“When I survey the
wondrous cross
On which the Prince
of Glory died,
My richest gain I
count but loss,
And pour contempt on
all my pride.”
Of all the statements Paul ever makes, Galatians 6:14 is
arguably the most profound: “God forbid
that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified to me, and I to the world.”
We have yet more to say about this great and wonderful
statement. Here Paul is nailing his
colors to the mast. He is advancing the
essence of his being. He is contrasting
himself with those who are motivated by personal ambition and ego, like he once
was. He glories in nothing, he boasts in
nothing, except the cross of Jesus Christ.
We have already seen in our series that the cross is the
very heart and center of the Christian message.
Indeed, our eternal destiny depends on the view we take of the death of
Jesus of Nazareth upon the cross. So we
have been considering why the Christian says that the cross of Christ, the
death of this Son of God on the cross, is to him the most momentous, the most
vital of all facts, that there is nothing that compares with it, and that to
him it is the most significant thing in the universe.
I make that point deliberately. The Christian is the person who says I don’t
care what has happened. I don’t care
what may happen. I don’t care what it is
– Russian incursion into Ukraine, a series of Blood Moons, a potential crashing
economy, a rampage at Ft. Hood, a Kansas synagogue, or a Murrysville school –
nothing can ever approach in significance to what happened on the cross when
Jesus died, was buried in a grave, rose again, and went back to His
throne.
Why does the Christian say this? Why does he glory in it? We have begun to answer that question by
looking at the greatness and the glory of the cross. We have seen that the cross, with all its
mighty paradoxes, is a spectacle which makes anything that you can think of in
history, or anything that you can imagine, simply pale into insignificance.
When a man like the Apostle Paul, under the leadership of
the Holy Spirit, says he glories in the cross, you can be sure that it is the
deepest, most profound thing in the universe.
A casual glance at the cross is not enough. The saints of the centuries have been surveying
it, they have been looking upon it, gazing upon it, and meditating on it. In fact, the more they’ve looked, and the
more you look, the more is seen! The
great Puritan, Thomas Carlisle, once described the cross as “infinities and immensities.” Therefore, only a fool would think of the
cross as an interesting fact or a point in a series. It’s not.
It’s the destination of every maturing Christian. It’s the stake in the ground. It’s the pivotal point of human history. It’s the fulcrum upon which eternity is
suspended.
So I repeat the question.
Why? Why did the cross happen?
Why did the Son of God, the Prince of glory hang there? What is the divine purpose? We have it all in Scripture. We don’t have to draw upon our
imagination. We don’t have to invent
answers. It’s all set forth for us in
Scripture should we care to dig.
That’s what we will do again this Sunday – Easter. We will dig into two particular texts: I Corinthians 1:26-31 and II Corinthians
5:16-21 to find the reason for the cross in the mind of God. The message this Easter is “The Wisdom of the
Cross.” It’s a perfect topic for it
offers us a full-orbed view of the parallel between the cross and tomb.
In preparation for Sunday’s message you may wish to consider
the following:
- How is Isaiah 53 a perfect prophecy of the death of Jesus on the cross?
- How are Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in John 3 an indication of the wisdom of the coming cross?
- How does Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 give us insight into the wisdom of God at the cross?
- How can theologians of every era say that at the cross every essential attribute of God’s nature can be seen? Can you identify any?
- How can the immutability of God be seen at the cross?
- How is the cross a cosmic triumph of the power of God over rulers and authorities and the prince of this world? (See Colossians 3:6-15.)
- Why do Jesus and His post-resurrection apostles refer to the cross as a place of glory?
- How does God use the cross to confound the wise?
- What does Peter mean in I Peter 1:10-12 when he says that there are things into which angels “long to look”?
- How is the cross a direct attack on the wisdom of Satan? (See Ezekiel 28:11-17 and Isaiah 14:12-14.)
See you on Easter!
