As to riches, they are “uncertain.” 1 Tim. 6:17. Man “heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.” “Riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.” Prov. 23:5. Only in Christ are found unsearchable and abiding riches.
Man, therefore, has absolutely nothing in which to boast, for what is there left of a man when he has nothing that can be called wealth, no wisdom whatever, and absolutely no strength? Everything that man is or has comes from the Lord. Therefore it is that he that glorieth is to glory in the Lord. 1 Cor. 1:31.
Now put this text with Gal. 6:14. The same Spirit inspired them both, so that there is no contradiction. One text says that we are to glory only in the knowledge of the Lord; the other says that there is nothing in which to glory save the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The conclusion, therefore, is that in the cross we find the knowledge of God. To know God is eternal life, and there is no life for mankind except through the cross of Christ. So again we see most clearly that all that may be known of God is revealed in the cross. Aside from the cross, there is no knowledge of God.
This shows us again that the cross is seen in all creation, for the everlasting power and divinity of God, even all that may be known of Him, are seen in the things that He has made. The power of God is seen in the things that are made, and the cross is the power of God. 1 Cor. 1:18. Out of weakness God brings strength; He saves men by death, so that even the dead may rest in hope. No man can be so poor, so weak and sinful, so degraded and despised, that he may not glory in the cross. The cross takes him just where he is, for it is the symbol of shame and degradation, and reveals the power of God in him, and in that there is ground for everlasting glory.
The Cross Crucifies.
The cross cuts us off from the world. Glory! for then it unites us to God, because the friendship of the world is enmity with God; “whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4. Through His cross Christ has destroyed the enmity. Eph. 2:15, 16. “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” Then let the world pass away.
“Fade, fade, each earthly joy,
Jesus is mine;
Break every tender tie,
Jesus is mine.