In spite of the awful fact of Calvarys dreadful scene I would be remiss if I failed to tell you that the cross of Christ was not a cross of wood. The cross on Golgothas hill was undoubtedly a wooden cross, but the cross of Christ that the apostles preached, and in which they gloried, and by which the world is reconciled to God, and which does its powerful work within us, is something more than a wooden beam. When in wisdom and holy expectation our Lord exhorted His disciples, saying, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up HIS CROSS, and follow me, He was not making reference to a cross of wood, but to a cross that would bring death to ones own identity, will, and ways, and identify his life henceforth with the life of Christ. The DEATH OF THE CROSS is in some mysterious and divine way the gateway to the LIFE OF THE CROSS. The wooden Roman cross upon which Jesus was crucified was not actually HIS CROSS, for the cross of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe, all the handwriting of ordinances of the law were nailed to His cross, He made peace and reconciled all things in heaven and in earth unto Himself by the blood of His cross, and by that cross we are crucified to the world and the world is crucified to us. No literal parchment was nailed to the cross of Calvary, there is no magical saving power emanating from the wood of that cross, the whole world is not today hanging somewhere upon that cross, being crucified unto us. Such literal thoughts are absurdities. The cross of Calvary does not even exist today, having decayed back into the dust long centuries ago. It is my deep conviction, and I say it with all reverence and respect to my blessed Lord and Saviour, but the truth is that Jesus in the natural suffered no more on the cross than thousands of others who were nailed to a tree, or thousands of others who died on the rack during the Roman inquisition, or thousands of others who were burned at the stake, fed to the lions, or made blazing human torches at the Circus in Rome. The physical suffering was no greater. The cross of Christ refers to a greater spiritual cross and a greater spiritual death. The cross of Christ had its beginning that day in heaven, when the Word of God, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Fierce as was His suffering at Calvary, that fearful hour of agony and blood was but the final act of a life of the cross as step by step He descended from the majesty and glory of equality with God to the fearsome moment when in anguish He cried, My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Truly, as the scripture testifies, He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). The cross did not begin at Calvary! Though I am sure it is impossible to plumb the shining depths and the inexhaustible riches of the meaning of the cross, I would like to endeavor to set before you the deeper meaning of the cross of Christ. We will never understand the mystery of the cross until by the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God our eyes perceive the eternal cross in the heart of God Himself. The only true and eternal life in the universe is the life of God. He alone is self-existent. He alone is reality. He alone is eternal substance. If we are to fully know and partake of that life, we must die to all that is contrary to that life. Everything that exists in the universe has its opposite – and as surely as God exists there is the opposite for all that He is. God is love – and the opposite of love is hate. God is light – and the opposite of light is darkness. God is truth – and the opposite of the truth is the lie. God is life – and the opposite of life is death. Each positive has its negative, and all the laws of the universe reveal this principle of opposites. Jesus enunciated the fundamental principle of life when He said that except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone; but if it die it brings forth the increase of life. Every negative must be brought to death. Everything in the universe must die to all that is contrary to divine life and nature, being born again of the spirit. This is the meaning of, Behold, I make all things new (Rev. 21:5). This has been the Fathers plan for man – man in the image and glory of the incorruptible God..........J EBY PRESTON
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 15:48:10 +0000
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