The cosmic significance of the cross!

This is the first part of a series that I should probably have started at the beginning of Lent! However, better late than never so it is my intention (DV) to publish a number of posts, between now and Resurrection Day, that focus on the Lord Jesus, the Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach).

In John's great vision, recorded for us as "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to His servants ..." (Rev 1:1), the apostle refers to "... the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Rev 13:8; NKJV).  This is, of course, a reference to Jesus, the sinless, spotless, Lamb of God; the perfect, all-sufficient, atoning sacrifice.

But hold on a minute!  Was not Jesus crucified a mere 2,000 (app) years ago, on the first "Good Friday"?  So what is the Bible, the inerrant Word of the Living God, talking about when it says that He was "... slain from the foundation of the world"?

The cross is, in fact, an event of cosmic significance.  It is not merely an event that took place on a specific day in time.  The cross stands in time in order that we might see something that is eternal - i.e.timeless.  From His eternal perspective, outwith time, Father God saw the cross long before, in time, it was raised on Calvary.  It was in His heart (if I may use an anthropomorphism) in eternity, before, in time, it stood outside Jerusalem.  The cross transcends time.

Had the crucifixion of Jesus merely taken place in time, it would have been just another event in the history of mankind.  But because it was planned in eternity, it shows me that what was 'captured' in a moment of time, is held eternally in the heart of God.

The story is told of a young boy who was visiting a large cathedral.  As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he looked up at what is known as the "rood screen" and said, "There's a cross up there."  The adult who was accompanying him pointed to the floor of the cathedral, and said, "There's a cross down here as well!"  Indeed, the whole building was a cross.  It was a cruciform building - the chancel and the nave symbolising the upright; the two transepts symbolising the cross-beam.

Take time to look for the cross in your everyday life - the letter 't'; a telegraph pole; the sword on a War Memorial.  It is everywhere.

Of course, if you have never come to the foot of that cross in repentance and faith, then for you it was, and is, a cosmic waste!  It is through the sacrificial blood of the Christ, and by no other way, that we may receive forgiveness, and know God's wonderful peace in our lives.

"Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you washed in the blood;
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless; are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?"       (Elisha Albright Hoffman).

Lent.

Today was the first Sunday in Lent - that season in the Christian calendar that, like so much else, seems to have been hijacked by those who profess no allegiance to (or even interest in) the Christ of the cross.  It seems to be just another photo-shoot opportunity for so-called 'stars' to let us all know which particular item they are going to be "giving up for Lent"!

But what is Lent?  What is the real thinking behind it?  May I suggest that it has all to do with Jesus.  The Lenten period is a reminder, not that He "gave up chocolate" (I doubt if any would have been available in the Middle East of the time!), but that He spent forty days in the wilderness area, culminating in the attempts, by the devil, to sidetrack Him from obedience to the Father's will. (Matthew 4:1-11, et al).

Lent, if it is to be in any way meaningful, should surely be a time when we seek to concentrate our minds more on Him.  We, too, are subject to the temptations of the evil one.  Peter reminds us that he "... prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." (I.Peter 5:8).   Just last night, I was watching a television programme that showed lions (actually, lionesses!) hunting.  It isn't just the speed of the great cat that is employed.  Indeed, speed is of secondary importance!  What those lionesses used was cunning strategy.  They targetted their prospective lunch, and worked, together, to bring it down.

The devil is no less cunning.  He knows me better than I know myself (although not as well as the Lord knows me).  He knows my weaknesses; my "Achilles' heels".  He also knows my strengths - few 'though they may be - and he employs all of that knowledge to attack me where he has most chance of success.

The fasting aspect of Lent, which is much more than giving up chocolate, or whatever, is an opportunity for me to use the senses that are thus sharpened in my defence.  If I give up an activity, then the time I would otherwise have used, should be used in alternative activities that will draw me closer to Him.  If I save money through this period, it should surely be given to a cause that is seeking to exalt His Name in our day.

Of course, I don't want to be "religious" about all of that.  I recall what Jesus had to say about those who act thus:  "And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men.  Truly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, thatyour fasting may not be seen by men but by you Father Who is in secret; and your FatherWho sees in secret will reward you." (Matt.616-18)

Lent - let it be to His glory!