The centrality of the cross

This week we will look at the important message of the cross which lies at the heart of the gospel of the Kingdom. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the central events in Christian theology. The cross plays a dual role in relation to the believers. One is related to the significance of the historical crucifixion of Jesus Christ and what it accomplished for the believer. The second role is related to the work of the cross in each believer’s life. In Book Two: Entering into God’s presence, week two: Believe the gospel, we majored on the first role of the cross. This week we will focus on the cross as related to our personal life and walk with God. The life of love that we looked at previous week can only be lived when we embrace the cross and allow it to work in our hearts.

The centrality of the cross

The word of the cross is the central message entrusted to the church of Jesus Christ to proclaim throughout the world to bring the salvation of God to all nations. The event of the cross was God’s principal saving act in history; hence the cross, though a past event, has present significance. Jesus Christ crucified and risen is the core of our message.

The cross is the centre in God’s eternal purpose

Before the creation of the world Christ was chosen to die on the cross! Because God is eternal and outside time the Bible can actually say that Christ, the Lamb of God, was killed before the world was made! That is telling me that the cross was at work in the heart of God before the world began to exist! It seems to me that the cross is a principle at work in the very heart of God, as God loved the world and the Son gave his life to bring the world to God, even before the world was created.

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you. (1 Peter 1:18-20)

the Lamb who was killed before the world was made (Revelation 18:8)

When the apostle John received his revelation of Jesus Christ at the island of Patmos he was given the privilege of looking into the heavenly throne-room. At the centre of heaven he saw the Lamb that had been killed, surrounded by the living creatures, the elders, the angles and the vast crowd of redeemed men and women from every nation and tribe and people and language. They all fell down before the Lamb on the throne and worshipped him (Revelation 4; 5; 7). In all eternity the cross will be the centre of the divine activity!

The word of the cross is our only message

The cross is so central to the gospel message of the Bible that the apostle Paul summarise his entire message as the word of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:17-2:5). The message of the cross is contrasted with clever speeches and high-sounding ideas. What sounded like foolishness and weakness in human eyes actually opens the door for the power of God. The apostle was well aware of how foolish the message of the cross may sound. He knew it was offensive to both Greek philosophy and Jewish legalism, but he preached the cross without wavering because it is the mighty power of God and the wonderful wisdom of God! This “foolish” plan of God centred on the cross is far wiser than the wisest of human plans. The weakness of God displayed in the cross is far stronger than the greatest of human strength.

The cross in church’s proclamation illustrates the pattern of God’s action: he forges out of the feeble things of life both power and wisdom. Because philosophical speculation replaces God’s message with human wisdom and thus empties the cross of its significance, the apostle Paul rejected lofty words, brilliant ideas and persuasive speeches, and concentrated on preaching only Jesus Christ and his death on the cross! Paul thus came in weakness and his preaching was very plain, but the Holy Spirit was powerfully at work in those who heard the message of the cross. He did it because he wanted his hearers to trust the power of God rather than human wisdom. The central core of the message of the cross is God’s demonstration of victory emerging from seeming defeat, of power arising out of infirmity!

Exercise:

How can you explain the cross as a principle at work in the heart of God from eternity?

Start memorising these Bible verses:

Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. (Romans 6:6-7)