“For 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 Corinthians 1:18).
The Jews of Paul’s day were saying to God, “Give us miracles.” And so, they asked Jesus for a sign that would prove he was God’s Messiah. They wanted to see some marvelous, miraculous act that would confirm and convince them that Jesus was indeed God’s promised messiah.
Instead, God gave them a man crucified on a cross. And they did not like it. The bloody cross was anathema to them because their scriptures said, “anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse.” (Deuteronomy 21:23). They also believed that the Messiah would be a strong leader who would come with great conquering power and majesty. Therefore, a crucified messiah was a contradiction in their thinking and thus unbelievable.
The Greeks of Paul’s day were saying to God, “Give us wisdom, the intellectual key to understanding the world’s mysteries, the Gnostic wisdom of religious humanism without the Divine.” Instead, God gave them a man crucified on a cross. And they did not like it. They could never dare to humble their proud intellects to believe that in Jesus Christ, God became human man.
To believe that God was in Jesus Christ reconciling the world to himself was incomprehensible and ridiculous in the human and proud reasoning of both Jews and Greeks. Neither group was willing to lay aside their egotistical skepticism to simply believe and trust God to be and do what he proclaimed to be and do.
On the other hand, the cross was for Paul the foundational core of salvation history. At the heart of the Christian gospel is the story of Christ’s death, and the good news that by that unspeakable ugly event of crucifixion suffering and death, salvation and eternal life were made possible for all mankind.
What God accomplished in Jesus Christ being crucified is in direct contradiction of the human ideas of wisdom and power, yet it did what human wisdom and power could never achieve. The message of the cross of Jesus Christ conveys the truth that God is LOVE, and that mankind is SINFUL. It further conveys that belief in Jesus, the crucified and resurrected Lord, fully and completely delivers all who believe from their bondage to sin and Satan’s evils.
There are three ways that I think the message of the cross reveals the ultimate power of God.
1. The way of the cross is the way of redemption – “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
2. The way of the cross is the way of reconciliation with God. “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:10).
3. The way of the cross is the way of restoration – “When you were dead in your sins …, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2:13-15).
The summary message of the cross as declared by the early church was simple and forthright. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus), and through him (Jesus) to reconcile to himself all things, whether thing on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20).
At the center of the centuries, B.C.-A.D., God placed a crucifixion cross. And, as the songwriter, Jessie B. Pounds, says so clearly, “I must needs go home by the way of the cross; There’s no other way but this. I shall ne’er get sight of the Gates of Light if the way of the cross I miss.”
Truly, the way of the cross is the only way home to the Father’s house. Carroll S. Ringgold tells of a white cross that stood on the outskirts of a city. A little lad was lost in the city. A policeman inquired, “Where do you live? Just tell me where you live.” But the boy did not know his address. Finally, upon further questioning, the small fellow said, “Take me to the cross on the hillside, and I can find my way home from there.”
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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – March 31, 2021
Ray M. Geigley
Healing Rays of Righteousness 
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