
altars of various kinds. Indeed, the
ancient land of the Canaanites which
makes up Israel today had many pagan
altars. At different times and
places even human beings were
offered upon such altars, in a vain
attempt to placate God.
However, we
learn in the Bible that the true God
is unapproachable. He is hidden in
his holiness and between God and
humankind there remains a great
chasm affixed. Paul asks in Romans
10:6 "Who shall ascend into
heaven? (that is to bring Christ
down from above)." The
truth is that we mortals cannot
reach God. We cannot keep his law or
follow his direction. The scripture
testifies about us saying: "For
all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God" (Rom.
3:23).
In our
sinfulness we cannot even seek after
the true God. In fact, the Bible
assures us that God becomes the
seeker after us. The first question
God asked of sinful man in the
Garden was this: "Where are
you?" (Gen. 3:9). How far
will God go to find man? The cross
tells us that God will go to the
uttermost. He will come to earth and
die in shame to seek fallen man. In
Philippians 2:8 we read of Jesus: "And
being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became
obedient to death-- even death on a
cross!"
God has
gone the whole journey to reach
fallen and sinful man. He has
bridged the gap through the cross.
So before the cross there is nothing
we can do but bow down and surrender
our hearts and lives to him, as we
accept his full and free forgiveness
and salvation.
THE CROSS PUTS AN END TO MAN'S
SELFISH PRIDE
Some
theologians have labeled
"selfish pride" as the
root of all sin. Indeed this may
well be the case. We see in
scripture that sinful man following
Satan’s example has loved to exalt
himself. Man’s attitude is
expressed very well in Frank Sinatra’s
old song, My Way.
He says:
And
now, the end is near; And so I face
the final curtain.
My friend,
I’ll say it clear, I’ll state my
case, of which I’m certain.
I’ve
lived a life that’s full. I’ve
traveled each and ev’ry highway;
And more,
much more than this, I did it my
way.
We see
from the two trees in the Garden of
Eden that man in his natural state
greatly favors the Tree of Knowledge
more than the Tree of Life. He does
not want to depend on God or do
things God’s way. He spurns God’s
true knowledge as revealed in the
Gospel. For this reason man fears
the cross. It is a scandalous idea
to him.
But the
very genius of the cross is that it
kills this pride. The cross of Jesus
alone pierces man’s prideful head.
The idea that the God of the
universe has suffered the ultimate
humiliation is too much for man’s
pride. We read in Isaiah 53:3-5 of
Jesus:
He was
despised and rejected by men, a man
of sorrows, and familiar with
suffering.
Like
one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him
not.
Surely
he took up our infirmities and
carried our sorrows, yet we
considered him stricken
by
God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our
transgressions, he was
crushed
for our iniquities; the punishment
that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his
wounds
we are healed.
Preachers have long pointed out that
Jesus was crucified on the Hill of
the Skull (Mk. 15:22). They have
stated how this indicates that the
cross alone is able to penetrate
into the skull of humankind and
bring an awakening to God’s
redemption and salvation.
Thus our
preaching must always be simple.
What can we add to what God has
done? Paul preached a simple Gospel "not
with words of human wisdom, lest the
cross of Christ be emptied of its
power" (1 Cor.1:17). What a
simple plan that God has! On one
occasion our Lord said "But
I, when I am lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men to
myself" (Jn. 12:32). It is
not knowledge, logic or fancy
preaching that draws people but it
is the cross of Jesus.
Therefore
we should never glory in ourselves,
in man or in man’s knowledge. In
Galatians 6:14 Paul says: "May
I never boast except in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, through which
the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world." The
simple invitation of Jesus to a full
salvation still stands after all
these centuries. Jesus says in Luke
9:23: "If anyone would come
after me, he must deny himself and
take up his cross daily and follow
me."
THE CROSS PROVIDES A PERMANENT
SOLUTION TO THE SIN PROBLEM
The
Jewish faith was a faith of
sacrifice for sin. Our fathers were
commanded in the law to offer
sacrifices as they awaited the
permanent solution for sin. Because
of this, rivers of blood must have
flowed from the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem as millions of animals
were offered over the centuries. We
must remember though that the
sacrificial system was only a sort
of "virtual reality" as
humankind awaited the perfect
sacrifice. We see this in Hebrews
10:4, where the scripture says: "it
is impossible for the blood of bulls
and goats to take away sins."
The sin
problem was a problem so complex
that only God could solve it. It is
amazing that God actually solved it
before sin came into being. Before
the world was formed we read that
the true Lamb was slain (Rev.
13:8). In Psalm 40:6-8 we are
introduced to a talking Lamb who
says:
Sacrifice and offering you did not
desire, but my ears you have
pierced; burnt offerings
and
sin offerings you did not require.
Then I said, "Here I am, I have
come-- it is written
about
me in the scroll. I desire to do
your will, O my God; your law is
within my heart."
The
scripture is emphatic that through
this heavenly Lamb, the crucified
Son of God, he has perfected us
forever (Heb. 10:14). We no longer
have to come to God with doubts,
fears and forebodings. Hebrews 10:22
tells us that we can now draw near
to God with full assurance.
We might
ask exactly what the cross has done
about our sin. It has done several
things. First of all our "old
man" was crucified with Christ
and nailed to the cross as we see in
Romans 6:6: "For we know
that our old self was crucified with
him so that the body of sin might be
done away with, that we should no
longer be slaves to sin."
In the past preachers have been
known to say "the blood deals
with what we have done but the cross
deals with what we are." Paul
puts it simply in Galatians 2:20: "I
have been crucified with Christ and
I no longer live, but Christ lives
in me. The life I live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for
me." It is an almost
incomprehensible truth that we
Christians died with Christ almost
two thousand years ago.
There is a
second way that the cross deals with
our sin. The judgments against us
were nailed to the cross as we see
in Colossians 2:14: "having
canceled the written code, with its
regulations, that was against us and
that stood opposed to us; he took it
away, nailing it to the cross."
There
is a third way that the cross deals
with our sin. Through the cross we
are reconciled to God and peace was
made between us and God. In
Colossians 1:20, Paul says that
through Christ God has been able: "to
reconcile to himself all things,
whether things on earth or things in
heaven, by making peace through his
blood, shed on the cross."
THE CROSS PUTS AN END TO THE
QUESTION OF WHETHER OR NOT GOD LOVES
US
Over the
ages whenever the Gospel is preached
there is one verse that stands out.
It is found in John 3:16 and is
almost a simple summary of all that
we have been saying. It reads: "For
God so loved the world that he gave
his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but
have eternal life."
Through
Jesus, God has come the whole
distance to find us and to save us.
He has bridged the sin chasm with
the cross of Christ. Because of this
cross there can never be a doubt
that God loves us and that he has
given his only precious Son for our
salvation.
-Jim Gerrish
This article is a condensed and
updated sermon preached at Christ
Church, in Jerusalem’s Old City,
March, 1997.
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