The Cross

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

We have made it into jewelry. We have painted pictures of it. It has been the focus of songs and poems that stretch across history. Why? It is just a simple piece of wood that has no value in and of itself. It doesn't even exist anymore but has, like humanity, rotted and decayed and returned to the soil as the years have passed it by. This cross, this instrument of torture and death is the focal point for humanity and for those who follow Jesus. It was on a cross that the tide of sin and the power it contained was broken once and for all time. It was on this bloodstained piece of wood that the curse brought in through another tree in the garden of Eden was broken and the strangle hold it had over humanity was released.

It was the simplest of simple means to kill someone. A piece of wood that was shaped to hold a human body. The body was tied or nailed to the wood and left there to simply waste away until death took life away, yet the Apostle Paul stated above that the cross is or represents the power of God to save us. So some the cross is foolishness. These, who reject the cross, look at those of us who embrace it as being foolish, simpletons, and mentally deficient. We are in need of a crutch to get through life because of our state and lot. They view us as being emotionally crippled and in need of a myth or fable to give our lives purpose. I say to you today that the cross of Christ is the ultimate crutch on which to lean because all of humanity is crippled beyond repair. We are lost and our destiny is Hell itself. If not for the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ countless more untold millions would plummet over the edge of the abyss and fall headlong into eternal damnation. But Jesus, in his love, gave himself as the ultimate sacrifice once and for all time that mankind might be restored unto relationship with God. What a Savior!

On a hillside outside of the city of Jerusalem, the battle of battles took place and through the death of one came forgiveness of sin. Early in the morning on the first day of the week, this same Jesus who was killed, walked out of a borrowed tomb into the light of a new day. A new season and a new era where salvation was offered to all.

Praise God!

mb