“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18
Dear Ones:
It is a strange thing that an instrument used to put one to death is to be a means to life. How can this be true, especially when we consider the ways of God in dealing with sinful man? How is it that death is a gateway to life, the cross being a symbol, and spiritual reality, which demonstrates this? To answer such a question, we need to go back to the beginning of creation, and look at God. Then we need to look at the history of man to discover something of why man should “die,” so that he can truly live.
In Genesis, chapter 1, we discover that God was BEFORE creation. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (1:1) Throughout the account of creation, we find again and again the testimony of God concerning His creation: “…and God saw that it was good.” After the creation of man, however, He added something else: “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was VERY good.” (1:31) There is in the progressive assessment of His creation, the reflection of His own nature…His goodness. That goodness is absolute, with no flaw, only the manifestation of His giving and creative heart, with a perfect attitude to approve and bless His creation. The entirety of creation was designed to reveal the nature of God in His goodness, power, wisdom, and glory. The creation of man, sinless and perfect, was the crown of that creation, particularly because he was created in the image of God. Through that image of God would be revealed the very nature, and consequent goodness of God.
In chapter 3 of Genesis, there appears in the Garden of Eden a discordant contradiction to all that is of God’s goodness. It is the antithesis of all that is holy and good. It is in diametric opposition in nature, disposition, and expression, to everything that is of God. It is the person of Satan. It must be understood at this point that though Satan is permitted to be in the Garden of Eden, God’s attitude toward all that he is, is expressed by the word wrath. There is a settled opposition to all that is of Satan. Later in the New Testament, we find Jesus confronting Satan by expressing that attitude: “Get thee behind me Satan.” Elsewhere, we see where He rebukes Satan’s demons, and the effects of their works. Why is this so very important to understand? It is because the result of Satan’s temptation of Eve, and the consequent fall of man by Adam’s sin, has revealed that which God cannot accept. As “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,” so all the effects and manifestations of sin, and the sinner, cannot be accepted before a good, holy, and perfect God. What it the remedy then? It is a cross, and the power of the resurrection by the Spirit.
Jesus would tell His disciples that in order to follow Him, they would need to deny themselves, and take up their cross “daily.” Paul would say that he lived in the reality of being “crucified with Christ.” He would go on to speak of the effects of the cross, and its power by declaring: “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ with God.” In the eyes of God, when Christ died, He took not only the sins of all men with Him to the grave, but the sinner himself, and every manifestation of him. What he calls “the old man,” everything that pertained to a life outside of Christ, not derived from Christ by faith, had of necessity, to die. We were “…baptized into His death,” “…buried with Him by this baptism.” (Romans 6:3,4)
The power of the cross resides in the fact that God, in Christ, did take the whole of mankind with Him to the cross, in order that all might be free from sin and death.
Dear Father, Open our eyes to understand this liberating cross, believing in the power of God to save. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad