The cross of Christ''
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From Octavius Winslow's "The Believer Crucified"
Jesus could accomplish man's redemption
in no other way than by crucifixion. He must
die, and die the death of the cross.
"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, through which the world has been
crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14
What light and glory beam around the cross!
Of what prodigies of grace is it the instrument,
of what glorious truths is it the symbol, of what
mighty, magic power is it the source!
Around it gathers all the light of the Old Testament
economy. It explains every symbol, it substantiates
every shadow, it solves every mystery, it fulfils every
type, it confirms every prophecy of that dispensation
which had eternally remained unmeaning and inexplicable
but for the death of the Son of God upon the cross.
Not the past only, but all future splendour, gathers
around the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It assures
us of the ultimate reign of the Saviour, tells of the
reward which shall spring from His sufferings; and
while its one arm points to the divine counsels of
eternity past, with the other it points to the future
triumph and glory of Christ's kingdom in the eternity
to come. Such is the lowly yet sublime, the weak yet
mighty instrument by which the sinner is saved and
God eternally glorified.
The cross of Christ was in Paul's view
the grand consummation of all preceding
dispensations of God to men.
The cross of Christ was the meritorious
procuring cause of all spiritual blessings
to our fallen race.
The cross of Christ was the scene of Christ's
splendid victories over all His enemies and ours.
The cross of Christ was the most powerful
incentive to all evangelical holiness.
The cross of Christ was the instrument which was
to subjugate the world to the supremacy of Jesus.
The cross of Christ was the source
of all true peace, joy, and hope.
The cross of Christ is the tree beneath
whose shadow all sin expired, all grace lived.
The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! What a
holy thrill these words produce in the heart
of those who love the Saviour! How significant
their meaning, how precious their influence!
Marvellous and irresistible is the power of the cross!
The cross of Christ has subdued many a rebellious will.
The cross of Christ has broken many a marble heart.
The cross of Christ has laid low many a vaunting foe.
The cross of Christ has overcome and triumphed
when all other instruments have failed.
The cross of Christ has transformed the lion like
heart of man, into the lamb like heart of Christ.
And when lifted up in its own naked simplicity and
inimitable grandeur, the cross of Christ has won and
attracted millions to its faith, admiration, and love!
What a marvellous power does this cross of Jesus
possess! It changes the Christian's entire judgment
of the world. Looking at the world through the cross,
his opinion is totally revolutionized. He sees it as it
really is; a sinful, empty, vain thing.
He learns its iniquity, in that it crucified the Lord of life and glory.
His expectations from the world, his love to the
world, are changed. He has found another object
of love, the Saviour whom the world cast out and
slew. And his love to the world is destroyed by
that power which alone could destroy it, the
crucifying power of the cross.
It is the cross which eclipses, in the view of the true
believer, the glory and attraction of every other object.
What is the weapon by which faith combats with and
overcomes the world? What but the cross of Jesus?
Just as the natural eye, gazing for a while upon the sun,
is blinded for the moment, by its overpowering effulgence,
to all other objects; so to the believer, wont to concentrate
his mind upon the glory of the crucified Saviour, studying
closely the wonders of grace and love and truth meeting
in the cross, the world with all its attraction fades into
the full darkness of an eclipse.
Are not Christ and His cross infinitely
better than the world and its love?
"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, through which the world has been
crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14
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