In the Shadow of a Cross: Beginning and End

The "Why?" Behind the "What?"

HOW IT ALL BEGAN…

This journey back to the cross began when the leadership of the church I was attending decided to skip Good Friday. What? Seriously? Cut out the one day on the Christian calendar that makes sense of all the others?

No explanation was given. We were simply told to do something “good” on the day. Nothing wrong with “good” — hopefully it is something we do every day rather than something we save up for a special occasion. But the question sprang to mind: Why ignore Calvary? Are we so afraid of what a journey to the cross says about us that we look for a way to erase it from our calendars in a vain effort to erase it from our hearts and minds? Or is it simply no longer “politically correct” to use the “S” word, which is the reason why there needed to be a sinless sacrifice on that cross in the first place? Or is it the suffering that turns us off? Escaping suffering seems to be the heart cry of the Western world just as much as it is a daily experience for many people in so many places of the world. Or is all this simply a product of our “selfie” society. I’ve never heard of a church cancelling the celebration of Mothers’ Day or Fathers’ Day. Many congregations have, at the very least, a moment of silence to commemorate those of their number who died in the name of freedom during the world wars. But what about the One who fought and won, for our eternal liberty and at the cost of His own life, the greatest battle of all?

Paul’s prayer was that his only boast be in the cross (Galatians 6:14) even though it was a shameful death reserved for the worst of criminals. Should not we also boast in it, shameful though it is, since our souls depend upon it?

Even the Resurrection, glorious as it was, would not have happened without Calvary. His resurrection is proof of His power. The death is proof of His love. Both are essential.

So began the journey, as much my version of a protest as anything else. But as I journeyed I moved beyond my need to defend the keeping of the day to appreciating more than ever the meaning of the cross.

Like Paul, I can boast in nothing else except “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2, KJV) because everything, without exception, is mine only because of what He did at Calvary.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Beginning and End

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“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” — Hebrews 12:2

It’s so simple—just look. Look at Jesus. He is the scarlet thread that runs through the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. He holds together every truth that we, as His followers, believe. He anchors the promises of God. In Him is wrapped up the justice of God and in Him we discover the reality of God’s mercy.

Jesus appears in Genesis 3:15 in a promise made by God to our fallen forefathers, Adam and Eve. God told them that Satan would attempt to thwart the plan that would rescue them from their own folly. But He also assured them that One descended from their own line, God’s own Son with “skin,” would not only thwart Satan’s plans but destroy them forever.

Throughout the Old Testament the journey of Jesus to the cross is foretold, though nowhere more prominently than in Isaiah 52 and 53 where the suffering Saviour is described in brutal detail: “…pierced for our transgressions…crushed for our iniquities…a lamb to the slaughter…” (Isaiah 53:5, 7).

The New Testament shouts His Name and His purpose: “…he [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins…For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:13, 19).

God’s revelation to us in Scripture ends with the promise given about a time that is coming when Jesus will return: “Look, he is coming in the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him” (Revelation 1:7).

He is the beginning and end (Revelation 22:13) of everything we are, and everything we hope for as believers. So we must look to Him.

The cross was a shameful thing—the worst possible death, reserved for the worst possible criminals. It offered the most extreme suffering, but more to the point, it was the pinnacle of public humiliation. Even today, in a society where exposing flesh is an art form, it still is just a bit beyond the most jaded unbeliever to present the Lord as he would have been as He hung there. The Lord of life, the Creator of the universe, God Almighty, was left totally exposed before a mocking crowd.

But the writer to the Hebrews insists that Jesus rejected the thought of allowing even such humiliation to deter Him. He looked beyond the worst that man could do to Him toward the best that was awaiting Him—the joy of completing the mission only He could complete and then being reunited with His Father in glory.

No matter at what point we look at Jesus, whether it be at the beginning of history or at its end, we cannot help but see the shadow of a cross.

So it is there, to Him, we must look.

In the Shadow of a Cross

The "Why?" Behind the "What?"

Monday, September 4, 2017

Beginning and End

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