or the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God
(1 Cor. 1:18).
All Christians have experienced the power of the cross. It is this which distinguishes them as Christians. For those outside the covenant of grace, the preaching of the cross is just so much theological yammering -- until and unless the Spirit of God is pleased to use the declaration of "foolishness" in a powerful way.
On paper, those to whom the cross appears to be folly seem to have a point. What is it we Christians believe exactly? We believe and affirm that the infinite and eternal Word of God united with mankind in a man named Jesus ben David. He lived about two thousand years ago, worked with His hands for years in relative obscurity, and then He began to preach that the long-awaited Kingdom of God had arrived. He soon ran afoul of the local religious authorities who had Him murdered in a particularly gruesome way. The central Christian message is that this murder was the point at which God saved the world.
Does this make any sense to you? The fact that it does is testimony to the saving power of the cross indeed. What else can account for the fact that today, two thousand years later, missionaries, church planters, evangelists, and pastors travel all over the world, preaching the power of a murder? It only makes sense because there is power in the message of the cross.
To those behind the murder, it seemed nothing more than their usual way of getting rid of a troublemaker. They, puffed up in the conceits of their own mind, thought that they were in control. And the folly was not limited to our human race. If the spiritual rulers of that wicked age had known what they were doing (destroying their own dominion and authority over mankind), they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Herod wanted to see magic tricks, and he was disappointed. He sent Christ back to Pilate, and so the world was saved. Pontius Pilate washed the blood of Christ off his hands (in vain), and so the world was saved. The leaders of the Jews were consumed with envy and hatred, arranged for Christ to be betrayed, and so the world was saved.
Does this make any sense to you? The fact that it does means that you are among the called of God. Of course it makes sense to you -- this murder occurred so that you, and countless others, would be saved through hearing of it. But it only makes sense because God has determined and ordained that in the message of this cross His power would be manifested.
One warning: the "acceptability" of the cross must not be confused with the power of the cross. Many professing Christians have made the cross into a respectable religious talisman by silver-plating it, decorating it, hanging it up in churches, and so forth. But the cross is a gibbet -- it was an instrument of torture and death. On it our Lord was murdered -- and we were saved.
When we look at how the cross is described in the New Testament, we see that the efficacy contained in the cross is very much assumed in the gospel message. This can be seen when we consider "purpose clauses" introduced with words like that. For example, in Titus 2, Paul has been describing the death of our Lord. In verse 14, he says, ". . . who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works." In other words, the death of Jesus had, as its object, the redemption and purification of a special people. Not only was their salvation secured in the cross, their ongoing zeal for godliness was secured there as well.
In Romans 6:3, we read that "as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death . . . For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection." There is nothing more glorious than the certainties of Scripture. We read here that it is certain that those who died with Christ will also be raised with Him -- to live forever and ever. Those for whom Christ died have, because of that death, also died. And because they have died with Him, they will also live with Him.
Now who has died with Him? Given the power of the cross, however we answer the question, we must be prepared to assert that the same group of people will be raised in the likeness of Christ's glorious resurrection. The biblical answer is that "His own special people" died with Him, and so will be raised with Him. The teaching of Scripture is that those for whom Christ died have had a death to sin secured for them. Why? The answer is the power of the cross. Scripture knows nothing of a non-powerful application of the redemption of Christ.
Because it is powerful, the cross does not create possibilities. It creates actualities. It does not bring about redeemability. It redeems. It does not produce ability to be saved -- it saves. It does not bring about the possibility of propitiation; it actually and really turns aside the wrath of God.
So if we understand the Scriptures properly, we do not have a cross that tries to do anything. At the last, Jesus cried out that the great sacrifice was finished. If a sinner is to be saved, we must understand that all the work of saving was done in the cross, and nowhere else.
When we first come to an understanding of this, we may begin to glory in the cross. The countless millions who will be gathered before the throne of God at the last day will be there because the cross saves. They will sing of that salvation and of the worthiness of the One who secured it. They will not be there in honor of a "nice try." They will be there because their evil sinfulness was overcome by the only thing sufficient to overcome it -- the Holy Spirit's effectual application of an efficacious redemption, decreed before time began by our sovereign, loving, electing Father.
Amen.
