The Cross

Nothing in this world has caused greater offense and brought greater blessing than the cross. Christ bore His cross patiently, and it made Him triumphant over principalities and powers and gave Him a princely education.

The Jews had long nurtured a deep hatred for the Gentiles. But by the cross—in His flesh—Christ abolished this enmity and in Himself made one new man from the two, thus making peace. He reconciled the two in one body to God, through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. Eph. 2:15.

If such complete opposites as Jews and Gentiles have become one in that one body, how much more should two Gentiles be able to melt together in that same body, which is the church. But only the cross can accomplish this—nothing else.

God loves the cross; therefore He allowed His only begotten Son to bear it all His life. The cross will give you a better education than the best universities, because the training those schools give is only for this life; but the training the cross gives us is for this life and also for the life to come. The devil can go along with everything but the cross, and it is also the worst thing you can offer to his children. They are all for doing good, as long as they can avoid the cross. When clubs and organizations want to raise money for various purposes, they arrange dances, celebrations, raffles, bazaars with performances, etc., so that the flesh gets its money’s worth. The widow’s last mite was in harmony with the cross, and thus she gave more than all those who gave out of their abundance.

God’s Spirit draws us to the cross. Christ was the first one to be drawn to the cross, and now we are being drawn in that same direction. Christ offered Himself through the power of an eternal Spirit, and we can constantly commit ourselves into death through the power of the Spirit of Christ. This is how we are conformed to Christ in His death.

When Paul first preached to the Galatians, he did so in the weakness of his flesh, and they received him as an angel of God. They would gladly have plucked out their eyes and given them to him. Gal. 4:13-15. But when the cross had done its work in the apostle and he returned to the Galatians, he spoke in such a way that they could no longer tolerate him, and he was compelled to say, “Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?”

We will also learn the same lesson. When we are first converted, we find friends everywhere; but if we take up the cross God gives us to bear, these friends become our enemies.

If we take the cross out of Christianity, even the world can make use of it for its social and religious entertainment, which provides people with all kinds of fleshly gain and comfort.

However, Paul experienced something quite different. The cross drove him to the place where he sensed that he was being displayed as the most lowly, as a man condemned to death, as one who had been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. 1 Cor. 4:9. He was a fool for Christ’s sake, but the Corinthians were very wise, as are their descendents to this very day. No one knows as much as a fool; he knows about everything and is very quick to express himself. For that reason, he is willing to go anywhere there is an opportunity for him to pour out his folly, which he, of course, believes is wisdom. They think they are very wise in Christ and, therefore, also feel strong and mighty. Paul, on the other hand, was weak. The cross had shown him that all his knowledge, even that which he had received at the feet of Gamaliel, was only useless rubbish when compared to the knowledge of God that he had received in and through the Holy Spirit. The Corinthians were held in honor, but the apostle was without honor. The cross takes away our honor. Therefore, if you have not yet counted the cost, count it now. Are you willing to lose all your honor through the cross? Are you willing to be united with your Lord and Master in dishonor and reproach? Are you willing to cleanse out the old doctrines, the old, preconceived ideas, and all the old leaven? If so, God will make you into a new lump.

Just look at the Christianity that despises the cross, and you will discover that it has no vitality—it cannot produce life. What help are the gifts of tongues, prophecy, interpretation of tongues—whatever gift of the Spirit we can mention—if the cross is left out? Look at the free assemblies across our country, and you will see that many of them are dying out because their leaders have not preached the cross. Debauchery and excesses of every kind are whispered about in secret. And what is the reason for that? People hate the cross, and the result is debauchery. It is time to wake up and get your life together. That is the right thing to do, because the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God—that is, with us. 1 Pet. 4:17. It is to begin from the Holy Place. If anyone considers themselves to be “on the inside,” then they must be reconciled to being judged as one who is “on the inside.” 1 Cor. 5:12. The Lord is doing a work in our day, but He begins from the inside and works outward so that it will be a work of Himself and not of man. God has put up with empty Christianity long enough—that is, Christianity without the cross. Now He is allowing the gospel of the cross—the good, old gospel—to once again resume its rightful place, so that these “anything-goes, liberty preachers” will hear it, despair, and be put to shame. They will indeed be ashamed when the gospel that they have not preached breaks through to destroy the work of wood, hay, and stubble which they have built without the cross. The message of “freedom, freedom” has been preached long enough. Congregations have been enjoying themselves in all this freedom, and multitudes have made use of it unreservedly—in the flesh. Therefore, it is high time to preach “cross, cross,” because the time is right, and God is working so that it will prosper.