The Cross of Calvary # 25

The Cross of Calvary # 25

The Cross and Its Claims, continued

Moreover, the word of the Cross does not require persuasive words of man's wisdom for the manifestation of its power. The Apostle goes so far as to say that "wisdom of words" makes the Cross "of none effect!"

Does this explain the existence of so much knowledge about the death of Christ, without vital changes in the lives of men?

Can the Cross be made void by the preacher? How awful the thought! The God-Man pours out His soul unto death for the eternal salvation of men, and His messengers make the Cross of "none effect!" God forbid!

But how can the Cross be "made void" by the "wisdom of words" of the preacher? It must be because "words which man's wisdom teacheth", are scarcely possible unless the preacher is being occupied with his words rather than with the death of Him Who died; and "wisdom of words" must surely draw attention to the messenger, rather than to the message, to the oratory, rather than to the theme, to the servant rather than to the Master.

Reverently may we not say that the message of Calvary must be the most sacred theme to God the Father, and He will not give one shade of glory to men in the proclaiming of the death of His Son.

The story of Calvary must be preached to a dying world in all its tragic awfulness, and "flowers of speech" as ill become the message, as flowers around the Cross, if they had been strewn by those who watched the God-Man die. Moreover, the theme of the Cross will not lend itself to rhetoric or poetic fancy. In brief, there is no place in the Cross, either in its reality or its proclamation, for glory to the flesh.

In Paul, as an object lesson, we see what condition are necessary for the effectual preaching of the Cross. The message of Calvary must be proclaimed by those who are willing to be crucified by the very preaching of the crucifixion of the Lord.

The Cross must be preached by those who know its power, if it is to have the witness of the Holy Spirit, and if the "word of the Cross" is to be the energy of God to men. How the Spirit bore witness to the proclamation of the death, and the resurrection of the Son of God, we see in the Acts of the Apostles. The men who had stood by Calvary could preach Calvary. The men who had seen the Risen Lord could witness to His resurrection. It was more than an historical fact to them, more than a doctrine or a fundamental truth.

"I feel as if Christ died yesterday," said Martin Luther! It is the special office of the Holy Spirit to unveil the death of Christ to the messengers of the Cross today, so that it becomes as real to them as it was to the Apostles. Then He will be able to placard Christ crucified before the eyes of those to whom they are sent, and the passion begotten of the Cross will cast out all thought of the praise or condemnation of men, as with broken hearts, the messengers proclaim the death of the Son of God as the only hope for dying men.

Thus it was revealed to Paul, until he could only cry, "Woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel". Beholding Calvary from the standpoint of God, and Him, Who for the joy set before Him" endured the Cross, despising the shame," all pride is swept away,and he elects to preach the Cross, even though the Cross he preaches thereby becomes his own Cross, and he, like his Lord, becomes despised and rejected of men.

The Message of the Cross

"The word of the Cross ... is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18).

The Greek word translated power in this passage is "dunamis" - the word from which we get the English word "dynamite". The Apostle declares that "the word of the Cross" is the dunamis, or energy, of God. The expression signifies, not latent power, but power in action. In the Cross of Calvary, God has centered His power to deliver a lost and ruined world, and "the word of the Cross" is God's power in action" to all who receive it, for it has Omnipotence behind it. "I, if I be lifted up", said the Lord Jesus, "will draw all men unto Myself."

But it is "the word of the Cross" - not words about the Cross - that is the energy of God. Not speculation as to what the Cross means; but the pure and simple preaching of the Cross of Christ as Paul preached it, taught by the Risen Lord Himself.

The servants of God need to face the question today whether they really believe that Divine energy is in the message of the Cross, or do we limit God, and think that "the word of the Cross" needs many words to explain it? Is it not the key devised by the All-wise Creator to unlock the hearts of men? "It fits me as a key fits into a lock" said one, and this is true of every human heart, be he heathen, or so-called Christian.

The message of the Cross has Omnipotence behind it and in it, for it is the energy of God, not only to the sinner burdened with his sins, but "unto us which are being saved". It meets the soul at every point of life; at every stage of spiritual growth; in every cry of need, and is never inappropriate or exhausted. It is the power of God.

Antagonism to the Cross

"Many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ ... who mind earthly things." (Philippians 3:18, 19)

In proclaiming the message of Calvary these words describe those in whom the message will arouse active antagonism,so that they become its enemies; for all enmity to the Cross, really has its origin in the love of all that the Cross proclaims deliverance from! They who love earthly things resent a message which offers deliverance from the things they love!

It is true that the intellect is stumbled by the Cross; yet the antagonism to the Cross is mainly moral, both in the sinner and in the saved, for its message is only welcomed by those who desire freedom from the bondage of their sins, and who hunger and thirst after the righteousness of God.

Enemies of the Cross! The preacher aiming at "wisdom of words" makes the Cross void as he proclaims it; those who cling to external things find it an "offense" in its message of freedom from the elements of the world; but those who love the things of earth are called its "enemies", for by their lives they place themselves in direct opposition to the very purpose of the Cross. Oh solemn fact! Oh terrible thought! An enemy to Him Who died to save me from myself, maybe whilst professedly His friend; perhaps whilst even a messenger of the Cross, making void the message, not only by seeking glory for self in "wisdom of words", but by love of earthly things, for all self-indulgence is actually enmity to the Cross of Christ.

The Renewing of the Cross

"They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame." (Hebrews 6:6).

Apart from the context of this passage, it is sufficient for us to notice the solemn words which declare that the Son of God can be crucified afresh, and this time by those whom He has redeemed, and who have tasted of the life He came to give to all who obey His call.

The Christ has passed beyond the power of the world and of the devil, and now only the blood-bought ones can re-crucify the Lamb. This is said of them when - having partakers of the Holy Spirit - they do despite to the Spirit of grace, and choose to turn back to the "defilements of the world" from which they have escaped, and thus put the Lord Who bought them to "open shame."

The warning comes in this passage of the Scriptures of the responsibility of light. The Apostle Peter solemnly says it is better not to have known the way of righteousness, than to turn from the holy commandment delivered.

Oh that the Holy Spirit may so illumine the death on the Cross to every child of God, that the exceeding sinfulness of sin may be seen in the light of Calvary, and a resisting of sin, even unto death, be the mark of all the redeemed in these latter days, with the deep sense that, for those whom He has purchased with His own blood, all yielding to sin now is a "re-crucifixion; a re-binding; re-nailing; re-torturing; re-agonizing; and re-killing" of the Son of God, Who "suffered for sins once, the Righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God."

"And one shall say unto Him, what are these wounds between Thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." Surely we children of God open His wounds afresh when He sees us shrink from the fellowship of His Cross, and cling to aught in heart or life from which He died to set us free; or when in any way we make light of sin, or do despite to the Spirit of Grace, counting the blood of the covenant a common thing.

Oh child of God, beware of the deceitfulness of sin. Take heed that thou dose not presume on the grace of God, by yielding to the least temptation with the thought that thou canst be freely forgiven. See, too, that thou does not call sin by the name of "infirmity", nor in any degree excuse thyself for failure. Since Christ has died there is full victory for thee, but thou must walk in godly fear before the Lord, and touch not aught that is to thee the unclean thing.

~Jessie Penn-Lewis~

(The End)