THE MIGHTY CROSS

“Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand, the shadow of a mighty Rock within a weary land; a home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way, from the burning of the noon day heat, and the burden of the day.

Upon that cross of Jesus mine eyes at times can see the very dying form of One who suffered there for me; and from my smitten heart with tears, two wonders I confess, the wonders of His glorious love and my own worthlessness.

I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place; I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face; content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss, My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.”  (Elizabeth C. Clephane)

My mind goes back to the cross, on that Friday, on that day of suffering and sorrow.  My mind cannot comprehend what my Lord went through that day, taking my sin, your sin upon Himself.  And yes, on this cross we see the wonders of His glorious love, and I see my own unworthiness.  We see the shame and sorrow of the cross, but we also behold the glory of the cross, that Mighty Cross.

That Mighty Cross stands at the center of Eternity! The cross literally splits history in two.  The cross stretches across time, down through the ages and into eternity.  It stands pointing back to the Old Testament and it pictures or paints shadows of the cross and into the New Testament and the sacrifice of Christ, the shedding of His blood for man’s sin, and then His resurrection. And it points forward to His Church, His blood bought body of believers, His bride.  The cross of Christ shadows all that man has ever tried to do, we can never get away from the cross.  At the foot of the cross we find salvation and forgiveness of sins.  We then find joy, peace and eternity with Christ, our Lord. 

The Mighty Cross stands before the beginning of time, when God the Father had a plan. The very Lamb of God would be slain from the foundation of the world.   “All who dwell on earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” Revelation 13:8.

We see the picture of the cross in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.  Every piece of furniture, all the instruments of sacrifice spoke of the cross.  Even the arrangement of the furniture as it was laid out, from the Ark in the Holy of Holies, through the Golden Altar of Incense, and through the Brazen Laver to the Brazen Altar.  In the crossbeam of the cross, you have the Golden Candlestick and the Table of Shewbread on the other side.

We see the cross in the Altar of Sacrifice.  For every sacrifice that was made, every lamb that was slain, spoke of death and His sacrifice and his atoning for sin.  For those sacrifices did not take away sin, only covered it temporarily.  It was in the cross and the sacrifice of Christ that sin was atoned for and our sins are washed away.  Praise the Lord!  “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” Hebrews 9:12.

We see a picture of the cross again in the book of Numbers.  In chapter twenty one, the Children of Israel are again complaining, speaking against God and Moses.  So God sent fiery serpents among them, and they bit the people and many of them died.  They came to Moses and cried and said that they had sinned and would he pray that the Lord take the serpents from among them.  And Moses prayed for the people.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”  So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Numbers 21:8-9

And our Lord spoke of the serpent in the wilderness as He spoke with Nicodemus in John 3:14-15, speaking of His own death.  He also referred to being lifted up in John 12:32 and John 8:28.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

The bite of the serpent was deadly, and the children of Israel could only be healed by looking at the brass serpent; and sinners can only be saved from sin by looking at the cross and accepting His salvation.  Both the pole with the serpent and the cross of Christ were lifted up.  The brass serpent was in sight of all the people.  So Jesus was listed up from the earth, raised upon the cross.  We see how the design was similar.  The pole was lifted up to save life. The cross was lifted up to save the soul.  The people of Israel were to look on the serpent and be healed.  And sinners look on Jesus Christ and His cross and are saved from sin and receive eternal life.

And what does it say?  “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  Romans 10:8-10

So in this Easter Season, He is calling you, my friend, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, to look at the cross, to remember the cross.  He died for you because of His great love. And He wants to spend eternity with you, and now is the day of salvation, please don’t wait.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

In the Name of Jesus,

Pastor Sharon