Victory in Jesus

 6/7/2012

A recent letter in Readers Forum perfectly illustrates a misunderstanding held by most of Christendom.  (Cross a sign of joy, not failure, May 31, 2012)  The writer could not be more wrong.   The Cross of Christ is a sign of abject failure, shame, humiliation, disgrace and defeat.  When people wear a cross as jewelry, or worse, ascribe to it a superstitious, voodoo like power it only shows their ignorance of that fact.  

You can bet Satan was wringing his hands in devilish glee when Christ was nailed to the cross; thinking, “I finally got you, you pious bastard!”

Little did Satan realize at the time that the Cross represents a propitiation; an appeasement to God the Father for our sins.  We ought to be humiliated by the Cross because it should have been you and I on it.  When you realize our human family—that fallen nature we all share—would joyously do that to the Son of God for sport and entertainment dread should overtake your consciousness.

Here’s the tripping point.  Christ’s glory, the victory we now share is realized in the resurrection, not the crucifixion.  This may seem like splitting hairs to you, but consider what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 15:17 “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”  

The Cross evokes a lot of emotions in me:  gratefulness, wonder, amazement to name a few.  Joy… not so much.