PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: THE PARADOX OF THE CROSS
By: Ron Woodrum
The cross took a major political beating since 2004. In May, 2004, the ACLU gave Los Angeles County two weeks to eliminate the 1957-designed seal that appears on most official county property: walls, documents, uniforms, vehicles and even business cards – all because of a cross. After four months of debate, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors caved in and stripped a tiny miniature gold cross from the Los Angeles County seal to avoid a lawsuit. By a 3-2 partisan vote, the three Democrats on the board voted in favor of removing the cross while the two Republicans voted retain it. (Los Angeles Times 9/15/04 “Officials Vote to Replace County Seal”)
In June the same year, more than 700 people packed a board meeting in Redlands, the city 50 miles east of Los Angeles, to decry the removal of the cross. Thousands more wrote or called supervisors to complain, but the board refused to budge. The cross was finally removed. It was restored again in 2014. But last year, in April of 2016, it was ordered to be removed again. A federal judge in California has ruled that including a small Christian cross on the official seal of Los Angeles County is unconstitutional, siding with civil liberties advocates. Thursday’s decision, following a two-year legal battle, was handed down by US District Judge Christina Snyder, who said that including the religious emblem in the government symbol ‘places the county’s power, prestige and purse behind a single religion, Christianity.’ County Supervisors are lobbying for returning the cross to the seal. The battle for the cross rages on! There are those who “hate” the cross and want to remove every reference to it from the modern world. But there are those who “love” the cross, and will defend it to the death! What a paradox!
“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 Cor. 1:18).
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal. 6:14).
Webster defines the word “wonder” as “a cause of surprise or astonishment; a marvel; prodigy. A miracle. The emotion excited by novelty, or by something strange or not well understood; astonishment.” Surely this is what will be under consideration as we explore the “wonders” of the cross of Christ. The cross is the central theme of God’s redemptive system. It was planned “from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). Jesus knew if mankind were to be redeemed from sin that he would have to face the cross (Jn. 18:4). What gospel preacher has not at times begun a sermon or a series of sermons by reference to 1 Corinthians 2:14 as he, along with Paul, announced his resolve to preach “Christ and him crucified.” To do more or do less would negate the purpose of the cross. Let us now consider several wonders” of the cross of Christ.
Its Paradoxes
A paradox is a seeming contradiction, but only “seeming” as we shall employ the term. The cross is truly the greatest of paradoxes. It was history’s most tragic event, the saddest spectacle man ever beheld, Satan’s greatest victory, Christ’s greatest defeat, God’s greatest manifestation of hatred of sin, the darkest hour of history, the appalling bloodthirstiness of the wicked, man’s sinfulness, and God’s holiness. On the other hand the cross was the most wonderful event of history, the source of the greatest joy, Satan’s greatest defeat and Christ’s greatest victory, God’s supreme proof of his love for sinful man, the time of the world’s greatest light, divine forgiveness portrayed (“Father, forgive them”), human weakness and Divine strength. Is it any wonder as we contemplate these things that we like to sing songs such as “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross”?
Its Victim
Many men have died on a Roman cross. History is replete with accounts of such. Some of them deserved the death penalty. No doubt some did not. But, all were sinners, nevertheless. Not so with Christ. He was the only truly innocent person ever to live on earth. No guile was found in his mouth as he went about doing good (1 Pet. 2:22; Acts 10:38). He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).
We often sing “What a friend we have in Jesus” and how true this is. He was compassionate even toward those who crucified him (Luke 23:34). He died a voluntary, vicarious death for you and me (1 Pet. 2:21). He lived his life on earth for others and not for himself. He owned no property, he healed the sick, he raised the dead, he made the blind to see, and taught the sinners the way of salvation. On the cross he had regard to the appeal of the thief beside him (Luke 23:43) and to the care of his mother (Jn. 19:26,27). He even plead for his executioners.
Though innocent, his death was for the guilty. He was falsely accused, beaten, spit upon, reviled, and mocked (Luke 23:35; Mt. 27:26,29). He bore his own cross, he was nailed to it, suspended between earth and heaven with a malefactor on either side, bearing the burden of the sins of mankind upon him. The pain was excruciating, the loneliness and despondency of the moment bleak and desolate, forsaken by heaven and earth. Why did he not call ten legions of angels? He could have. But he did not. It was the only way man could be redeemed from sin. So he did it for you and for me. Praise God, what a Savior!
Its Necessity
How can we conceive of Deity being under necessity? Yet, if man was to be redeemed from sin it was a divine “must.” Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (Jn. 3:14).
Why this necessity? When man sinned the cross became a necessity (Gen. 3:15). Since all sin, no one can save himself. Therefore, if man is to be saved, a divine substitute was the only answer (1 Pet. 2:24).
God’s righteousness and justice demanded it. God’s justice required penalty for sin. His love required consideration for the sinner. Through the cross God was both “just and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26).
Without the cross the prophecies of the Old Testament would have been without meaning. The law of Moses could not have been fulfilled without the cross (Col. 2:14).
Our salvation depended on the cross. Christ’s mission on the earth was to save (Luke 19: 10). That being true, Christ gave himself to that end (Eph. 5:25; Mark. 10:45).
Is it any wonder that the redeemed of all ages was portrayed as singing “Thou art worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9).
Its Divine Demonstration
Jesus had made many claims as to his divinity. As a result he was accused of blasphemy (Jn. 8:12,16-18,21-22). The cross would fully substantiate every claim of Jesus. “When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am he” (Jn. 8:28). This is the challenge of the cross.
At the cross Jesus exemplified in his death what he had announced in his life. Even the Roman centurion confessed, “Truly, this was the Son of God” (Mt. 27:54). All the efforts of the Roman powers, as well as that of the Jews, could not keep Jesus in the tomb (Mt. 27:67; 28:4).
When Christ said, “It is finished” on the cross, God said “Amen” to it when Christ was raised from the dead, thus showing his approval of Christ’s work of redemption.
Its Attraction
The magnetism of the cross is reflected in the statement of Jesus in John 12:32: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me.” The attraction is not seen in the manner in which Christ died but rather in regard to the person of Christ and his purpose on the cross.
At the cross we see the most beautiful character ever portrayed (Jn. 21:25), the greatest demonstration of God’s grace ever made known toward man (2 Cor. 8:9), the greatest power ever beheld by man (Rom. 1:16), and the greatest salvation that could ever be contemplated (Heb. 2:3; 7:25).
Its All Sufficiency
The apostle Paul gloried only in the cross (Gal. 6:14) and thus urged the same thing on us. He knew its sufficiency to save, not only himself (Eph. 3:8), but others as well (1 Cor. 2:14).
The cross is sufficient to meet every human need (2 Pet. 5:7; 1 Cor. 12:7), and is the only way to be saved (Acts 4:12). All must come, as it were, to the cross where only there is reconciliation (Col. 1:20).
Its Glorious Hope
The hope brought to us by the cross is so utterly profound in its complexities and scope, thus reflecting its Divine source, yet, at the same time, its end result which is salvation and peace with God is so utterly simple as to be within the grasp of every man.
The cross provided “peace of mind … .. peace with God” and the “peace of God” (Col. 1:20; Phil. 4:6-9). It provides assurance in death, knowing that “to be with Christ, is far better” (Phil. 1:23). It provides a glorious eternity for the soul. Our bodies will be changed and we will be like Christ (1 Jn. 3:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:51-58).
Behold, the wonders of the cross!
Dorothy Sayers writes about the paradox of the cross when she speaks to the issue of how God, who is life, and the author of life, through the incarnation came to die for the sins of the world. She writes, “He is the only God who has a date in history…There is nothing more astonishing collocation of phrases than that which, in the Nicene Creed, sets these two statements flatly side by side: ‘Very God of God…He suffered under Pontius Pilate.’ All over the world, thousands of times a day, Christians recite the name of a rather undistinguished Roman proconsul…merely because that name fixes within a few years the date of the death of God.”
- Scott Peck, (someone I enjoy reading, but cannot agree with most of his theology),points out that on a cross, on a hill outside of Jerusalem, that Jesus surrendered His power, for His love, as His Father did as well, and through that paradox conquered the world with that cross. He writes, “I cannot be any more specific about the methodology of love than to quote these words of an old priest who spent many years in the battle:’There are dozens of ways to deal with evil and several ways to conquer it. All of them are facets of the trkuth that the only ultimate way to conquer evil is to let it be smothered with a willing, living, loving human being. When it is absorbed there like blood in a sponge or a spear in one’s heart, it loses its power and goes no further.’ The healing of evil-scientifically or otherwise-can be accomplished only by the love of individuals. A willing sacrifice is required…I do not know how this occurs. But I know that it does…Whenever this happens there is a slight shift in the balance of power in the world’ ” Constantine saw a vision of the cross in the sky with these words “in hoc signo vinces”-under this sign you will conquer. He tried to do that with “power”…and failed. But the author and finisher of our faith, who died on that cross, conquered under that sign, and still is…but not through the power of force…but the power of love…what a paradox!
