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The Cross of Christ Crucifixion
When our thoughts turn to
the cross of Christ what sort of mental picture do we
have? Do we see the cross as something ennobling and
glorious? Do we have warm sentimental feelings about
crucifixion? By sheer animal instinct the man would struggle to keep alive although life meant torture. Under its own weight his body would slump forward constricting the lungs and restricting breathing. But again and again, despite the intense pain in pierced hands and feet, he would heave his chest upwards to draw breath -- and keep alive. Ultimately death would come as a relief but only after hours and hours -- often days -- of indescribable agony. The Lord died after six hours on the cross, and Pilate was amazed that he had died so soon (Mark 15:44) In the days when the Romans ruled, crucifixion was regarded with revulsion and disgust. The offender -- usually a dangerous political enemy or an incorrigible criminal -- was raised aloft and placarded before the people as a grim warning that disobedience does not pay. Those who witnessed the ghastly spectacle usually took the lesson. Of the Lord Jesus Christ
it is written that he "endured the cross despising
the shame" (Hebrews 12:2). It was such a shameful
death that some contended that Jesus could not have been
the Son of God because God would never have allowed His
Son to die such a vile death. When the Jews first became aware of the presence of the Lord Jesus, they were hopeful and excited. The Romans had robbed them of their independence and they resented it. They wanted a king of their own, and Jesus of Nazareth as they called him, seemed a likely candidate for this office. He seemed to have alI the qualifications! Although the Lord Jesus
was -- and still is -- destined to be a king, other
matters had to be dealt with first. Especially important
was the need to preach repentance and personal holiness,
as the Lord did early in his ministry in the Sermon on
the Mount. The Jewish leaders did not appreciate this
emphasis on moral integrity. They felt rebuked not only
by his words but also by the awesome holiness of the Lord’s
character. Also they were envious of his popularity with
the common people. How then could they get rid of him? First they had to persuade themselves and their fellow Jews that there were good reasons for removing this man. The real reasons -- envy of Jesus and fear of the Romans -- could not be broadcast though attempts to conceal them were not remarkably successful. What then should the "official" reason be? After a deal of bungling because the false witnesses whom they had suborned kept contradicting each other, they found a charge that would make them appear as men of high principle: Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God. Although the claim was true they called it blasphemy, and blasphemy was punishable by death. His fate was determined. But there was still a problem. The Romans were their overlords, and only those whom the Romans condemned could be put to death -- and then only by the Romans themselves. So they had to persuade the Romans to kill him. It would have been no use their complaining to the Romans that Jesus of Nazareth had claimed to be the Son of God. The superstitious Romans might even have honored him for this high claim; certainly they would not have thought of it as a capital charge. So with tongue in cheek the Jewish leaders reported to Pilate the Roman governor, that this man claimed to be the king of the Jews, whereas they acknowledged no king but Caesar. He was therefore, they argued, a threat to the Roman government. If you let this man go, they said to Pilate you are not Caesar’s friend. (Remember that not so long before this they would have welcomed Jesus as a king because they wanted to be independent of Rome) Of course Pilate could see through their guile, yet he was forced to give in to their demand lest he himself should be reported to Caesar for disloyalty So Jesus was crucified. See how opposite types
were drawn together. Normally Jews and Romans hated each
other, and so did the Pharisees and Sadducees. Indeed
Pilate and Herod were enemies until the trial of Jesus.
It was a strange mixture of peoples that conspired
together to put the Son of God to death. Differences were
sunk because there was a formidable common enemy. Jesus is still a challenge to the world. All who belong to the world are on the side of the crucifiers. If we belong to the world, we are in the same class as those who crucified Christ. What a shocking commentary on human nature: when the righteous Son of God lived on this earth people decided that they would be better off without him -- they plotted to get rid of him! And once they had made up their minds, they would stop at nothing -- lies, hypocrisy, illegal trials, bribery, false witnesses, blackmail, torture, murder. Those who simply blame the Jews are missing the point. The point is that, given the circumstances, any other nation would 0have acted in the same way. Perhaps, in this sophisticated age, the details of the story might have worked out differently. But the motives and the end would have been the same. Human beings just cannot tolerate a person whose one ambition in life is to obey the laws of God. To express it in another way: human beings reject the standards required by God. They prefer to obey their own human instincts. And what are these instincts? Let the Lord Jesus tell us: "From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man" (Mark 7:21-23). And Paul completes the description of human nature: ". . . Jews and Gentiles . . . are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God . . . there is no fear of God before their eyes" (Romans 3:9-18). A revolting picture -- of
us! "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7). Now consider. Because God is the Creator of heaven and earth and all that they contain, everything belongs to Him. And because He is the Possessor of everything, He is in charge. His word is law. So when God put man into a garden which He had prepared for him, it was altogether reasonable that He should have given him instructions concerning what could be done and what could not be done. (How strange that this should need saying at all!) God's instructions were: "Of
every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:16-17). "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen. 3:19). The effect of this upon the rest of humanity is stated by Paul: "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12). Like begets like. Adam
disobeyed and became a sinner, and all his children
follow him in the way of sin. The Scriptures declare, and
we know from personal experience, that there is in all
human beings a strong tendency to defy the law of God.
Adam was condemned to death, and his descendants, the sin-stricken
human race -- all who are "in Adam", to use a
Scriptural expression -- are likewise subject to death:
"Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
Who was right -- God or
Adam? Obviously God was right. Despite a clear warning,
Adam broke God's law and paid the penalty. Yet the
verdict of man is that Adam was right and God was wrong.
People do not usually say this in so many words, yet by
action and attitude they show that their respect and
sympathy are for Adam, not God. They express this
attitude in two ways: (1) by condoning sin; (2) by
resenting death. "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). All reject death. They resent the death sentence that God pronounced on the human race. To many it seems that, instead of receiving the just reward of their deeds, they are being cheated. Even if he were not a sinner, man could not reasonably claim the right to live for ever. Yet sinful human beings seem to regard death as an unjust and cruel imposition. Indeed, many people deny that death takes place at all. Although all the evidence points the other way, they say that death is only an appearance -- not a reality. When a man dies (they claim) life really begins. They regard death as the gateway to a richer and fuller life. This is utterly contrary to the teaching of Scripture. As we have seen, the Bible teaches that death is a punishment. It was never intended to be something pleasant and attractive. According to the Bible, when a man dies "his thoughts perish" (Psalm 146:4); and "the dead know not anything" (Eccles. 9:5). To put it simply: death is the cessation of life. Although man keeps
fighting against God throughout his life -- by continuing
to sin and by rejecting death -- God wins decisively in
the end, and man returns to his native dust. God did not
say in vain, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return". But how was God to fulfil His good purpose in a world governed by man's disobedience and wickedness? God's wisdom found the way. Whilst it would seem that sinners would triumph in putting Jesus to death, in reality God would surely fulfil His purpose despite man's wickedness, indeed by turning it to good account. Peter puts it like this: "(Christ)
being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands
have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23). Two quotations here remind us what the first of these blessings was: "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3). "Now once in the end of the world hath he (Christ) appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9:26). The death of Christ was
therefore God's way of saving man from sin. "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:14-16). The first part of this
quotation refers back to an incident which we hope to
discuss later. But the vital message is easy to
understand: the death of Christ presents man with an
opportunity to live for ever. The importance of the Lord's resurrection is emphasised in 1 Corinthians 15. It is the foundation fact upon which the Christian hope is based: "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming" (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Like the Lord Jesus himself, his followers will be raised from the dead. Do not miss the fact that the passage quoted also tells us that the resurrection of Christ's followers will take place when he comes again. This is not the whole story. After his resurrection, the Lord Jesus proclaimed triumphantly: "I am he that liveth, and was dead . . . " (Rev. 1:18). But he did not stop there. He continued: " . . . and, behold, I am alive for evermore." He was therefore making a double claim:
And so it will be with those "that are Christ's". Not only will those who have died be raised from the dead when their Lord returns: they will also receive eternal life, "the gift of God". The blessings of
resurrection and immortality are therefore promised to
the Lord's followers because he himself surrendered to
God's will and died upon a cross. The facts are clear,
though the reason for them involves much that is deep and
wonderful. There comes a point when some of Adam's followers begin to see the unwelcome destination towards which they have been moving. When death looms large before them they start dragging their feet, but all to no avail. Although they are not willing to die, death claims them. The Lord Jesus was different. He always resisted sin, and he accepted death. Thus he declared by his life and his death that Adam was wrong and God was right. To accept death as the
just reward of one's sins is exceptional. But to accept
death without ever having sinned marks out the Lord Jesus
as a unique person. The Lord Jesus had no human father. He is called the Son of God because God was truly his Father. The power of God, called the Holy Spirit, caused his mother, a member of the human race, to conceive and give birth to a son -- the Son of God: "And
the angel answered and said unto her (Mary), The Holy
Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest
shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
God" (Luke 1:35). "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, this is, the devil . . . For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted" (Heb. 2:14-18). "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). The fact that the Scriptures lay so much emphasis upon this truth is the measure of its importance. It is strange that so many people indignantly reject the Bible teaching that, in "the days of his flesh", our Lord had a nature like ours. His temptation in the wilderness was not play-acting: it was real. The suggestions were attractive. He had to struggle to resist them; and it was likewise a struggle to accept death. Yet, by
resisting sin and accepting death, the Lord Jesus
repudiated Adam and came down decisively on God's side in
the great controversy. Think now of the Lord Jesus as the leader of another procession-a much smaller one. To his disciples he said: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matt. 16:24). Do you see the picture? In
the lead is Jesus himself-going to the place of
crucifixion. Following him is a procession of people who
have opted out of the Adamic procession. Each is bent
under the burden of a cross; each is a volunteer for
crucifixion. These have also decided, like their Leader,
that God is right. They are going to die with Christ that
they might live with him. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom. 6:1-6). See how the baptism of a
believer unites him with the Lord Jesus Christ. He dies
with him. In the figurative language of the chapter, he
is crucified with him. He is crucified to sin-he
renounces his former way of life-and the life that he
lives after baptism is a new life, like that of the
resurrected Christ. This change happened dramatically to the man they called Saul of Tarsus. There was a time when he was "breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord" (Acts 9:1). So intimately did the Lord Jesus identify himself with his disciples that he intervened and rebuked Saul, saying: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" In response to Saul's enquiry, the Lord said: "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest" (Acts 9:4,5). When Saul was converted, he
was required to suffer persecution. The Lord said:
"I will show him how great things he must suffer for
my name's sake" (Acts 9:16). And how he suffered! "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (2:20). More light is shed on this subject by another passage from Galatians: "But 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" (6:14). Paul is involved in two crucifixions here: (1) "the world is crucified unto me; (2) " . . . and I unto the world." The second crucifixion is easy to understand. Paul is crucified (figuratively speaking) by the hostile world because he is a follower of Christ. But what about the first crucifixion? Paul-and other believers-are crucifiers of the world. How can this be? The answer is that, as well as being outside of us and around us, the world is inside each one of us. Human desires are called the world (1 John 2:16). This world within us, which is also called "the flesh" has to be crucified. Thus in Galatians 5:24 Paul says: "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Disciples must therefore
prepare for confrontation with the world on two fronts.
They have to crucify, or destroy, their ungodly
tendencies; and they have to suffer the hostility of a
world that hates them because they hate sin. The
hostility of the world shows itself in various ways.
Sometimes it takes the form of physical assault;
sometimes it is petty persecution; invariably there are
indications that the people of the world do not
appreciate the company of true Christians. When God pronounced the death sentence on mankind in Eden He was upholding His own righteous law. If He were to waive this sentence, He would, in effect, be saying that sin does not really matter after all. So the sentence of Eden stands and God requires that each of us must die. Sooner or later death overtakes all men: but God encourages us to recognize our own degraded and hopeless condition and anticipate the death sentence. We must volunteer for crucifixion. Now think of Christ. He is our representative, who identified himself with the human race in suffering, in temptation, in mortality. Although he never sinned, he carried the great burden of other people's sins, with their painful and shameful consequences. Isaiah the prophet expresses it like this: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth" (Isa. 53:5-7). The question is sometimes asked: Why did Jesus have to die such a painful and shameful death? One reason is because he bore the sins of others: he bore the sins of all who identify themselves with him. The pain and the shame of the cross are the just reward for their deeds. The penitent thief recognised that he deserved crucifixion (Luke 23:40,41), and so must all true Christians. By crucifixion our Lord placarded before the world what human nature deserves. Christ is our representative. He identified himself with human nature in life and in death. And we must identify ourselves with him. With him we must die; and with him we shall be raised to a life over which death has no power. "It is
a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall
also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign
with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us" (2
Tim. 2:11,12). "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). In the same Gospel, the Lord Jesus compares himself to a brazen serpent: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up" (John 3:14). A greater contrast it would be impossible to imagine. Lambs are attractive, innocent and of great value. Serpents are repulsive, vicious, dangerous. If our Lord had not compared himself to the brazen serpent, we would never have dared to do so. How remarkable that both these creatures, the lamb and the serpent, should be used as symbols of the Lord Jesus in his death. This may help us to appreciate that there are truths here which need to be understood. Do not miss the fact that the comparison is with a brazen serpent -- a harmless image of a creature with an immense potential for evil. The story of the brazen
serpent is told in Numbers 21. The children of Israel had
brought the wrath of God upon themselves by their
incessant grumbling about God's good gifts. God sent
fiery serpents amongst the people and many of them were
bitten and mortally wounded. Then, in compassion, God
instructed Moses to make a brazen serpent and to set it
upon a pole in the midst of the stricken multitude. Those
dying Israelites who deliberately turned to look at the
brazen serpent were healed. "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20). But the rituals and
ordinances of the Law of Moses were very instructive. The
Law in fact reflected God's love and concern for man. It
was "our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we
might be justified by faith" (Gal. 3:24). The Law
prepared the discerning Israelite for -- and helps us to
understand -- the atoning work of God in the death of His
beloved Son. "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Rom. 3:21-24) So the incident of the brazen serpent is a dramatized parable demonstrating that there was no power in the Law of Moses to save humanity from the serpent bite of sin. That is why God provided His only begotten Son. But why does the Lord compare himself to a serpent, of all creatures? The Son of God came in human form. In character he was perfect, yet he had inherited from Adam a "serpent" nature -- a nature which could be tempted to sin. This nature was the cause of the trouble. It had to be cursed and crucified. To hang a person on a
tree, pole, or cross, was a symbolic act. It was the
Hebrew way of cursing the one who was "lifted up".
In the words of Scripture: "He that is hanged is
accursed of God" (Deut. 21:23). In comparing himself
to the serpent on the pole, the Lord was teaching that
salvation from death could only come by cursing and
destroying human nature with its potential for rebellion
against God's authority. The Lord Jesus, an innocent
bearer of this rebellious nature, showed what to do with
it. He crucified it, and he invited others to do the same.
The ultimate outcome of this amazing demonstration of divine power -- power to destroy and power to save -- was the deliverance of the whole nation from Egyptian bondage. To ensure that the children of Israel never forgot this mighty deliverance, God instructed them to commemorate the Passover annually. Each family procured for itself a lamb, which was slain and eaten in circumstances that would provide a vivid reminder of the deliverance from Egypt. Generations as yet unborn would have reason to thank God for that fateful night. In New Testament times the
Jews were careful to observe this annual Passover Feast.
No detail was neglected; indeed they did more than was
required. Yet there was no gratitude in their hearts. At
the very time that the priests and rulers were making
elaborate preparation to keep this feast -- a feast
designed to show their gratitude for a mighty deliverance
-- they were plotting to put God's only Son to death. What is the lesson of the Lamb? Pure and precious, it represents the best that man can afford. The best is offered up to God. Everything that is truly good comes from God and belongs to God. Men are required to offer up to God all that is worthy in themselves, and all their treasured possessions and above all life itself. The paschal lamb was not offered instead of the offerer. It represented his best, and was a token of his own complete surrender to God. By eating the flesh of the lamb, the Israelites symbolically identified themselves with it. Its blood was, in a sense, their blood, which means that its life represented their life. By this ceremony they declared that they were not their own -- they were offering themselves to God. And God recognised them as His own and delivered them. So too with the Lamb of
God. Conscious of his need for help, he sought it
diligently from his Father -- and received it. All his
virtue and the perfection of his character had come from
God and was offered up to God. We are invited to admire
his perfection, to identify ourselves with him and
through him to offer ourselves up to God. Like Israel of
old, God will then recognize us as His redeemed people,
"not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and
gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:18,19).
The brazen serpent symbolizes the destruction of what is evil, and the paschal lamb symbolizes the giving back to God of what is good. Together they sum up all that was accomplished by the death of Jesus, and all that is required of his followers. Human nature is evil and
offensive to God. It must be destroyed. This is the
lesson of the brazen serpent. But life itself, and every
good gift, has come from God and must be given back to
him in sacrifice. This is the lesson of the paschal lamb.
In life and death Jesus upheld this principle himself and proved it to be true by his glorious resurrection. He invites us to follow him through death to everlasting life. Dare we reject so gracious an offer? PETER WATKINS Reproduced by courtesy of the Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Association by whom all rights are reserved. |
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