THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
The "cross of Christ" is mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his Epistles to different Churches, but we may confidently say that the wooden gibbet upon which the Saviour suffered was never loved or reverenced by that honoured servant of the Lord, or the people to whom he wrote.
The brazen serpent, that divinely appointed means of Israel's cure, was broken in pieces by good Hezekiah, who contemptuously called it a bit of brass, because the Israelites worshipped it; and their idolatry is described as a base crime in 2 Kings xviii. 4, although it was a figure of Him that was to come; and Jesus Himself declared, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John iii. 14, 15); and the "true cross," if it now existed, would only be a bit of wood—a thing in itself worthless—and the adoration of it would be nothing better than idolatry.
"Christ and Him crucified" is the sinner's hope, the believer's joy, and this is what we are to understand by the apostolic mention of the cross of Jesus.
The cross was the sign, the illustration, of His sufferings and death. Crucifixion was most painful and most shameful, and both these facts appear in Hebrews xii. 2. He "endured the cross, despising the shame." With the hands and feet nailed to the cross, and the weight of the body borne by those pierced hands, the sufferer, who generally was first cruelly scourged, expired after long, lingering torture; and it was a shameful death, to which only the lowest and worst of men were supposed to be sentenced. Yet Jesus, the High and Holy One, "humbled Himself unto death, even the death of the cross."
But there was deep spiritual meaning in all this. "Tribulation and anguish" (Rom. ii. 9), sorrow and death, are sin's reward. "Dying, thou shalt die" (Gen. ii. 17, margin) is the divine sentence upon every transgressor, and "sin is a reproach to any people" (Prov. xiv. 34). "Shame and everlasting contempt" will be the sinner's recompense. And Jesus was His people's Surety and Substitute. He stood for them; He took their place. The Just One suffered for the unjust. The King of Glory bore reproach and shame for the sake of the sinners He eternally loved, that whosoever believeth in Him should have everlasting life, glory, and joy (Dan. xii. 2).
"The death of the cross," as Jesus suffered it, involved the shedding of blood, and "the blood is the life." "He poured out His soul unto death." "He gave His life a ransom for many," because "without shedding of blood there is no remission," no forgiveness of sin.
But crucifixion, unlike many violent deaths, did not divide or dismember the body. In stoning, the back was often broken; by other modes of execution, the head was cut off, the neck broken, or the body otherwise mutilated. The legs of the crucified might be broken to hasten death, but this was no necessary part of the sentence; and concerning Jesus it was prophesied, "None of His bones shall be broken" (Psa. xxxiv. 20; John xix. 36). And this also was fraught with deep spiritual meaning. That bruised and torn, yet perfect body which hung on the cross, and was laid in the grave, was but a picture of that holy soul, that perfect spirit, which He yielded up to God. How clear was His memory! That the Scripture might be fulfilled, He said, "I thirst." How perfect His love! He prayed for His executioners; He remembered Mary. How full His knowledge of His people, and how perfect His confidence in Himself! He blessed the penitent thief, and assured him of a home with Himself in heaven.
Oh, wondrous Sufferer! almighty Saviour! None ever died as Jesus died, bearing sin and guilt away, and overcoming death, while He laid down His sacred life.
The cross of Christ has a mighty influence upon all who believe on His name. Paul said, with holy earnestness, "God forbid that I should glory in anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. vi. 14). Once, as a Pharisee, he loved the world—the religious world—the esteem of men, the applause of his fellow-Pharisees; but now they hated and persecuted him, and he despised their favour. So, if we are led to behold by faith Jesus crucified for us, the sins, the pleasures, and the friendships of the world will lose their power and attractions, and the love of Christ will constrain us to live to Him who died and rose again for us.
We find that, when the Apostles were first beaten and threatened for preaching the Gospel, "they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His sake" (Acts v. 40, 41). They knew that Jesus loved and gave Himself for them, and they, out of love to their Saviour, were willing to lay down their lives for His sake, or to live despised and hated by the world.
Before He died, Christ said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." He foresaw His own sufferings from the first, but the joy that was set before Him animated Him all the while, and, as His people's Leader, He says, "Follow Me, and enter at last into My joy." But Jesus never said, "Take up My cross." Oh, no! His cross He alone could bear! His saving sufferings He only could endure! It is our own cross that we are called to bear as His followers, and His love will strengthen and support us.
Oh, that we may indeed know Him as our once crucified, but now exalted Saviour, and follow Him through all life's changes to the bright home whither He has gone, living henceforth to Him, and Him alone.
Our next subject will be, Psalm xxxii.
Your loving friend,
H. S. L.