THE MYSTERY OF THE CROSS

1Corinthians 1:18
"For the word/message of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God". 

• What is the cross? 

• What is the message in the cross? Rather what is in the cross? Or, what is the message hidden in the cross? In what language is the cross communicating to us? 

• Why the cross and not something else?

How these questions are answered may drive us in a given way and in a certain direction. Yet how well can they be answered? Or how satisfactorily to everyone could they be met? That the answering could differ from one person to another, it pretty much suggests that the message in the cross is a mystery. For well as a secret is but to a few selected people, a mystery on the other hand is but to a person. And a mystery is but by revelation.

What is the cross?

By definition the cross is an upright post with a transverse bar, as used in antiquity for crucifixion.

But in scriptural and spiritual terms, there is a message in the cross that can't be fully and equally or squarely understood by everyone. The message is rather to a person. Everyone does get the message pretty differently. Thus some people argue that it never was. While other people strongly believe it ever was and is.  All these are but for given reasons.

It is upon this that the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that only when you are saved will you fully understand what the cross is and what it is for (1Corinthians 1:18). Additionally, it pretty much seems to suggest that it is only if a person has given up on their human way of understanding that he can ingrain the message of the cross. Thus scripture says;

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And the discernment of the discerning will I bring to nought". (1Corinthians 1:19).

For heavenly wisdom is not the human wisdom. God's ways are not to be perceived in the human sense. For God's ways are pretty different. The wisdom of God is that we are saved and that we obey Him. Yet it isn't so of many of us.

So then, to the unsaved, it is foolish to talk of any salvation in the brutalizing cross. It is upon this that the Jews denied and rejected Jesus. For He (Jesus) appeared too ordinary (according to their human assessment) to do or to be anything (Son of God and Savior) (Matthew 13:55), (Mark 6:3), (John 6:42, 10:22-42).

Yet none of the "wise" of this world has a solution to the immense human flaws. For what can the "wise" do? And for that, scripture says:

20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe. 22 Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumbling block, and unto Gentiles foolishness; 24 but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1Corinthians 1:20-25).

But despite that we all perceive or ingrain it quite differently, the content and the intent of the inventor remains unchanged. The intent is but to deal with sin. Rather to seal off sin and its consequential effects.

To date, many people; (Christians inclusive) hardly get the message of the cross. Many of us (Christians) hardly get it what God intended in the cross. And for that, we tend to take it lightly. For the human brain which is but extensively limited can't figure this out. Yet the cross is indispensable for the remission of sin. Jesus tried to avoid it (Matthew 26:39), (Luke 22:42). It is not simply a necklace or an earring piece.

Brief history of the cross

The use of the cross was first attested among the Persians. It was later employed by the Greeks. Much later, it was adapted by the Romans as punishment for slaves, and non-citizens and occasionally for Roman citizens who were guilty of treason.

The use of the cross was intended for painful, gruesome and shameful public death. While applying it, they would use all means best suited for that goal. It was intended as much for slow painful death.

The slow painful death symbolizes just how sin kills slowly but painfully. But through His crucifixion on the cross, Jesus has dealt with the consequential sin and provided a way that through Him, we are given another chance to be free from the power of sin (Romans 6:23).

Scripture and the cross

Going by scripture, the cross was applied on people who had committed sin worthy of death such as murder or blasphemy. Thus to have been put to death by hanging on the cross was a direct signal of God's curse against one for having committed a grave sin (Deuteronomy 21:22-23), (Galatians 3:13).

The message thus is that; that Jesus died on the cross for this particular purpose, He did so for an offense worth death or, one that could only be met with death. And a grave sin is now forgivable through Jesus' act on the cross.

NB The cross was used to imply that something is crossed or counseled out. Rather that something is no more. 
When a teacher is marking students' or pupil's books, he uses the mark of a cross if the answer is wrong. This is to mean it does not apply. That Jesus died on the cross for the remission of sin, it means sin is counseled out and it is no more applicable.

So it is that had it not been for Jesus' death on the cross for the same, we had been counted walking dead. Everyone who is yet to surrender to Jesus Christ, is walking dead. The only remaining step is the execution.

Jesus admitted to be executed on the cross in our place. Our curse rather was placed on Jesus who also passed it on to the cross. So we are made the righteousness of God by way of Jesus' death on the cross (2Corinthians 5:20-23). Rather the righteousness of Jesus has to be imputed on us so we are accepted of God the Father.

Why the cross?
 

• Why Jesus was killed on the cross

• Why did they not use another method? 

The answers will guide us to understand why it was particularly the cross. The cross has very scriptural and historical significance. For other forms of execution can simply be assessed in terms of human expression of anger, say by beheading as was done to some people in scripture (Matthew 14:10), (2Samuel 4:5-7), (Acts 12:2). Yet the other forms of execution were never to deal with sin. 

Additionally, all these other methods of execution have no such scriptural and historical connection like the cross is. The cross is well grounded in scripture and history  to have been the one.

For hanging by the rope is not traceable in scripture. As that, well as there are other ways of execution, they (the other ways) have no scriptural and historical recommendation to certify the act of one having to die because of sin. So, Jesus died on the cross because that is the way sinners were effectively dealt with. In this, both in scripture and historically, the cross applies pretty well.

The case of Jephthah and his daughter

Jephthah vowed to sacrifice anything that he would first meet with back home if he had won the war (Judges 10:6-12:7). But this can't be appropriate to explain or justify the penalty for the remission of sin. It would simply be to miss the point.  For Jephthah's daughter was given as a burnt offering. 

Additionally, Jephthah's was a personal vow, it wasn't payment for sin. It is not a way recommended in scripture for payment for sin. For both in scripture and historically, sin is dealt with by crucifixion. Jephthah was simply fulfilling his vows. Of this as well, the cross stands out.

 The process of the cross

The cross stands out much more so that in addition to its historical and scriptural significance, it carries immense spiritual significance and implication. For literally, it was the Roman soldiers who nailed Jesus on the cross. But these were simply objects to effect the project. For they did not do so because they were the soldiers, or because they were to, but that it was a process for the remission of sin.  For the Roman soldiers could be exonerated (if they submit to Jesus).

So then, if not the Roman soldiers, who nailed Jesus on the cross?

What nailed Jesus on the cross was pretty much sin. And if it is the sin which nailed Jesus on the cross, where is the sin now? The sin is no more because when Jesus was nailed on the cross, He left the sin nailed on the cross. 

Rather that Jesus carried the sin of the world, the power of the sin is nailed on the cross and it is no more. We are now only counted sinners if we do not submit to Jesus. For we are only justified by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. If not this, you are only walking dead.

Jesus paid for the entire penalty by way of crucifixion on the cross. So then, a person's actions can never save him. A person is only saved by submission to Jesus.

Now Jesus is free of any sin. Jesus is never a sinner. But He stood in our place and carried our sin. He paid for our sin by death (Romans 6:23). Yet off the cross, Jesus is now free of any sin.

If Jesus is free of any sin, not His (if at all) and not ours, we can only be justified by Him (for Jesus is the powerful one). The cross is indispensable for the remission of sin. For it is at the cross that sin was judged and eternally condemned (Romans 8:1-4).

Jesus minus the cross makes it impossible for sin to be forgiven. The process of the cross was a vital requirement, yet it was more vital who died on it.

The act on the cross fulfills Jesus' mission. This is how sin is gets powerless and made possible to be forgiven. For when we approach the cross, we do so already condemned, but Jesus made it possible that rather to be condemned, the cross produces forgiveness and we are made free of sin.  The cross nullifies the power of sin. For if not the cross, how else?

What more lessons do we draw from Jesus' death on the cross? The following lessons could be drawn from the cross. At the cross;

• God's love is revealed

• God's mercy is revealed

• Point of exchange

• At the cross, salvation is made real

God's love is revealed

Jesus has transformed the cross to be used as a symbol of God's love for mankind. For the cross was but by law. And God 's law was but out of love. Thus for Jesus to say; all the law is but in two; Love the Lord your God with all thine heart, soul, strength, and mind. The second one is like unto the first; love thine neighbor as you love thine self (Matthew 22:37), (Luke 10:27).

Yet God loves us not by law. God loves us because He is Father. So, the cross is for us and not for Him. And upon this, we must not love by law, for love is the way of God. That the law was but out of love does not mean we should love by law. It is rather because God loved us, He put laws to help us not get lost in sin. In this then, the law was out of love, but it is not in it that we can find God's love. For God loved us when He created us. There was no law given then.

When God created man, He was pleased with what He created (Genesis 1:31). But man disobeyed God and the sinful nature found its way in man. The calamitous separating veil is sin (2Corinthians 3:14-16). Once man is free of sin, what is it then?

Despite that man sinned, God out of His abundance of love, He did not give up on man. He (God), made a grand plan. The grand plan is that He sent His Son Jesus Christ (who also is the God man) to die on the cross for the remission of sin. For God wanted a way to stop the perpetuation of sin. Rather sin and all its consequences had to be dealt with absolutely.

Crucifixion before the Christ was intended to eliminate and destroy the sinner, but the sin remained. And this way was not appropriate. There was supposed to be a way to stop the sin but save the sinner. Yet all human are spiritual criminals. For a criminal cannot stand surety for a criminal. Upon this, it required a spiritually non-criminal person, albeit in the likeness of the sinful man.

The killing power of the cross before the coming of Christ was sin. But the God man Jesus Christ (who is the measure of God) stood surety for us. So, we are forgiven not on our own account, but on the account of the God man Jesus Christ. For it is the blood of this God man which was the perfect requirement to set man free.

In this then, when crucifying the sinner, the matter wasn't the person but the sinful nature. The method just wasn't appropriate. So, death on the cross signifies condemnation. And if this is so, we praise Jesus. For because of Him, sin is condemned and not the sinner.

In all this, it may not be mistaken to conclude it was simply an act of brutality with no desirable results. But if  Jesus Christ who is God's own Son died on it, and for the same purpose, then it is pretty true that God has always loved us. God simply hates sin. For God's nature is holiness and righteousness.God's anger is righteous.

Jesus is God’s one begotten Son (John 3:16). By offering Him to us, He (God) gave us His all. It wasn't simply wishful that Jesus hung on the cross. It is of symbolic significance that by the death of Jesus on it, the cross is a redemptive tool. Jesus wound up every act on the cross. There can't be greater love than that expressed by God through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ (John 15:13). Rather we can't find this kind of love elsewhere.

God's mercy is revealed

When the publican went to the temple to pray, he said; "...be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13). He was justified on this account.

For at the cross, Jesus has provided a way and made it possible that if we repent, we are forgiven. It is that simple, albeit not simple. In this, God has revealed His mercy to us.

At the same piece one was condemned, but now it is where sin is surely forgiven. Have you forgiven those who wrong you?

If you are yet to do so, you haven't been at the cross. And if you haven't been at the cross, for neither are you free of sin because sin is only forgiven at the cross.

This is so revealing of God's mercy (1Peter 1:3), (Ephesians 2:4), (Hebrews 4:16). If the cross was known for brutality and condemnation, it should now be known for grace and love.

Point of exchange

At the cross, there is life for death, holiness and righteousness for sin, hope for hopelessness. Jesus was all holy and all righteous. Being that, He was to be the perfect sacrifice. He carried the sin of the whole world and through Him, sin was nailed on the cross (Galatians 2:20).

For mankind has been held under two terribly devastating consequential laws; the law of sin and the law of death (Romans 8:1-2). The meaning of Jesus' death on the cross counsels out these two laws and replaces them with the laws of life and love. For life is synonymous with love. Yet it is also pretty true that sin is synonymous with death (Romans 6:23). 

So, that Jesus rose from the dead, so do we rise from the death of sin when we submit Him. Thus the life of Christ dwells in us. For at the cross, we are regenerated and made anew (2Corinthians 5:17).

Salvation is made to be real at the Cross

When Jesus met with the rich man, the conversation between them concluded by Jesus saying; it is easy for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to go to heaven.

The disciples then wondered and asked who then could be saved if even such a man who had kept the law would not get to heaven (Matthew 19:24-25). Then Jesus replied to them that what is impossible with men is possible with God (Matthew 19:26). For the devil tormented Jesus so to make it appear pretty impossible to make salvation any reality.

But when Jesus died on the cross, He made what looked impossible to men to be possible by going to the cross. Thus then, salvation comes not by works. Salvation is not of a person's own making. For salvation is God's grace upon mankind (Romans 4:6-7, 5:17-18, 10:3), (Ephesians 2:8-9), (Philippians 3:9), (2Timothy 1:8-9), (Titus 3:5).

The history of the cross being associated with punishment for sin made it perfectly befitting for the redemption of mankind. By judging someone to die on the cross, it was an expression of God's anger against sin.  By doing it, it was felt that that sin had been dealt with perfectly well. For when Jesus died on the cross, God has perfectly vented His righteous anger upon sin.

The consequent slow painful death was perfectly intentional so that there was satisfaction that everything sinful and associated with it was perfectly dealt with. Yet that all such was associated with the cross, when Jesus died on it, Salvation is perfectly made possible and available to all of us. 

Both the sinner and the sin were pretty viewed in the same way. The sinner then suffered both literal and spiritual death. But Jesus has provided a way that the sinner can be separated from the sin. For through Jesus, sin was nailed on the cross.

So, when a sinner repents, the sin is passed on to the cross and the sinner is made anew and leaves the cross free of sin. For the sinner is finally separated from the sin. There should be no more worry for us.

By the cross, lives are transformed. Millions are set free. Countless of testimonies are being told everyday. Myself, I have a testimony of deliverance. The cross therefore is not simply an earring or necklace piece (as earlier pointed out), but it is where it is made possible that a sinner is made a saint. For by the crucifixion of Jesus on it (the Cross), Christ is formed in us (Galatians 4:17-19).

The power of Jesus' death on the cross

Right after Jesus gave up the ghost on the cross, tombs were opened and many of the saints rose up and were seen on the streets of Jerusalem (Matthew 27:50-52). All because of the cross. Oh, the power of the cross...!!! Thank you dear Jesus, I am real now.

Yet it is so imperative that we understand what the whole package of salvation comprises of. For there are three indispensable elements which make salvation, and each of them is crucially paramount and should be taken in that spirit. For salvation to become a reality, these three components must have been there;

• Jesus Christ

• The blood

• The cross. 

That is; Jesus Christ+the blood+the cross=Salvation. But of the three, Jesus Christ is the spine. Without Jesus, nothing else could have ever been or made any meaning.

Now we talk with confidence, and when we command demons away, they will surely go away. Thus for the writer to ask: "...how shall we escape if neglect so great a salvation...?" (Hebrews 2:3).

Altars were made in the olden Bible times. It was upon these altars that sacrifices would be made unto God. Sacrifices were done for atonement, regeneration and thanks-giving. This was done once every year at Jerusalem. With Jesus, we need this no more.

When Jesus died on the cross, He made it (the cross) the altar of the New Covenant. Now this altar of the New Covenant is in our hearts. For we do not have to travel anywhere so we can communicate with God. No never. Where or what one is, is no longer an issue. At the cross, we are set free and regenerated for God's work.