The cross of Christ

After my grandfather, William Maxwell, went home to glory, I was privileged to receive some of his notes on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (one of his favourite subjects) — that cross “by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gl 6:14). How often to we think of this double separation which the cross represents? How clearly is it seen in our lives?

The second part is maybe easier: “… I unto the world.” For as soon as I proclaim my love for the crucified Lord, the world turns it’s back on me, and despises me. I don’t really have much say in this — it is inevitable.

But maybe we forget that, by the cross, the world is crucified unto me — in all its aspects. Its wisdom (“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect” — I Co 1:17), its religion (“As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ” — Gl 6:12) and its materialism (“For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things” — Ph 3:18-19). Those are the only three times that the expression “the cross of Christ” occurs in the NT.

While the world proclaims the perfections of its wisdom, the power of its religion, and the pleasures of its “earthly things”, our Lord presents to us His cross. Which attracts us more? Are we wiling to embrace the cross, and crucify the world?

“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gl 6:14).

Fear gives place to longing

Sidney Collett (The Scripture of Truth, 17th impression, Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1945, page 100) mentions an interesting detail about the Word of God when he contrasts the first and the last words of man to God recorded in the Bible. The first words are in Gn 3:10: “I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” The last are in Rv 22:20: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

What a contrast! In the beginning of the Bible, man is afraid of God — when he hears that God is coming, he runs away and hides. At the end of the Bible, man longs for God — when he hears God saying: “Surely I come quickly”, his glad response is: “Come!”

This is the message of the Bible: God, by His Son Jesus Christ, removed the root of sin that separated us from Him, so that the fear and shame that we felt in His presence might be replaced by a happy longing for Him. How great is His grace! How unspeakable is His gift (II Co 9:15)!