The Mystery of the Cross
The mystery of the cross is the least heard message in our time. This message is the crux of Christian faith and the Church foundation. Infact, there’s no Christianity without the Cross. Most Churches place the Cross conspicuously; some large, others small. Some Church folks hang it in their houses, in offices, in cars and in key holders; while most women wear it as necklets, bangles, and rings. Even though it appears commonly displayed but has uncommon Spiritual significance. Some denominations make sign of the Cross before and after prayers; at meals and even when they perceive danger. The Cross has also become a common costume of the Clergies while others wear it for various factional motives. Surprisingly some want the crown without the Cross, while it simply provokes others. Apostle Paul described these people as “enemies of the Cross of Christ,” whose end is destruction, their bellies are their gods, they glory in their shame, and their minds are devoted to earthly things [Phil3:18-19].
Literally the Cross is an upright object with a bar across it near the top to which the ancient Romans fastened convicted person to die. It is on similar object that Jesus Christ, the carpenter from Nazareth was crucified in between two thieves according to the scriptures. The Scripture reveals that even before creation of the universe, God had a begotten Son. He was with God and the whole creation was made through Him and for His pleasure. Yet God’s desire was to have many sons [children]. He expressed this desire from the beginning when He created Adam and out of him made Eve to satisfy longing for companionship. Thereafter God ordered them to dominate, subdue, multiply and govern the whole creation. Paul restated this fact in his opening letter to the Ephesians: ‘That God predestined us unto sonship to be adopted as his own children through Christ Jesus in according to the purpose of His will for good pleasure and love.’
In his book, The basic Revelation in the Holy Scriptures, Witness Lee opined that many Christians might think God’s predestination is unto Salvation. However according to the scriptures, “in eternity past, the first thought in God’s heart was neither Salvation nor Heaven [the goal of God’s predestination] but sonship. God for-knew that mankind would fail so He had put in place a plan for salvation; so salvation was purposed for sonship. The only begotten Son of God was addressed as the first born, which suggest that other sons/children shall be born. Jesus therefore has millions of trillions of brothers and sisters. These do not connote children adopted by a father, but rather sons born directly of the begotten Father. In Ephesians 3:11, Apostle Paul assured that God executed His eternal plan and was able to do what He had planned because of all that Christ Jesus had done. He further explained that Christ sacrificed His life’s blood to set mankind free from our sins and death. Before then Jesus predicting His death, reinforced God’s plan for Children, ‘I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds’ [John12:24]. Jesus death and resurrection produced many seeds of the kingdom. Many are Christians and more shall be because of what Jesus did on the cross.
God had also revealed His plan even in the mouth of children. Our Daily Bread article titled ‘the upside of dying’ gave this exposition: A Sunday School teacher asked some 5 years old a series of questions to help them realized that believing in Jesus is the only way to get to heaven. He asked, ‘If I sell everything I have and give the money to the Church, would that get me to heaven? The children answered ‘no’. He posed the second question, How about if I keep everything clean in and around the church? Another unison answer of ‘no’ greeted him. The third question followed, ‘if I love my family and be kind to animals, give candy to every child I met, will that get me to heaven? The children answered ‘hell no’ Then he asked, what will get me into heaven? A lad shouted, you have to die. The lad was right. The Bible tells us that we all shall leave our flesh and blood bodies [1Cor.15: 50-52].
When mankind was estranged from God by disobedience, God then executed His redemption plan to raise us from our fall and restore us back to Himself. In the plan Christ became the lamb that was stained to deliver us from death and gave us eternal life. Christ came in the flesh through a virgin birth, lived with mankind on earth and showed the WAY. He suffered, died on the Cross, was buried and rose from death. By one death and resurrection, the world was saved. Christ death on the Cross replaced the sacrifices of the old covenant not through elimination but by fulfilling them. By His death, Christ gave himself as a sacrifice to God [1Cor. 5:7; Eph.5: 2; Heb.9: 26]. He took the pains of fallen man upon himself and by so doing, triumphed over the diseases of soul and body; by His Spirit which death could not kill, made a public spectacle of the devil and overcame death and sin.
John Damascene [C. 675-749] writing on, ‘What happened on the Cross’ said, “ by nothing-else except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ has death been brought low.” Also Cecil France Alexander [1818-95], a hymn writer put it this way: ‘there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin……., He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in….’Jesus death of shame on the cross, destroyed the power of the inherited sin of our first parent, plundered hell and bestowed resurrection. The cross opened the gate of heaven, gave us power to overcome death and made us again children and heirs of God. Through the cross of Christ, the former blessedness was restored and power to despise death and worldliness.
By this singler event, all things were put right: the sin power broken and a seal of redemption put on us; therefore henceforth mankind had eternal hope, the first Adam became a living being while the last Adam [Jesus Christ] a life-giving Spirit restoring the dead to life. God made us conquerors through Jesus Christ and mankind recovered our original status as sons of God by adoption; the proclamation by the prophets about the mystery of the Passover [Christ] confirmed. “We can find no greater proof of God’s love for us than the willing sacrifice of Christ on the cross” In His last words, ‘it’s finished’ Jesus expressed victory rather than defeat; implied that the strife was over and the battle won. Indeed great sacrifice, great victory; beyond the knowledge and imagination of Satan. With great humility Jesus accomplished the desires and plan of God by offering Himself unblemished to God. The Cross of Christ became the crux of Christianity, the safeguard of our faith, the assurance of our hope and the throne of love.
Little wonder Apostle Paul says, “but far be it for me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”[Gal 6:16]. He also said, ‘for him to live is Christ, and to die is gain’[Phil 1:21]. When Jesus bowed his head and gave up his Spirit, the great thunder struck the universe and the clouds became dark and great rare of sunshine emerged. The temple veil rent and the dead rose to bear witness of who raised them and also as a testimony of the final resurrection of the dead. Abbot Rupert of Deutz who has written as far back as the 12th century said “The cross of Christ is the door to heaven, the key to paradise, the downfall of the devil, the uplifting of mankind, the consolation of our imprisonment and the price for our freedom. It also signifies the sign of elasticity of God’s mercy and proof of forgiveness”.
Raniero Contalamessa’s contributing on what God has reigned from a tree [the cross] submitted that Jesus bare our pride in his body on the cross. The cross is the tomb that absorbs all human pride. He bore our faults in his body on the cross (1Peter 2:24). The scripture says, ‘If one man has died for all, then all have died [2Cor.5:14]. Also by one man’s obedience many will be saved [Rom5:19]. St Augustine said “we must nail all feelings of pride to the cross (Christian Doctrine). Since Christ destroyed the hostility on the cross, we are invited to place all resentment at the foot of the cross; be reconciled to God and one another, embracing each other for the sake of Christ. We should also throw our load of pride, vanity, presumption, and haughtiness into the great furnace of Christ passion; humbly look at him as the author and finisher of our faith. The cross of Christ is the source of all blessings, the cause of all grace. Not with standing the cross is offensive to other religion, and to many blinds in their minds and subject to condemnation. To regenerated, born again Christians, the cross is our liberty, freedom and consolation. That is why we believe and preach Christ crucified. However before we can begin seeing the cross as something done for us we have to see it as something done by us. Christ victory is believer’s victory but Satan’s loss.
Evangelist Ogbonnaya can be reached at: weefreeministries@yahoo.com or P. O. Box 720035, Houston, Texas, 77272.