The Significance of the Cross

'For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.'
1 Corinthians 2:2

On June 6, 1944 the greatest armada of ships and largest army ever assembled launched their decisive attack again Nazi tyranny. For years all of Europe had been captive to an evil regime. But now D-Day was at hand.

German Field Marshall Rommel said he knew that D-Day spelt the end for the Nazis. Fierce fighting still lay ahead but ultimate victory was now assured for the Allies. Nothing was ever the same after D-Day.

That is the most telling picture of what happened at the Cross. For the crucifixion and resurrection dealt the decisive blow against Satan and the Kingdom of darkness.

The Cross was D-Day - Deliverance Day - for everyone and everything held captive by evil power. The Cross was where the Devil and all his demons were defeated.

They are mounting fierce resistance but they know their days are numbered. For the kingdom of God is coming in power and glory on earth, as it is in heaven.

That in a nutshell is the good news of the gospel. That is the impact of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Cross of Christ is the great focus for help, hope and healing for the world.

Amidst all the challenges and changes of life, we must never lose sight of the Cross. This is the great emphasis we must have as Christians and churches.

When the Apostle Paul went to the sophisticated and strategic city of Corinth he said, 'For I resolved (or determined) to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified' (1 Corinthians 2: 2).

Corinth, like much of modern society, was a place of sexual permissiveness, the pursuit of money and competing philosophies where people fancied themselves to be very wise and superior.

But the apostle Paul did not focus on this, nor did he seek to appease the culture of the day or try to impress people with natural wisdom or eloquence.

Paul recognised that the emphasis on the Cross was an offence to many people, as it is today, with its emphasis on blood and brutal crucifixion. One writer sneered that Christianity is 'a butcher's religion.'

The apostle Paul put it like this, 'we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength' (1 Corinthians 1:23-25).

Some people, even many Christian leaders, try to play down the Cross and all its association with blood and sacrifice. But this would never do for the Apostle Paul and it should not do for us.

As Paul wrote to Christians in Rome, 'I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the Salvation of everyone who believes' (Romans 1:16).

The great hymn writer Charles Wesley expressed it like this: 'His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood avails for me.'

Here are some key reasons why is it so important to focus our lives and ministries on the Cross of Christ.

1. The Cross Reveals the Amazing Love of God

The story of the Cross is the greatest love story ever told. It shows the total lengths God was prepared to go to, to rescue people lost in their guilt and sin and rebellion.

At the Cross Jesus Christ paid the full price of sin and made a way for 'sinners' (those who have gone their own way not God's way) to come into fellowship with a holy God.

Romans 5:7-8 puts it like this: 'For a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.'

1 John 4:10 says, 'this is love: not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.'

Here's the picture! You are far from God. You have messed up. You have broken God's moral and spiritual laws - laws which were given so people can live securely with one another and in peace with God.

Why do you feel guilty? Maybe because you are guilty! You deserve to be punished. Justice must be done.

Yet the Son of the Judge of the entire universe came and took the rap for you. He didn't have to do it but he did. And he did it because He loved you.

Even before you were born and became a slave to sin, Christ had already paid the price to let you live as a free man and a free woman. And the price was His life for your life.

An old hymn, the favourite of the great Welsh revival of 1904, contained these lines:

On the mount of crucifixion
Fountains opened deep and wide
Through the floodgates of God's mercy
Flowed the vast and gracious tide
Grace and love like mighty rivers
Poured incessant from above
And heaven's peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love

Do you get it? Your life may not be a pretty sight but God comes to kiss you. You are an outsider to God's family but God has acted to bring you into the warmth of his embrace.

Let me ask you: Have you sinned? Are you a liar and a cheat in business? Are you proud and stubborn? Is your life a mess sexually? Can you get pretty ugly in your attitudes and actions? Is there stuff in your life that you are ashamed of?

Well get this! God hates all that stuff because it is so destructive, but HE LOVES YOU!

You may be a heterosexual sinner but He loves you. You may be a homosexual sinner but He loves you. You may be a down and out sinner but He loves you. You may be a well educated, smart looking sinner but He loves you.

You say 'that can't be true! You don't know me! You don't know what I have been into. You don't know what I have done. God could never love me.' But the fact is He does - just like the Father who continued to love his prodigal son.

The son had wasted his life on wild living but his father never stopped loving him. And when he returned in humility and sorrow - something the Bible calls repentance - his Dad threw a party to celebrate! That's love.

This is the great message of Christianity. The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

It is a message that is a million miles from cold-hearted and condemning religion. The message from the Cross is a message of mercy and forgiveness.

It is a message of the Saviour who didn't just talk the talk of love but who walked the walk of love right up Calvary's hill where he was crucified.

2. The Cross Demonstrates the Conquering Power of God

The moment of Christ's greatest weakness was the moment of His greatest triumph. The death of Christ was the moment that the veil separating man from God was torn in two 'from top to bottom' as Matthew describes it (Matthew 27:51).

In the very moment that evil had done it worst, Christ completed what He came to do. Jesus said 'It is finished' not 'I am finished.'

The Cross was where Christ took on the powers of evil and undid their power for all time.

Colossians 2:14-15 states that Christ dealt with every accusing thing 'that stood opposed to us; he took it away nailing it to the Cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.'

Acts 2:24 says, 'God raised him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.' What a phrase! What a truth! What a reality!

Death the final enemy was put to death through Christ's death. 'Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting?' (1 Corinthians 15:54-55).

For sure, death is painful but the sting has been taken out. When you die and are buried or cremated it's not the end. For the Christian death, it's the beginning of a wonderful new life in Christ's presence.

And for those who are left behind there's no need to live in fear of death.

John Bunyan makes this point forcefully in his classic book, Pilgrims Progress. The pilgrim, Christian, is walking down the road when to his horror he notices a lion barring his path.

There is no way he can avoid the animal. Terrified he draws closer. Then to his huge delight he notices that the lion is chained to a post. Someone has been this way before him and tamed this fearsome beast. An earlier traveller made the road safe for him.

Theologian Alister McGrath comments, 'the cross liberates us from this malignant tyranny of death. It breaks its oppressive stranglehold over us.' ⁱ

3. The Cross Secures the Reconciling Purpose of God

At the Cross Jesus Christ paved the way for the reconciliation of the world.

'For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Christ) and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the Cross'
Colossians 1:19-20

The Cross of Jesus is where all barriers are broken down. The Cross is where relationships come back together. Not only is the barrier between heaven and earth torn down, but so are all other barriers. No more should there be divisions because of race, ethnic background, gender, age or social and economic status.

'You are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ... There is neither Jew, nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are ALL one in Christ'
Galatians 3: 26, 28

No longer should men view themselves as first class, while they treat the women as second class. No longer should women resent and despise men.

No longer can the white man consider himself superior and the black or brown man inferior or vice versa.

No longer should the rich look down on the poor. No longer should the poor think they don't count.

No longer should the old dismiss the young. No longer should the young dismiss the old.

No longer is one tribe and nation better than another.

Through Christ there is now only one new nation and one new humanity.

At the Cross, Christ's body hung vertically to reconcile heaven and earth and his hands stretched wide to embrace all people everywhere.

The reconciliation made possible through Christ is far reaching. Ephesians 1:10 says that God will 'bring ALL things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.'

All creation, with its thorns and pestilences and rebellions, will once more be restored to its original harmony and beauty. The Cross makes all change possible.

In short, the Cross is the triumph of God over Satan, heaven over hell, good over evil, love over hate, hope over despair, future over past, grace over guilt, healing over heartache, freedom over bondage, salvation over damnation and mercy over judgement.

Today, give your life fully to the Christ who gave everything for you. Bow before Him and worship Him.

1. Alister McGrath, Making Sense of the Cross (Leicester: IVP, 1992), 112.