Word of the Cross

The power and wisdom of God are revealed in the proclamation of the Messiah who was crucified on a Roman cross.

Jesus performed miracles, exorcised demons, and taught with great authority, often attracting large crowds. Nevertheless, his contemporaries failed to recognize who he was regardless of such displays of power. In the end, only the Roman centurion at Golgotha perceived him to be the “Son of God” when the Nazarene breathed his last.

The idea that miraculous “signs and wonders” win souls to the Gospel does not conform with the pattern found in the four gospel accounts. It certainly does not correspond to how Gentiles or the Jewish nation responded to the message preached by the Apostles after the Resurrection of Jesus.

[Photo by Cdoncel on Unsplash]

God provides supernatural help to His people, including divine healings, but miracles are a means, not an end. As the Bible demonstrates numerous times, unexpected signs and great displays of power do not guarantee that anyone will understand who God is or suddenly exercise faith in Him. As Paul wrote:

• (1 Corinthians 1:21-24) – “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 preaching to save those who believe. Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews, scandal, and to Gentiles, foolishness; but to them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus healed the sick and exorcised demons, impressing the local crowds. The people of Galilee and Judea had not seen the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, or Priests do anything remotely like what he did, yet only the demons cast out by him recognized Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah of Israel.

On the verge of understanding his identity, Peter declared that he was the Messiah, but only momentarily until Jesus explained that messiahship meant - betrayal, suffering, and death. Peter then rebuked him with words from Satan.

The only person who did recognize Jesus as God’s son before his resurrection was the Roman centurion present at his crucifixion, and quite likely, the officer in charge of the execution squad - (Mark 15:29-39).

Only in his self-sacrificial death is the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the World revealed. In contrast to the centurion, the Jewish religious leaders mocked Jesus as he was dying. They sarcastically called him “Christ and King of Israel,” but did not accept his Messianic status. Even the two “brigands” who were crucified with him “reproached him.”

HIS EXALTATION

Christ’s death by crucifixion is the foundation of his Kingdom and Sovereignty. Pointing to his coming death, he instructed his disciples to deny themselves, take up the cross daily, and follow his narrow path. As he taught them when they sought high positions in his coming Kingdom:

• “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their great ones tyrannize them. Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever would become great among you shall be your servant, and whosoever would be first among you shall be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life as a ransom for many” - (Matthew 20:25-28).

Only after his resurrection from the dead did God exalt Jesus, and he began to reign at His “right hand.” However, kingship came only after paying a great price. As Paul explained in Philippians when alluding to the stories of Adam and the ‘Servant of Yahweh’ in the Book of Isaiah:

• (Philippians 2:5-9) – “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, counted not the being like God a thing to be grasped, but poured himself out, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him and gave unto him the name which is above every name” - (Compare Genesis 3:4-6, Isaiah 53:10-12).

We want supernatural power but only by finding a way around the Cross. However, Paul called believers to “let this same mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.” He received the “name that is above every name” because he “became a servant and poured out his life unto death, even death on a cross,” all for the sake of others, including ourselves.

The proclamation of “Christ crucified” is scandalous to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. The idea that God achieved victory over Sin, Death, and Satan through the unjust death of a politically powerless man is nonsense to our way of thinking. Nevertheless, this “Word of the Cross” is God’s “Power and Wisdom.” It is the great “mystery” marked out “before the ages for our glory” that is now manifested in Jesus Christ – (Romans 16:25-27).

The omnipotent Creator of all things achieved final victory over Sin, Satan, and Death through the crucifixion of His Messiah by the world’s mightiest empire. He was condemned to death by Jewish religious authorities and executed by pagan political leaders, an outcome no devout Jew would have expected or accepted.

Jesus cannot be understood apart from his death on the Roman Cross. Likewise, no man or woman can become his disciple without emulating his self-sacrificial service to others, and by living a cruciform life.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Spiritual Man - (The spiritually-minded man understands that the Gospel of Christ Crucified is God’s true power and wisdom - 1 Corinthians 2:14)

• Preaching Another Jesus - (Is Jesus still the Messiah who died on Calvary to save the world, or has he become a roaring Lion hellbent on taking vengeance on his enemies?)

• The Mind of Christ - (The submission of Jesus to an unjust death is the paradigm for the love and service to others that disciples are summoned to manifest – Philippians 2:5-11)