The Cross

The Cross
An In-depth Look at
The Cross of Christ Revealed in Scripture

Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin

 Copyright © 2009 by Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009902095

ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-4415-1771-5
Softcover 978-1-4415-1770-8

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 Contents
Acknowledgment....................................................................................7
Introduction.............................................................................................9

1 The Cross Appears..........................................................................19

2 The Foreshadowing of the Cross in Abel’s Lamb...........................23
3 The Flood Is a Type of the Cross....................................................26
4 Mount Moriah Points to Calvary....................................................31
5 The Lamb without Blemish............................................................39
6 The Red Sea Is a Type of the Cross.................................................43
7 The Bitter Waters of Marah ­Sweetened by the Tree........................48
8 The Stricken Rock of Horeb...........................................................53
9 The Rock Stricken Again—a Mistake on the Part of Moses..........59
10 The Book of Leviticus Is Filled with
the Foreshadowing of the Cross......................................................63
11 Moses Lifts Up the Serpent............................................................66
12 Unveiling the Horrors of the Infamous Cross.................................72
13 The Psalm of the Crucifixion..........................................................77
14 The Psalm that Takes Us to Calvary and Beyond...........................83
15 The Cross in High Definition..........................................................86
16 What Are These Wounds?...............................................................92
17 Behold, the Lamb of God................................................................95
18 Destroy This Temple . . ..................................................................99
19 Jesus Points Nicodemus to the Cross............................................106
20 Following the Lord Jesus Christ Means Bearing
Your Very Own Cross....................................................................109
21 The Disciples Follow the Lord, Fearing the Cross........................112
22 The “I Am” of Jesus Confirmed by the Cross...............................116
23 The Lord Jesus Christ Speaks to Moses and Elijah of His Death.......119
24 The Lord Willingly Offers Himself...............................................122
25 The Corn of Wheat Which Falls into the Ground.........................125
26 Gethsemane’s Garden....................................................................128
27 The Six Trials for the Lord Jesus Christ.......................................132
28 The Sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ while on the Cross.............150
29 The Apostle Paul Discovers the Cross..........................................171
 Acknowledgment

T his book began during the

summer of 1998 when Pastor
Robert McLaughlin taught a remarkable series titled “The Cross
throughout the Scriptures.” A major source of inspiration for that series
was a book by F. J. Huegel titled The Cross Through the Scriptures now,
regrettably, out of print. Pastor McLaughlin is grateful for the influence
that this predecessor work by Frederick Julius Huegel had on his thinking
and approach to this subject.

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 Introduction

I would like to begin this book on

the Cross throughout the Bible
with some isagogics or historical background concerning crucifixion.
Isagogics means that to fully understand the plan of God for one’s life,
the Bible must be interpreted within the framework of the historical
setting or the time in which it was written. I am going to first approach
the subject of this book by trying to describe what suffering and death
on a cross was like.
According to ancient sources, crucifixion was one of the cruelest
and most humiliating forms of punishment in the ancient world. It was
considered the most horrible form of execution. The Jewish historian
Josephus described it following the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans
in AD 70 as “the most wretched of deaths.” He also stated that suicide
is preferable to the cruel fate of being put on a cross. This form of terror
was widespread across the Roman Empire, which included Europe, North
Africa, and Western Asia. Crucifixion originated several centuries before
the common era, which is the period coinciding with Christianity, and
it continued into the AD fourth century when Constantine, the emperor
of Rome, discontinued the practice. Interestingly, no other time in
history could or would have allowed our Lord to go through this form of
humiliation. Yet prophecy after prophecy in the Old Testament predicted
that the Messiah would have to endure such ill treatment. Consider these
facts:

• The Jewish people did not use a cross or a tree for capital
punishment; therefore consider the odds of the Lord Jesus Christ
having to die on a cross by the hands of the Jews! The crucifixion

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allowed our Lord to fulfill such prophecies as the brazen serpent

being lifted up on a pole. The Scripture stated, “And Moses made
a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about,
that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze
serpent, he lived” (Numbers 21:9). Jesus declared, “As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son
of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have
eternal life” (John 3:14‑15).
• People would watch Him as He was suffering publicly. David
wrote, “All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the
lip, they wag the head, saying, Commit yourself to the Lord;
let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights
in him” (Psalm 22:7‑8).
• His hands and feet would be pierced—“For dogs have surrounded
me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced
my hands and my feet” (Psalm 22:16).
• Not one of His bones would be broken—“He keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken” (Psalm 34:20).
• The prophecy of His crucifixion—“Therefore, I will allot Him
a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with
the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was
numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of
many, And interceded for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12).
• The piercing of Jesus’s side—“And I will pour out on the house
of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of
grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom
they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns
for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the
bitter weeping over a first‑born” (Zechariah 12:10).

The Old Testament talks about hanging people on the tree, but this
was done after they were dead as a form of humiliation. “If a man has
committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you
hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree,
but you shall surely bury him on the same day [for he who is hanged
is accursed of God], so that you do not defile your land which the
Lord your God gives you as an inheritance” (Deuteronomy 21:22‑23).
This was not death on a cross but a public form of humiliation after

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 The Cross

someone was killed under capital punishment. The cross, therefore, was
the electric chair, the gas chamber, and the lethal injection of first-century
Rome, its many provinces, and captive lands. The Persians, who came
from the land now known as Iran, invented death by crucifixion. Later,
it was adopted by the Phoenicians (Canaanites, a perverted people) and
the Carthaginians (North Africa). It was from the Carthaginians that
the Romans got crucifixion. Under the Romans, however, crucifixion
degenerated into a cruel means of torture and death. Only one word can
come close to describing death by crucifixion: agony. Even that word
does not fully convey what death by crucifixion was like. Among other
things, it was humiliating, tormenting, slow, and very public. A slave,
who was pardoned by the emperor after he had already been nailed on
a cross, was reported to say, upon his recovery, “On the cross, there are
only two things: pain and eternity. They tell me I was only on the cross
twenty-four hours, but I was on the cross longer than the world existed.
If there is no time, then every moment is forever.”
So while its origins are somewhat obscured, it is clear that death on
a cross was a form of capital punishment, which lasted for around eight
hundred years; and hundreds of thousands of individuals were subjected
to this cruel and humiliating death. Mass executions, in which hundreds
and thousands died, appear in literature. One such mass execution was the
well-known crucifixion of six thousand followers of Spartacus as part of a
victory celebration along the Appian Way in 71 BC. While many people
believe that crucifixion was reserved for criminals only, history clearly
shows that criminals were not the only ones subjected to this ultimate
torture. Alexander the Great had two thousand survivors from the siege
of Tyre crucified on the shores of the Mediterranean. In addition, during
the time of Caligula (AD 37‑41), Jews were tortured and crucified in the
amphitheater to entertain the inhabitants of Alexandria.
How an individual expired on a cross has been debated over the years.
Many researchers believe that death occurred as the result of a ruptured
heart due to the passage in John describing the water and blood flowing
out of the wound. John wrote, “Then the Jews, because it was the day
of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on
the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high [day]), asked Pilate that
their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away. The
soldiers therefore came, and broke the legs of the first man, and of the
other man who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when

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they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs; but one
of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood
and water came out” (John 19:31‑34). Other scholars have regarded
asphyxiation or suffocation as the cause of death.
More recent research has shown the issue to be more complex,
depending upon the manner in which the victim was fastened to a cross.
If a person was suspended from a cross with their arms outstretched, in
the traditional manner depicted in Christian art, they experienced little
problem breathing. Therefore, the theory that death on the cross is the
result of suffocation is probably not correct if the arms were outstretched.
If, however, the victims were tied with their hands extended over their
heads and left hanging and their legs nailed, death could occur within an
hour because they could not use their arms to elevate the body to exhale.
For exhaling to occur in a normal manner, two sets of muscles are needed:
the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles between the ribs. With the
victims being suspended by their arms directly over their heads, these
sets of muscles cannot function properly, so the victims cannot exhale
and suffocate. As a deterrent to undesired behavior, Rome would crucify
many of its victims where the criminal event took place or, else, along the
city’s busiest highways. One Roman writer wrote, “Whenever we crucify
the guilty, the most crowded roads are chosen where most people can see
and be moved by this fear.” Giving the victim a proper burial following
death on a cross, during the Roman period, was rare and, in most cases,
simply not permitted in order to continue the humiliation. This is what we
read in John 19:38: “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a
disciple of Jesus, but a secret one, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that
he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission.
So he came, and took away His body.” The victims, in many cases, were
simply thrown on the garbage dump of the city or left on the cross as food
for wild beasts and birds of prey. It was also common, in those days, for a
procession through the streets of Jerusalem where the criminal, along with
a statement of his crime, could be publicly displayed. Mark wrote, “After
they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, and put His
garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him. They pressed
into service a passer‑by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the
father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross” (Mark 15:20‑21).
Many illustrations picture Jesus carrying the full cross, but the full
weight would have prohibited this. Evidence shows that He carried what

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 The Cross

the Romans called the patibulum, which is the crossbeam, and which
alone would have weighed up to 150 pounds. This was done to further
humiliate the criminal and as a means of further controlling the criminal.
Our Lord was carrying the crossbeam on His already raw and bloodied
back and shoulders. As He carried the beam, the damaged muscles in
His back and shoulders were further damaged under the weight of the
crossbeam. Around our Lord’s neck hung what was known as the titulus
on which was inscribed the charges He was being executed for.
Historians also agree that to add further humiliation to the process,
the victim was stripped completely naked. This added to the suffering
and humiliation of the person being crucified. Once stripped, the victim
would be thrown on his back upon the patibulum, the crossbeam; and there
a Roman soldier would nail the arms in place. The long square-headed
spikes used for this purpose would inevitably pass through or close enough
to the median nerve of the hands or, in most cases, the wrists so that the
nerve was severely damaged. Eventually, this would cause the victim to
sense a burning pain from hand to shoulder that is indescribable. This
would last throughout the entire time the person hung on a cross and
grew worse with each passing minute. Once the victim was nailed to the
crossbeam, the victim and crossbeam were raised up and dropped onto
the other half of the cross, which had a center notch cut in it, waiting for
the victim. The crossbeam would drop into place with such force that
the victim’s shoulders would often be dislocated, adding to the suffering
and increasing the torture. With the victim and crossbeam in place, the
Roman soldier, who had nailed the victim, would then gauge where to
nail the feet. The higher on the foothold, the longer the person could last.
When the soldier determined the proper height, a large spike would be
driven through both feet into the foothold. As with the hands, this spike
would cause damage to the major nerve, coming down the legs into the
feet, with the same results as in the hands: an intense burning pain that
grew minute by minute. Eventually, the person’s whole world was one
of burning pain.
Once the person was fastened to a cross, a soldier would climb a
small ladder and nail above the criminal the charges. The person was
now crucified. As the person on the cross slowly sagged down with more
weight on the nails in the wrist, excruciating, fiery pain would shoot
along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain, as the nails in
the wrist continually put pressure on the median nerves. As he pushed

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Robert R. McLaughlin

himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he had to place his full
weight on the nail through his feet. Again, there was the searing agony
of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of the feet.
At this point, another phenomenon would occur. As the arms fatigued,
great waves of cramps would sweep over the muscles, knotting them in
a deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps came the inability
to push upward. Hanging by the arms, the muscles in the chest would be
paralyzed, and the intercostal muscles would be unable to act. Air could
be drawn into the lungs but could not be exhaled properly. Hours of this
limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, partial suffocation,
burning pain as tissue was torn from His lacerated back as He moved
up and down against the rough timber, and then another agony began. A
deep crushing pain occurred deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly
filled with serum and began to compress the heart.
Perhaps this will give you a better idea of what is being described in
Psalm 22:14, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out
of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.”
According to some historians, the soldiers were not permitted to leave the
site until death was certain. At some point, the soldiers would finally put
an end to the pain by breaking the legs of each victim while still alive. This
would speed up the process of death. The victims could no longer rise up
for a breath and would soon suffocate. This is what the Roman soldiers
did to the men hanging on either side of Jesus, but coming to Jesus, they
found Him already dead. John writes, “The soldiers therefore came,
and broke the legs of the first man, and of the other man who was
crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was
already dead, they did not break His legs” (John 19:32‑33). To verify
His death, a soldier pierced our Lord’s side using a spear. The spear’s
thrust went diagonally, from right to left, through the lower lobe of the
right lung and into the heart itself. Such a wound would be immediately
fatal, and this was done in case a victim was faking death. The soldier,
who pierced the side of Jesus, saw that the blood and water had separated.
He had already died.
Our Lord also suffered greatly before He came to the Cross. John
writes, “Pilate then took Jesus, and scourged Him. And the soldiers
twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put
a purple robe on Him; and they began to come up to Him, and say,
‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and to give Him slaps in the face” (John

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 The Cross

19:1‑3). Scourging was a common practice at the time of Jesus and still
is in some parts of the world today. The Jews practiced scourging. Jewish
scourging was considered an intermediate death and was inflicted with
a long, flexible rod. The victim was given thirteen stripes on the left
shoulder, thirteen stripes on the right shoulder, and thirteen stripes across
the thighs. Painful as the Jewish scourging was, the Romans developed
their own method of scourging to inflict even greater pain and punishment.
The Roman scourging was much more severe and was known as halfway
death. It was administered by an experienced hand. This trained man used
a whip called a flagellum, which had a stubby wooden handle to which was
attached a bundle of leather whips. At the tip of the whips, bits of bone,
chain, or lead weights shaped like small dumbbells were fastened.
The professional administrator of the scourging, known as a lictor,
then picked up his flagellum and carefully took his stance, adjusting it
so as to bring the most force to bear on each stroke of the whip. As the
whip hit, the bits of bone or chain would dig in deeply into the flesh and
even into the muscle. As the whip was pulled back, yanked back actually,
pieces of flesh were torn loose. This caused even more damage and pain.
The entire process usually took less than four minutes; but the victim was
effectively, and severely, beaten about the back, shoulders, and sides of
the chest until he was raw and bleeding profusely from thousands of small
gashes. Invariably, the victim of scourging slipped into shock. So a review
of ancient crucifixion is more than the study of history or archaeology.
This study should elicit tremendous gratitude from anyone who catches
even a glimpse of what the Lord has done for them. No words could really
portray the physical suffering and agony that took place.

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the
reading of the old covenant the same veil remains uplifted,
because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses
is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a man turns
to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (2 Corinthians 3:14‑16)

In this Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul tells us that
for the Jews, the message of the Old Testament, which they so earnestly
read, was veiled or hidden from them. This veil still exists for the Jews
when the Torah is read, and it is in vain that the Prophets are read. The
deep meaning of the Psalms cannot be comprehended. The book of Isaiah

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Robert R. McLaughlin

relinquishes none of its treasures. David speaks a lan­guage that they

cannot understand. This veil upon the hearts and minds of the Jews will
not be removed until they turn to Christ and see that He is their crucified
Savior, Messiah, and King.
The sad thing is that today, in the same way, there exists a veil that
blinds the minds of Christians so that they may not see fully. They are
not able to look deep into the Word of God and see all that is there.
The only difference is that, in their case, it is in both the Old and the
New Testaments! The entire Bible is, in large measure, veiled to these
Christians. This veil has to do with the glory of the Cross of Christ
throughout the Scrip­tures. The main prophecies in the Old Testament
about Calvary are unheeded. In fact, God has noth­ing more wonderful
to reveal to man than the Cross. Heaven knows of nothing as glorious as
the Cross. For example, in the fifth chapter of the book of Revelation, we
witness the new song of millions of the redeemed around the throne.

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take
the book, and to break its seals; for You were slain, and
purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe
and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to
be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign
upon the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of
many angels around the throne and the living creatures
and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of
myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud
voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power
and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory
and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven
and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and
all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory
and dominion forever and ever.” (Revelation 5:9‑13)

Think of it: this very universe is a poor insignificant thing when

compared to the Cross of Christ. The combined wisdom of the entire
angelic creation can never conceive anything that could begin to match
its glory. The Cross will stand forever and ever as God’s masterpiece.
One writer has said, “Calvary marked the greatest hour in the entire

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 The Cross

meritorious history of Deity.” The greatest of the apostles declared that

he would not glory in anything except the Cross of Christ. Paul wrote,
“But may it never be that I would 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).
At the Cross, we have the meritorious attributes of God coming to
their most majestic expression. It was at the Cross that God found a way
to do what, even according to the Word of God, sounded impossible: God
justifying the ungodly and yet remaining just. Paul points to Christ as
the One “whom God displayed publicly as propitiation in His blood
through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in
the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time,
so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith
in Jesus” (Romans 3:25‑26). At the Cross, we have God declaring the
wicked righteous, which is the thought of Romans 5, without a shadow
of blame or unrighteousness falling upon His righteous character­. At the
Cross, the sinner who believes on His Son God frees. Even though such
person may be the worst of sinners, and yet there is not a tint of a blemish
upon His holy throne or His infinitely sacred and eternal justice. At the
Cross, there is a forgiveness that satisfies all the demands of the Law, and
has power to transform the wicked into a saint.
So it is when the Christian discovers the glory of the Cross that he
first comes to see the Bible in its truest light. It is then that he gets the
divine focus and realizes that, throughout the pages of the Scriptures, the
Lord was forever aiming at His supreme goal. It is then that the doctrines
of the Bible yield their deepest and most costly treasures. Luke narrates
for us at the conclusion of his gospel:

While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in

their midst and said to them, “Peace be to you.” But they
were startled and frightened and thought that they were
seeing a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled,
and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and
My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit
does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And
when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His
feet. While they still could not believe it because of their joy

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Robert R. McLaughlin

and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here

to eat?” They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; and He took
it and ate it before them. Now He said to them, “These are
My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that all things which are written about Me in the Law of
Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ
would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and
that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed
in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:36‑48)

Once he understands the Cross, the student of the Bible is no longer

in the entryway ­of revelation as were the apostles until the Lord Jesus
Christ opened their understanding so that they might see what was written
of Him in the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets and realize why He must
suffer (showing them the marks of His Cross) and enter into His glory.
Now the Christian is in a position to see the central message of the Word
of God for a sin-stricken humanity.
The purpose of this book is to unveil the Cross of Christ as it appears
all through the pages of God’s Word from Genesis to Revelation.

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 Chapter One
The Cross Appears (Genesis 3:15)

J ohn, the apostle, tells us in the book

of Revelation that the Lamb, Jesus
Christ, was slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation­13:8). In
eternity past, the Cross was already a fact in the mind of God. Peter said to
the Jews, “This Man [Jesus Christ], delivered up by the predetermined
plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands
of godless men and put Him to death” (Acts 2:23). This is why Paul
wrote, “He [God the Father] chose us in Him [Jesus Christ] before the
foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). In First Peter, we read, “Knowing
that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold
from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with
precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of
Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but
has appeared in these last times for the sake of you” (1 Peter 1:18‑20).
In Genesis 3:15, the Cross first appeared in the pages of Scripture.
Yet the Cross was already a fact in the mind of God back in eternity
past though it had not yet occurred in time. Adam and the woman had
fallen into sin. All of creation suffered as a result of man’s disobedience,
turning away as he did from God to self. You need not look beyond the
fact that the earth is one immense cemetery where millions lay dead,
their corpses returning to the dust from which they were taken, for proof
of the veracity of the biblical account. “Then the dust will return to
the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it”
(Ecclesiastes 12:7). Adam and the woman ate from the forbidden fruit

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and, therefore, died just as the Lord had warned they would. So could it be
that God’s original plan in creating man failed? Was Satan to be permitted
to lord over man, having deceived him and having brought him under his
bondage? Was there no hope of forgiveness and liberation for Adam’s
race? Would God forever be dishonored, His fatherhood denied, and His
purposes unfulfilled? Was it in God’s power to undo what the wicked
one, under whose power the whole world lies, had done (­1 John 5:19)?
Was God to be frustrated eternally because man, made in His image and
for the satisfaction of His heart, had sinned? These are all questions that
need to be answered. To answer these questions, let’s begin in Genesis
chapter 3, starting in verse 6:

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was
desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate;
and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then
the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that
they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and
made themselves loin coverings. And they heard the sound
of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,
and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence
of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the
Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are
you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden,
and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have
you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to
eat?” And the man said, “The woman whom Thou gavest
to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Then
the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have
done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me,
and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because
you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and
more than every beast of the field; on your belly shall you
go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life; and I will
put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you
shall bruise him on the heel” (Genesis 3:6‑15).

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 The Cross

Of course, man’s fall did not take God by surprise; God was not caught
napping­. Yes, it’s true that God made man in His own image with freedom
and the power of choice. However, for God with whom a thousand years
are but as a day (2 Peter 3:8), the immediate result was rebellion and sin­;
but the final outcome of it all would be restoration. Vic­tory would be
achieved; the Lord God would turn the curse into a blessing (Deuteronomy
23:5). What Satan meant for evil, God would turn into good (Genesis
50:20). Man would be reconciled and liberated; Satan’s work would be
destroyed, and man would be set free. “The Son of God appeared for
this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John
3:8). God did this by means of the Cross.
Man could not be re­stored by a divine command; that was sufficient
for the first creation, but that had been ruined. No divine command could
restore it. Man had chosen to follow the ways of Satan, using his own
free will against the will of God, to become independent of God. This
affiliation had to be respected; God cannot be any other way in any of
His dealings. He could not take away man’s freedom of choice. Without
freedom of choice, man would not be man, nor would he ever be able to
satisfy the desires of God’s heart. Man must be left free, and he must be
delivered from the one who has de­ceived him, Satan. “And the great
dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil
and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to
the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Revelation
12:9). Satan’s work must be undone, but how? The mere exercise of
divine authority and power could not fulfill the demands of the case. Man
must learn to love God and hate Satan, but how can this be achieved?
Well, man must learn to hate self, which is Satan’s agent within man, as
the governing principle of his life. This is why there are certain passages
concerning the Cross that tell man to lose his life:

And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is
not worthy of Me. He who has found his life shall lose it, and
he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it. (Matthew
10:38‑39)

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come

after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose

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Robert R. McLaughlin

it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. For
what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world,
and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange
for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24‑26).

Man must learn to love the only One who has the right to govern all
things—but how? Only a Man could change this, and He had to be like
the first Adam, a federal head of the race. He must be another Adam,
One who would begin anew. After Him would come those made out of
His likeness, bearing His life and His stamp. He could undo the first
Adam’s rebellion and sin by re­fusing Satan’s claims upon man in the full
and free exercise of His own free will and, therefore, shatter the alliance.
He would choose obe­dience at all costs and direct the human race as its
Head into a mighty race of devotion and faith and loyalty to God. And
Genesis 3:15 tells the story: “And I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise
you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” It is the first
promise in all the Scriptures of the coming of the Redeemer. The Seed
of the woman (only Christ our Lord answers to that) would bruise the
serpent’s head. The Seed of the woman would bring about en­mity on the
part of man in relation to the prince of darkness—that old serpent, the
devil. This was achieved through the Cross. As we learn in Hebrews 2:14,
it was through death that the Son of God brought about the destruction
of Satan’s work. By means of the Cross.

When He [Christ] had disarmed the rulers and authorities,

He made a public display of them, having triumphed over
them through Him. (Colossians 2:15)

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 Chapter Two
The Foreshadowing of the Cross
in Abel’s Lamb (Genesis 4)

I
n Genesis 3:15, we have the first
promise that the Redeemer will
come. In the very next chapter, we have our first appearance of the lamb.
Abel’s lamb, sacrificed unto the Lord, spoke of the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world.

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she
conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have
gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.” And again,
she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of
flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about
in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the
Lord of the fruit of the ground. And Abel, on his part also
brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.
And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but
for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain
became very angry and his countenance fell. (Genesis 4:1‑4)

The question that has often been asked regarding this passage is why
was it that Abel’s offering was pleasing unto the Lord while Cain’s was
not? What was the reason? Hebrews 11:4 is the New Testament ­account
of that sacrifice. “By faith (by means of doctrine), Abel offered to God

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a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony

that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through
faith, though he is dead, he still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4). Abel’s offering
pointed to the Cross while Cain’s offering pointed to man’s works.
As a result, there emerges, before us, the wicked manifestation of
mankind’s first murder and that of one man killing his own brother.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why
has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your
countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is
crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must
master it.” And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came
about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against
Abel his brother and killed him. (Genesis 4:6‑8)

Adam and Eve had turned away from the Lord for their own preference,
partaking of the forbidden fruit and rejecting God’s will for their own
life; and now, not long after, crime breaks out within the family. Why?
And what has this to do with the Cross? Once self is set up as a god and
becomes the “almighty” force ruling the heart, evil battles of this kind
become the order of the day. Self is now ruling rather than God. That’s
why the Lord said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).
When self rules, evil results; and while that evil may not turn into physical
murder like this passage portrays, remember that we are told, “Everyone
who hates his fellow-believer is a murderer; and you know that no
murderer has eternal life abiding [alive] in him” (1 John 3:15).
Why was Abel’s offering, a lamb slain, ac­cepted while Cain’s offering,
the fruit of his own labor as a tiller of the ground, rejected? Was it the
nature of the offerings—one being the blood of a lamb, the other the fruit
of the ground—which determined God’s approval on the one hand and
His disapproval on the other? Was the divine reaction, in the first instance,
motivated by the difference between the two men: one being proud and
given to anger, the other being meek and humble? That difference did
exist, but the difference really has to do with the nature of the offerings.
Where there is true faith in God’s Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, you have
not only the single ground of acceptance for the sinner, but also the
only source of his transformation. Where “the Lamb of God who takes

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 The Cross

away the sin of the world” is rejected (man preferring to trust in his own
merits), pride is the inevitable result. So the question why Abel’s offering
was accepted and Cain’s was not takes us to the heart of our series, and
it can only be answered in the light of the Cross. Hebrews 9:22 tells us
that without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. The entire Old
Testament substantiates that fact. Of course, when we come to the New
Testament, we hear the very voice of the Lord saying, “For this is My
blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness
of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
So the principle behind our passage, in Genesis 4, is the question of
the ground of man’s acceptance with God. Is it of works, or is it a gift of
God? Is it grace, or is it law? Is it what man may be able to do to justify
himself before God, or is it what another has already done for him? Is it
the Cross of Christ, which provides for my great need as a sinner; or must
I do the best I can—bringing, as Cain did, the fruits of my labor—and
justifying myself? Thank God, there is a glorious answer to all this; it is
the blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. “And to Jesus,
the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which
speaks better than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24).
So we see that at the very beginning of history, there are glimmers
of God’s masterpiece, signs pointing to Calvary’s Cross. We are grateful
for these shadows and figures of Old Testament times, all of which point
to the real Day of the Atonement in the putting away of sins through the
blood of Christ.

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 Chapter Three
The Flood Is a Type of
the Cross (Genesis 6‑8)

T o speak of the Cross of Christ

in the Old Testament, and not
consider the account of the Flood and Noah’s ark, would be a mistake.

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great
on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that
He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His
heart. (Genesis 6:5‑6)

Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth
was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth, and
behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way
upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh
has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence
because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them
with the earth.” (Genesis 6:11‑13)

Noah is called to build an ark in order that he might escape with his
family from the Flood that the Lord had decreed to cover the earth and to
wipe out all flesh. Noah does, indeed, build his ark; but the people mock
him and scoff at him, saying that he is crazy. Noah then preached the

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 The Cross

Gospel and warned them for 120 years, which represented the patience
of God. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count
slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but
for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
In Genesis chapter 7, the hour of judgment strikes, and God’s Word
comes to pass.

Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days; and the
water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above
the earth. And the water prevailed and increased greatly
upon the earth; and the ark floated on the surface of the
water. And the water prevailed more and more upon the
earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the
heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits
higher, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh that
moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts
and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and
all mankind; (Genesis 7:17‑21)

Notice that the water increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose
above the earth. This actually points to the greater flood of judgment
consummated by the Son of God. He had not come to judge the world
but to save it; however, in doing so, He had to be judged. “For God did
not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world
should be saved through Him” (John 3:17). Just as the world could
be saved by being on the ark, the world can now be saved by being “in
Him.” It was as He turned His face toward the Cross and entered fully
into the way that led to Calvary that the Savior said,

Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world
shall be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men to Myself. But He was saying this to indicate
the kind of death by which He was to die. (John 12:31‑33)

Just as the ark was lifted above the earth, the Cross had to be lifted
from the earth. There are two great facts revealed here; both of which are
overwhelmingly typified by the Flood, which—in the days of Noah—took
all flesh to death. When we look upon the Cross and understand its

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Robert R. McLaughlin

meaning—the meaning for all mankind ac­cording to God’s Word—these

facts come before us. First of all, He, who was made sin on our behalf,
destroyed the power of sin by taking it all down into death. Sin was
swallowed up with death on the Cross. The floods of divine judgment
swept the immeasurable burden of the world’s sin into the awful death
suffered by the God-Man on the Accursed Tree. The Flood, which took
all flesh to a watery grave in the days of Noah, is also a type of the Cross
of Christ in another sense, which is brought out in 2 Corinthians 5:14,
saying, “Having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all
died.” It is all brought out in Paul’s epistles; it is the backbone of his
theology regarding the Christian life. “For you have died and your
life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Paul also wrote,
“Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him” (Romans
6:6). The curtain went down on history when Christ our Lord, the Last
Adam and the federal head of the race (the New Creation), died. It was
the end of the old creation.
So the Flood of Noah’s day is a type of God’s judgment. In fact, look
at how Peter puts it:

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the
unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having
been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
in which also He went and made proclamation to the
spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the
patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the
construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons,
were brought safely through the water. (1 Peter 3:18‑20)

The Greek word for ark is kibotou, which refers to a treasure chest or
a wooden ship constructed of gopher or Cyprus wood. Remember that
at the time of the ark, there had never been a ship in the history of the
human race. It was 450 feet long, the length of one-and-a-half football
fields; it was seventy-five feet wide and forty-five feet high. It was made
of one material, gopher wood, representing the humanity of Christ.
Christ became a true human to propitiate or satisfy the demands of God
the Father so that mankind could be rightly related to the justice of God.
The analogy is that Jesus Christ is the ark; He is the treasure chest. He is
described as the one in whom all the treasures of God exist. “In Whom

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 The Cross

[Jesus Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”
(Colossians 2:3). Those who were not on the ark represent those who do
not believe in Jesus Christ and are destroyed. The bulkheads of the ark
were secured with pitch or asphalt analogous to the work of Christ on the
Cross, keeping out the waters of divine judgment. Only one set of plans
were used in the building of the ark; there was no need for trial and error.
God’s design was perfect; it was completely seaworthy.
The principle is that only the plan of God has stability. There was only
one door in the ark, analogous to the fact that there is only one way to adjust
to the justice of God; and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ who said,
“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved” (John
10:9). There was also only one window, analogous to the fact that there
is only one objective after salvation, to reach spiritual maturity, because
there is only one perspective. And that is divine viewpoint, Bible doctrine.
There were three floors to the ark, which, for us, represents the concept of
progress after salvation: spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, and then
spiritual maturity. There is only one place of security in time of disaster,
and that is inside the ark. The ark represents to us the principle of eternal
security, being in union with Christ because of His work on the Cross.
It’s interesting to note that all the believers inside the ark were not mature
believers, but they were all blessed by association. There was no judgment
to those in the ark because “there is therefore now no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

Who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept

waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the
ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought
safely through the water. And corresponding to that,
baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the
flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 3:20‑21)

It is important to understand that this is not a reference to water

baptism or baptismal regeneration because those who went under the
water were destroyed! The water that drowned the unbelieving world
was also used to deliver the eight souls who were believers and true
humanity. Water was an instrument of destruction for unbelievers, but it
was physical deliverance for believers! In the Church age, every believer

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Robert R. McLaughlin

is in union with Christ, and we are preserved forever by our relationship

with Him. The baptism that now saves us is the baptism of the Spirit not
water baptism: “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians
4:5). At the moment of our salvation, the baptism of the Spirit made us
members of the royal family of God. Each member of Noah’s family in
the ark is analogous to the believer who is union with the person of Jesus
Christ. That union delivers members of the royal family of God from any
form of divine judgment! To make sure that you don’t think that this is
water baptism, look at the phrase “not the removal of dirt from the flesh
(not water), but an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Those eight souls were a copy of what
happens to us in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They were delivered
from the catastrophe of the Flood by being inside the ark just as we are
delivered from the lake of fire by being in union with Christ—due to the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. Just as they were safe in the ark, so we are
safe in union with Christ. Notice that last phrase, “But an appeal to God
for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Your
conscience was delivered at the moment you believed in Jesus Christ as
Savior, when God the Holy Spirit entered you into union with the person
of Jesus Christ, making you a member of the royal family of God and a
new spiritual species. The appeal to God for a good conscience begins
with becoming a new spiritual species, a member of the royal family of
God, and understanding the implications of resurrection.

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 Chapter Four
Mount Moriah Points
to Calvary (Genesis 22)

I n Genesis chapter 12, we have the

call of Abraham.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country,
and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to
the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great
nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and
so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless
you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all
the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1‑3)

Here is where the story of the chosen people, the Jews from whom
the Messiah would come, really begins. The promise of the Messiah who
was to come is narrowed down from “the seed of a woman” in Genesis
3 to a particular race, the Jews. In Him, all the families of the earth shall
be blessed. All the families of the earth were blessed in Abraham because
from his offspring the Redeemer of the world would come. In fact, it was
a daughter of Abra­ham, the Virgin Mary, who gave birth to our Lord;
and that would mean salvation for all of the world. You might recall how
Abraham’s faith was truly tested because Sarah could not get pregnant
and give him a son as an heir. So how could the promise of the Messiah
springing from his seed be fulfilled if there were no heir? Remember

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Robert R. McLaughlin

that the plan of Sarah—resulting in Ishmael, the child of Hagar, her

slave—only complicated the situation. Sarah’s Egyp­tian slave getting
pregnant by Abraham only aggravated matters. Sarah had grown old, and
both she and Abraham were beyond the proper time of conception. That’s
why we read, “By faith [by means of doctrine resident in the soul] even
Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper
time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised”
(Hebrews 11:11). So we are told that Abraham believed against hope
and that he staggered not at the promises of God.

In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might

become a father of many nations, according to that which had
been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And without
becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as
good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the
deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise
of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith,
giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had
promised, He was able also to perform. (Romans 4:18‑21)

So Abraham was indeed given a son, and the child grew to boyhood.
Then the dark hour struck.

Now it came about after these things, that God tested

Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here
I am.” And He said, “Take now your son, your only son,
whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and
offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains
of which I will tell you.” (Genesis 22:1‑2)

The land of Moriah is an interesting place; it is the same place that

would be later called Zion, and the mountain of Moriah is the hill upon
which Solomon built the Temple (2 Chronicles 3:1). The word Moriah
actually means chosen by the Lord. In fact, one of the hills in Moriah is
later called Golgotha, the place of the skulls. Note what great event took
place there. “And when they came to the place called The Skull, there
they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other
on the left” (Luke 23:33).

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 The Cross

Back in Genesis 22:1‑2, the Hebrew noun for “burnt offering” is olah,
which refers to an offering in which the smoke goes upward. As the smoke
goes up, it provides a sweet smell to God. The burnt offering represents
the concept of propitiation and how it takes a sacrifice—the sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It represents the impeccability (sinlessness) of
the humanity of Christ, being offered up to God the Father for all of our
sins. As sins were all poured out upon our Lord, the justice of God the
Father judged our sins being borne by Christ, and justice was satisfied.
For justice to be satisfied, justice has to have something to judge, and
that’s what took place on the Cross!
There have always been those who would doubt these words of
Scripture. How could God make such a demand of Abraham or any man?
Wouldn’t it be murder? But again, the event would be a reflection of what
God would do on that exact mountain hundreds of years later when He
would sacrifice His own Son. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ would even
say that Abraham had seen His day. “Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). Notice the
obedience of Abraham; he doesn’t waste a moment, and he never questions
a word.

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his

donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac
his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose
and went to the place of which God had told him. On the
third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from
a distance. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here
with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we
will worship and return to you.” (Genesis 22:4‑5)

Isaac is a young man, probably twenty-five or so, and he recognizes

the authority of doctrine. Isaac is willing to offer himself on the altar
because his relationship with his father has taught him to be as obedient
to the will of God as his father is. In this way, Isaac becomes a beautiful
picture of the uniquely born Son of God, offering Himself for our sins
on the Cross. With this in mind, note that the sacrifice on the mountain
was to take place between the father and the son only! This is a reference
to the fact that when God judged our sins in His Son, it was a private
matter between Him and the Lord Jesus Christ. Also, the two slaves

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Robert R. McLaughlin

represented the two thieves on the cross who were not permitted to see
the transaction that took place between God the Father and our Lord on
the Cross. Complete darkness descended in the land during those three
hours (see Luke 23:44‑45). Just as Abraham’s two slaves did not observe
the sacrifice, the two thieves on the cross did not see our Lord while He
was being judged for the sins of the entire world.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid
it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the
knife. So the two of them walked on together. (Genesis 22:6)

Like our Lord Jesus Christ, Isaac was willing to do his father’s will.
Just as the father, Abraham, laid the wood on his son, so our Lord would
carry the burden of our sins. The fire was on a special torch that would
last until they arrived at the top of the mountain. So we have all the
ingredients of judgment here:

• The wood represents humanity as in 1 Corinthians 3:12.

• The fire represents wrath and judgment as in Numbers 11:1.
• The knife represents the crucifixion of fleshly desires as in
Proverbs 23:2.

Isaac took the wood because he represented the Lord, taking upon
himself true humanity and being judged for our sins. The wood was going
to be burnt just as the humanity of Christ was judged. Note that Abraham
has the knife and the fire; since he is the father, he had the ingredients
or the tools needed to execute the judgment of an innocent sacrifice.
This pictures the fact that God the Father had the ingredients to execute
judgment. God the Father had the perfect righteousness, the omniscience,
the wisdom, and the sovereignty; and these are all the ingredients
necessary for judging the innocent sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the
Cross. The Father had everything necessary to be the judge who would
judge our sins as they were poured upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is one final significant detail we need to note, and that is Isaac’s
surprise and subsequent remark, “And Isaac spoke to Abraham his
father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ And
he said, ‘Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the
burnt offering?’” (Genesis 22:7). How this must have pierced Abraham’s

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soul as he wondered what was about to happen. “And Abraham said,

‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my
son.’ So the two of them walked on together” (Genesis 22:8). Little did
Abraham realize, at the time, what a profound and wise answer this was.
Notice the phrase “God will provide for Himself.” He doesn’t say “for
me and you”; he says “for Himself”! As far as Abraham is concerned, the
one who is really going to go on that sacred altar someday is the beloved
Son of Elohim, the Lord Jesus Christ. The lamb was not only provided
by God, but it was also for God. These words of Abraham have a double
meaning. They tell us that God was the One who would provide the lamb,
and they also make known the fact that the lamb was for Himself. In
other words, God alone would supply that which would satisfy Himself.
Nothing in or of man could ever meet the divine requirements. Nothing
that man provides could ever satisfy God. If a sacrifice for sin was to be
found, God Himself must supply it.
The lamb was not only provided by God, but it was also for God. That’s
because, before blessing could ever flow forth to man, divine holiness
and justice must be satisfied. It is true that Christ died for sinners, but He
first died (and this is what we are in danger of ignoring) for God! This
is what God the Holy Spirit expresses through apostle Paul in Romans
chapter 3 where Paul writes:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being
justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption
which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly
as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to
demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance
of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for
the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present
time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who
has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:23‑26)

There are many things we are told about in the Bible that God does for
His own sake. For example, let’s take the restoration of our soul. David
said, “He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness
for His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3). Notice that it is for His name’s sake
that He restores our soul. Sometimes believers commit sins and think
that they are not good enough or worthy enough to be forgiven and have

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their souls restored back in fellowship with God. In reality, He restores

us not because of something good in us but for His name’s sake! This is
why David wrote, “For Thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity,
for it is great” (Psalm 25:11). God pardons and forgives us because, on
the one hand, God is holy and can have nothing to do with sin; but on
the other hand, He also cannot leave us or forsake us. Therefore, for His
name’s sake, He will pardon our iniquity! “For the sake of Thy name, O
Lord, revive me. In Thy righteousness bring my soul out of trouble”
(Psalm 143:11).
Because of who and what You are Lord, get me out of the mess I’ve
placed myself in! Did you ever stop and wonder how you actually got
out of that jam you placed yourself in? I sure have wondered that. He got
us out, and He did it for His sake! There is a fantastic commentary on
this principle in the book of Isaiah. “I, even I, am the one who wipes
out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember
your sins” (Isaiah 43:25). Think about it. God wipes away your sins and
doesn’t even remember them, and He does so for His own sake. “For the
sake of My name I delay My wrath, and for My praise I restrain it
for you, in order not to cut you off” (Isaiah 48:9). “For My own sake,
for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? And
My glory I will not give to another” (Isaiah 48:11). God acts for us,
but it is for His own sake!
So we continue with our passage back in Genesis 22. “Then they
came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built
the altar there, and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac,
and laid him on the altar on top of the wood” (Genesis 22:9). Isaac’s
willingness to be bound is a beautiful picture of the Son of God on the
cross, bearing our sins. It is a picture of what they did to our Lord: “And
they bound Him, and led Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate
the governor” (Matthew 27:2). And notice the last part of Genesis 22:9
where we read that Abraham “laid him (Isaac) on the altar on top of
the wood.” When our Lord came into the world, they “laid Him” in a
manger (Luke 2:7); and when He left this world, they laid Him in a tomb
(Luke 23:53).
So the type continues throughout this passage:

And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife
to slay his son. (Genesis 22:10)

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 The Cross

Of course, this was a picture of the Cross and the fact that, in
the fullness of time, God’s only Son would be sacrificed on this very
mountain.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and
said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” And
he said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and
do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since
you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold,
behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and
Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a
burnt offering in the place of his son. And Abraham called
the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said
to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”
(Genesis 22:11‑14)

Throughout this entire passage, we have principle after principle

of typology. Every person represents some aspect of the Cross as does
nearly every detail. For example, the ram is now a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ who is available for the sinner as his substitute (see Exodus 22:5;
29:22; Leviticus 8:21 and 9:2). Secondly, as Isaac was on the altar ready
to die, all of us were on our way to eternal death, but the Savior takes our
place and dies in our stead. Thirdly, horns in the Bible represent power,
strength, and grandeur (see 2 Samuel 22:3; 1 Kings 22:11; Luke 1:69).
The horns become a perfect illustration of our Lord who, with His great
power, was fastened to the Cross for our sins. The One who was nailed
to the Cross had the greatest power in the world. Upon the completion
of the altar, Abraham now calls the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh,
meaning “the Lord will provide.” Later it would be called Mount Zion.
The place, where Abraham offered Isaac, would be the place where Christ
was crucified and where He will return; it is the location of the Temple
as well. Thus it is called God’s holy mountain. Whenever there is a need
for some special provision in our life, the Lord will provide!
This event, where Abraham offered Isaac, was a picture of the Cross. In
fact, in the book of Hebrews, we read, “By faith [by means of doctrine]
Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had
received the promises was offering up his only begotten son” (Hebrews

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11:17). Actually, it says his uniquely born son, and that describes Isaac
because he was uniquely born! He was born from two people who were
sexually dead! His father was one hundred years old, and his mother was
beyond menopause at age ninety. In this sense, Abraham is a type of God
the Father who was willing to sacrifice his uniquely born son, Isaac (who
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ). Abraham was willing to do it to please
God the Father, and this too foreshadows the attitude of the Father at the
Cross. “But the Lord [God the Father] was pleased to crush Him
[Jesus Christ], putting Him to grief, if He would render Himself as a
guilt offering” (Isaiah 53:10). While all of this is a picture of the Cross,
one thing in the picture did not occur in the reality because, when the Son
of God was offered up on the altar of the Cross, no one said stop. “He
who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how
will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).
He was bruised for our iniquities; He could not be spared.

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 Chapter Five
The Lamb without Blemish (Exodus 12)

W hen Peter was at the gate

of the temple that is called
Beautiful, he invited the lame man to rise and walk in the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth. This caused a great disturbance among the enemies of
Christ. Peter then turned to them and said that they had killed the Prince of
Life whom God had raised from the dead. Peter also said, “But the things
which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets,
that His Christ should suffer, He has thus” (Acts 3:18).
In none of the prophecies of the Old Testament is this fact more evident
than in chapter 12 of the book of Exodus. The prophecy appears here
in symbolic form, but this fact makes it all the more real. The Jews, the
chosen people of God, were suffering continual hardships in Egypt under
Pharaoh who had resolved to break their growing power by oppression
and tyranny. However, God had come to their defense and provided in
Moses a leader and liberator. The conflict with Pharaoh, in which the
Lord Jesus Christ showed His power by striking Egypt with plagues
when Pharaoh refused to let Israel go, came to a climax with the death
of all the firstborn throughout Egypt, including the heir to the throne in
the royal palace. It was then that the Passover feast was first instituted as
a memorial to be held throughout all succeeding generations, a sign of
Israel’s libera­tion from Egyptian bondage. Throughout the Gospel, we read
that our Lord continually went to Jerusalem to keep the Passover feast.
The last time, it was to be Him­self, the sacrificial Lamb, slain—not to
celebrate Israel’s free­dom from the tyranny of Egypt—but to liberate all

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mankind from the bondage of sin. That’s why we read, in 1 Corinthians,

“For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.” How appropriate
the symbolism of the Passover was when it was first held on the evening
of Israel’s liberation. It all spoke of eman­cipation, deliverance, freedom,
and liberation. The central figure was the lamb, which was to be with­out
blemish, a one-year-old male. The orders of the Lord Jesus Christ to Moses
were that the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel should kill
it in the eve­ning and should take the blood and put it upon the two side
posts and on the upper doorposts of the houses where the lamb would
be eaten.

“Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the

tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for
themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb
for each household. Now if the household is too small for
a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are
to take one according to the number of persons in them;
according to what each man should eat, you are to divide
the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year
old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. And
you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month,
then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to
kill it at twilight.’” (Exodus 12:3‑6)

The lamb was to be taken from among the fold, signifying that Christ
would be taken from among men and from among His brethren. Twilight
for the Jews begins around 3:00 in the afternoon, which made it a very
interesting time for the lamb to die. Also notice, from verses 3 and 6, that
the lamb was to be set apart four days before it was to be killed. Christ
was crucified on the Passover, and He entered into Jerusalem four days
earlier, the very day that the paschal lamb was set apart. “Moreover, they
shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the
lintel of the houses in which they eat it” (Exodus 12:7). The blood was
to be sprinkled upon the doorposts, denoting the open profession we are
to make of our faith in Christ, and our obedience to Him, as those who are
not ashamed of our dependence upon Him. It was also to be sprinkled upon
the lintel and the side posts but not upon the threshold, which cautions us
to beware of trampling underfoot the blood of the covenant. “How much

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 The Cross

severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled

under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of
the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit
of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29).
“And they shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire,
and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs” (Exodus
12:8). The paschal lamb was killed, not to be looked upon only, but to be
fed upon; and we must, by faith, feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ through
the intake of His Word. We must receive spiritual strength and nourishment
from Him just as we receive physical strength from our food. We are to
have delight and satisfaction in him as we have in eating and drinking
when we are hungry or thirsty.

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and
I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and
My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My
blood abides in Me, and I in him. (John 6:54‑56)

Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather
roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its
entrails. (Exodus 12:9)

In Exodus 12:6‑9, we have the lamb that was to be slain and roasted
with fire, representing the sufferings of the Lord Jesus even unto death,
that is, the death on the Cross. The wrath of God is like fire, and Christ
was made a curse for us.

For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and

will strike down all the first‑born in the land of Egypt, both
man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will
execute judgments—I am the Lord. And the blood shall
be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I
see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall
you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. (Exodus
12:12‑13)

This is another passage pointing to the Cross as the central figure of

Israel’s eman­cipation, deliverance, ­freedom, and liberation. In fact, our

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Lord would later point out that the lamb without blemish in the Jewish
feast was a symbol of His own sacri­fice. He is the Lamb of God who would
take away the sins of the world. Jewish bondage in Egypt was a shadow
of the uni­versal bondage of man in sin. Pharaoh’s oppressive tyranny
was a representation of the awful bondage that man is in to the prince of
darkness of this world, Satan. The night before our Lord was to become
the unblemished Lamb who would set man free from bondage and sin, He
said, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I
suffer” (Luke 22:15). The Passover was always to be a type that pointed
forward to the Cross. This is brought out in one more important detail
that points to the Cross, and it is found in verse 46. “It is to be eaten in
a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of
the house, nor are you to break any bone of it” (Exodus 12:46). The
Passover lamb was not to have a single bone broken, which was a picture
of what was written in the Gospel of John. “But coming to Jesus, when
they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs” (John
19:33). “For these things came to pass, that the Scripture might be
fulfilled, ‘Not a bone of Him shall be broken’” (John 19:36).

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 Chapter Six
The Red Sea Is a Type of
the Cross (Exodus 14)

T he Jews had hardly left Egypt

when Pharaoh, angered by the
fact that his slaves had escaped, decided to make a final effort to bring
them back under his power. We read that Pharaoh sent all the chariots of
Egypt and their captains in hot pursuit of the Israelites who cried unto
the Lord.

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled,
Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward
the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that
we have let Israel go from serving us?” So he made his
chariot ready and took his people with him; and he took six
hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt
with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart
of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons
of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly. Then
the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and
chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they
overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi‑hahiroth, in
front of Baal‑zephon. And as Pharaoh drew near, the sons
of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching
after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of

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Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, “Is it
because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken
us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with
us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word
that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that
we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better
for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.’”
But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and
see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for
you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today,
you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight
for you while you keep silent.” (Exodus 14:5‑14)

The Jews’ position was indeed fearful and troubling. The Red Sea
was before them, forbidding any advance. Egypt’s army was behind them
in mad pursuit. On both sides stood high mountains and desert lands;
from the human viewpoint, there was no means of escape. Exodus 14:12
above records the murmuring of the children of Israel. However, as has
been the case over and over again in the history of God’s people, God
intervened.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the
Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and
turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. And
the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the
dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their
right hand and on their left. Then the Egyptians took up
the pursuit, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his
horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea. And
it came about at the morning watch, that the Lord looked
down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of
fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into
confusion. And He caused their chariot wheels to swerve,
and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians
said, “Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for
them against the Egyptians.” Then the Lord said to Moses,
“Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may
come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and

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 The Cross

their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the

sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak,
while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the Lord
overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the
waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen,
even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after
them; not even one of them remained. But the sons of Israel
walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the
waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on
their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand
of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the
seashore. (Exodus 14:21‑30)

How does this dramatic story of the Lord parting the Red Sea reflect
the Cross? Look at Exodus 15:

Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord,
and said, “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted;
The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. The Lord
is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation;
This is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God,
and I will extol Him.” (Exodus 15:1‑2)

What interests us most, at this point, is the fact that this—the song of
Moses and the children of Israel—is contrasted in the book of Revelation
with the song of the lamb, which is called a new song. It is the song of the
redeemed (ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands)
whose theme is not deliverance from Pharaoh and Egyptian bondage
through the leadership of Moses, but rather, it is redemp­tion from the
bondage of sin under the leadership of the Lord Jesus Christ. “And they
sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to
break its seals; for Thou was slain, and didst purchase for God with
Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation’”
(Revelation 5:9). “Singing with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing’” (Revelation 5:12). The miraculous
events at the Red Sea are great type of the Cross of Christ. The Jews
crossed the Red Sea while judgment struck Pharaoh, and the Egyptians

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Robert R. McLaughlin

were swallowed by those same Red Sea waters. There is good reason for
taking this to be typical of the Cross. In fact, two New Testament passages
serve to establish the link.

“And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mixed with fire, and

those who had come off victorious from the beast and from
his image and from the number of his name, standing on
the sea of glass, holding harps of God. And they sang the
song of Moses the bond‑servant of God and the song of the
Lamb, saying, ‘Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord
God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou
King of the nations.’” (Revelation 15:2‑4)

Paul speaks of the things that happened to Israel as shadows and as

figures of something far greater yet to come—that is, Christ and His
Church. “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they
were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have
come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). For the Jews, God’s act of dividing the
Red Sea signified deliverance from fearful bondage. In the Scriptures,
Egypt stands for the wickedness of this world whose god is the evil one
and who, like Pharaoh, fights persistently to keep sinful men in bondage.
The Jews came forth, in freedom, to form the nation of Israel—God’s own
people. So the Jews represented those who would be redeemed by the
Blood of the Lamb. These redeemed people would come out of bondage
infinitely more tragic and greater­than bondage to Pharaoh: the bondage
to the slavery of sin. Their deliverance was accomplished by means of
the Cross of Jesus Christ. It was through the Cross that the Lion of the
tribe of Judah bruised the head of the serpent and thus shattered Satan’s
authority over man.
At the Red Sea, not only was there a glorious liberation, but there
was also a judgment. Pharaoh and his horsemen, the pride of Egypt,
were overthrown. The Lord said, “For the Egyptians whom you have
seen today, you will never see them again forever” (Exodus 14:13).
He continued, in Exodus 14:17, “I will be honored through Pharaoh
and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.” There was
a far greater judgment at the Cross. The Lord Jesus Christ said as much,
“Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall
be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men

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to Myself” (John 12:31‑32). The Cross of Christ not only speaks of

redemption, but it also points to the defeat of the prince of this world.
“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself
likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might
render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil”
(Hebrews 2:14).
So the Cross of Christ will be the eternal basis for perfect happiness for
those who accept Christ as Savior and cross over the waters of deliverance.
The Lord opened the way of deliverance for all who would believe so
that they would not have to be consumed by the world as represented by
the Egyptians. However, for those who prefer to follow the ways of the
Egyptians or the ways of the world, there is judgment and eternal loss for
them. The Cross of Christ not only spells redemption for all who, by faith,
receive Christ as Savior; but it also pronounces an awful doom for those
who reject Him as their Savior. “But may it never be that I should 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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 Chapter Seven
The Bitter Waters of Marah ­Sweetened
by the Tree (Exodus 15)

W e have seen the children of

Israel being very emotional in
their appreciation toward the Lord, singing the song of Moses unto the
Lord for His deliverance from the Egyptians. However, with no doctrine,
they fail the next water test. At the Red Sea, they had too much water; we
will next see that, at Marah, they had the wrong kind of water.

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out
into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the
wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah,
they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter;
therefore it was named Marah. So the people grumbled at
Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” (Exodus 15:22‑24)

In this passage, Moses brought the children of Israel from the Red Sea;
and they went out into the desert of Shur where, for three days, they found
no water. Finally, they came upon water only to find that they could not
drink of it because it was bitter. So they named the place Marah, which
means bitter water, because it was a bitter disappointment for a people
whose lips were dry with thirst and who were fainting in the desert. Now,
as Moses cried unto the Lord, a tree was shown to him, which he cast
into the waters; and the waters were made sweet. “Then he cried out

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to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into
the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a
statute and regulation, and there He tested them” (Exodus 15:25). So
the children of Israel could now drink to their hearts’ content, and they
were refreshed. They went forward rejoicing because of this miracle, for
a time that is.
What happens after you have had a great emotional experience, and
a great deliverance, and you’ve expressed your emotions completely but
without any doctrinal reference, general appreciation, or capacity? Well,
you become bitter very easily, and so the waters of bitterness came into
the picture in this passage. This is a reminder that if your life is governed
by emotion, you will fail when the Lord brings in the different tests for
the purpose of spiritual advancement. One of the reasons why you will
fail is bitterness! They had plenty of water but the wrong kind of it, so
they could not drink the water of Marah. They could not lift the shield of
faith even though they had just finished singing about the Lord working
wonders. Notice what they had just sung in Exodus 15:11, “Who is like
You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness,
awesome in praises, working wonders?” Notice two words that stand
out: working wonders. Furthermore, in Exodus 15:13, they continued
singing, “In Your lovingkindness (grace) You have led the people
whom You have redeemed.” They were saved people who had already
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. They had eternal life.

Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took the timbrel

in her hand, and all the women went out after her with
timbrels and with dancing. Miriam answered them, “Sing
to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; the horse and his rider
He has hurled into the sea.” Then Moses led Israel from the
Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and
they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
(Exodus 15:20‑22)

The wilderness experience will show how weak God’s people really
are, and they will fail under pressure. However, there is a great purpose in
the Lord leading us to a wilderness experience: to magnify the power and
the mercy of the One who brought us to the place of testing. In times of
testing and trial, the Lord reveals what He is for us as He bears with our

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failures and mistakes. The wilderness not only shows us who we really
are, but it also manifests the ways of God.
“When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of
Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah” (Exodus
15:23). Now think of it. They walked three days in the hot and sandy
desert without finding any water. Then they find water, but it is bitter.
They thought that they found what they were looking for; and then, all of
a sudden, that which they found became a source of bitterness to them.
So they once again express their rebellion. “So the people grumbled at
Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’” (Exodus 15:24). The Hebrew
word for grumbled is luwn, which means to murmur, to complain, to
be malcontent, or to express dissatisfaction. Notice that they speak as
if Moses is the one responsible for their situation. Many believers look
for someone to blame when the Lord leads them to a place like Marah.
In other words, bitter people often look for a scapegoat. Now what did
Moses do? Remember that Moses is a man of doctrine. One thing about
a true man or woman of doctrine is that their spiritual strength is totally
from the Lord not from people. People of doctrine will not allow other
people to let them down. Moses will rely on the Lord. He does not use his
genius; rather he relies on the Lord. The more you recognize the power
of doctrine, the more you recognize your own helplessness.
“Then he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree;
and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There
He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested
them” (Exodus 15:25). The water is now drinkable. Yet there was no
secret ingredient in the tree that made the water sweet. What was it that
turned a bitter situation into a sweet one? It was Moses’s obedience to
the Lord’s command. That’s why the Lord said, in the next verse, “If
you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do
what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and
keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I
have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer” (Exodus
15:26). Once again, God uses a miracle with these people. So it was at
the waters of Marah, made sweet by the tree, that we are told the Lord
promised the Israelites health and blessing if they would listen to His
voice. Israel, of course, was not in a position to grasp the meaning of
what had taken place. They only knew that the Lord had delivered them
as they were dying of thirst. They did not realize that a marvelous sign

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had been given to them, pointing to the “tree on a hill far away.” They
did not know that their entire history, so full with meaning for the whole
world and future generations, would find its deepest meaning at Calvary’s
Cross, cast into the bitter waters of life for the healing of the world. Even
the apostles did not know until the hour of the Resurrection when the
Savior Himself opened their eyes to see what—in the Law, the Psalms,
and the Prophets—was written concerning His suffering and the resulting
glory of the forgiveness of sins of all na­tions.
How can anyone fail to see, in this experience at the bitter waters of
Marah, the deep implications of the tree, which when cast into the water
made it sweet? Some might say that this is reading into the event meanings
that are not there. Our Lord said, “You search the Scriptures, . . . it
is these that bear witness of Me” (John 5:39). The waters of Marah
point to the doctrine of redemption, which is God’s solution toward sin.
Redemption is viewed from the standpoint of a ransom paid on the Cross
for our salvation. Redemption views mankind as born into the slave market
of sin through the imputation of Adam’s original sin at birth. Redemption
is the saving work of Christ on the Cross by which He purchases our
freedom or salvation. The price for this purchase is called the Blood of
Christ (see Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14). The waters of Marah refer
to man being delivered from the bitterness of life. Think how very bitter
the waters of life have become because of evil and sin. The world is a
sickening and horrifying place without hope of eternal life. Paul said,
“If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most
miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:19). Science, technology, education, and
medicine are all trying to do their best to heal the bitter waters of life,
but death still comes, and evil and wickedness still prevail—it always
has. The late Dr. A. T. Pierson wrote the following in a description of the
antediluvian civilization:

First, there’s an advance in fullness and clearness of revelation;

then a gradual spirit of declension, then conformity to the world,
ending with amalgamation with the world; then a gigantic
civilization, brilliant but godless; then parallel development of
evil and good; then an apostasy and finally a catastrophe.

The antediluvian civilization was an advanced civilization, yet the

Lord said, “The wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that

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every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”
(Genesis 6:5). Furthermore, we read, “Now the earth was corrupt in the
sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked
on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted
their way upon the earth” (Genesis 6:11‑12). People don’t like to hear
about this; they want everyone to have a positive attitude. They live in
denial regarding the real status and condition of the kosmos, the world.
The headline from any major newspaper will include murder, rape, crime,
and violence. This world is a bitter place without Christ. What may appear
to be peace and prosperity could very well be the beginning of heartache
and disaster. Paul warned us of this, “While they are saying, ‘Peace
and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like
labor pains upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1
Thessalonians 5:3). Improvements may be made, but it is only superficial
reparation of the affliction of man, and it will never be more than that.
However, when the tree of Calvary is cast into those bitter waters, there
is a sweetening, a purifying, a healing, and a redeeming for time and for
eternity. This not only satisfies the thirst of man, but also satisfied the
justice of God, which can never be satisfied with anything less.
Bring your guilt and condemnation, no matter how shameful and evil
it may be, to the Cross of Christ. Bring it to Golgotha’s awful tree and
see what happens. It is here where even the most despicable person will
be filled with happiness and joy—that bitterness of guilt and shame gone
forever. Cast the tree into the bitter waters of this life and—if you are in
bondage to any form of passion or lust—see if death does not give way to
life, condemnation to forgiveness, helplessness and despair to assurance
of eternal happiness ­and magnificent freedom.

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 Chapter Eight
The Stricken Rock of Horeb (Exodus 17)

I
n this passage, the children of
Israel march forward from the
wilderness according to the command of the Lord, and they pitch their
tents in a place called Rephidim.

Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by

stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command
of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no
water for the people to drink. (Exodus 17:1)

Now we’ve seen it all! We’ve seen too much water at the Red Sea in
Exodus 14:9. We have seen the wrong kind of water or the bitter waters of
Marah in Exodus 15:23. Now we have the test of no water in this passage.
The solution is always the same; no matter how we are tested, all of the
solutions are found in Christ. That is certainly true here where, once
again, the solution that emerges is the Cross of Jesus Christ. Every test
is a glorious opportunity to trust the Lord in that hopeless situation and
to further recognize the fact that we really are helpless. In this manner,
our helplessness actually becomes a source of encouragement to us.

Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give

us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them,
“Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”
(Exodus 17:2)

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Robert R. McLaughlin

Notice that the people, the sons of Israel, are arguing with Moses and
rejecting his authority. Notice the double standards of these emotional
and legalistic believers. On one hand, they have rejected the authority of
their leader; but on the other hand, they are demanding that he give them
water. In other words, they now make a demand that is inconsistent with
their rejection. If the Jews reject the authority of Moses, why do they
ascribe to him the supernatural power of providing water for 2 million
people and their children? You can see how irrational they are! If they
thought that Moses could manufacture water, then they should have
accepted his authority, but they didn’t. They ascribe to Moses a power
that he does not possess while rejecting the very authority that he does
possess! Moses can’t give them water; he’s just as helpless as they are.
The only difference is that Moses is a man of great spiritual strength.
Now remember who led them there; it was the Lord. Here at Horeb, they
will be reminded again about that greatest hour in the entire meritorious
history of Deity, which was about to come upon the earth: the hour of
the Cross. In fact, the Bible records the Cross as “the hour” as we read
in the following verses:

Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being

betrayed into the hands of sinners. (Matthew 26:45)

And when the hour had come He reclined at the table, and
the apostles with Him. (Luke 22:14)

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

(John 12:23)

The Jews are exactly where the Lord wants them to be. They are in the
right place, and they are in the will of God. However, right now, they are
simply malfunctioning. By the way, they don’t ask for water; the original
Hebrew text makes it clear that they demand it. So how is the Cross going
to fit into all of this? Well, the Cross is the place where all arrogance,
bitterness, cowardliness, and presumptuousness are forgiven. We will
see the grace of God pointing to the Cross instead of their failures. The
people had pressure from lack of water, but you must remember a very
important principle: Moses doesn’t have any water either. He doesn’t have
a fountain in his tent where he could drink and then come out and talk

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 The Cross

to them. He doesn’t have any water, but notice that he isn’t complaining.
Moses has the same pressure that they have; in fact, he has more. Not
only have they rejected his authority, but now they are also thinking about
murdering him. So what do we have here? We have fear, worry, anxiety,
anger, hatred, violence, and murder; these are all emotional sins. What
will be the solution? The Cross of Christ!

But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled
against Moses and said, “Why now, have you brought us up
from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock
with thirst?” (Exodus 17:3)

The people, once again, slandered Moses and complained. Inevitably,

believers who cannot function under faith-rest become very suspicious.
When they asked Moses why he had brought them up from Egypt, they
had assumed that Moses had a hidden, sinister reason for bringing them
into the desert. In other words, they are accusing Moses of a conspiracy.
In their irrationality, which comes from their emotional sins and their
hysteria, they assign to Moses their very own motivation and their flaws.
They had started to conspire against him! They are arrogant, self-centered,
and suspicious; and yet, as we will see, they are still loved by God.

So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this

people? A little more and they will stone me.” (Exodus 17:4)

Moses has evaluated and estimated the situation correctly. He sees that
their anger has turned to hatred, and he sees hatred motivating violence.
So what does he do? He uses the faith-rest drill; he talks to the Lord
about it. He didn’t panic like the people of Israel. Leaders cannot afford
to be frightened in a pressured situation. One thing he doesn’t try to do
is justify himself before the people. He is absolutely innocent, and he
still doesn’t try to justify or defend himself. He makes no excuses to the
people. A lot of people never advance in the spiritual life because they’re
always trying to justify themselves in all interpersonal relationships.
People feel that they’re strong if they can justify themselves to other
people, but that’s wrong! There are people who always have to be right
and can never be wrong because they are so occupied with themselves. So
notice that Moses did not react; instead of starting a confrontation with

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the people, instead of entering into self-justification, Moses goes to the

Lord and states the facts. Now the matter is entirely in the Lord’s hands.
You see, there is nothing wrong with going to the Lord and telling him
what is going on; however, once you do, you have to leave it in His hands.
So in Exodus 17:4, the people were picking up stones to kill Moses; and
therefore the Lord, in His matchless sense of humor and in His grace, is
going to bring water for them out of a stone! Of course, the stone will be
slightly larger than the ones they are picking up to kill Moses with. The
Lord will bring them water from the rock of Horeb.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and
take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your
hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.”
(Exodus 17:5)

Notice that the Lord doesn’t tell Moses to hide behind the rock but,
rather, to go in front of the people; and this does not bother Moses at all.
He wasn’t going to run away from them and look for a place to hide. If
you are in a position of leadership, you don’t run away; if you are afraid
of anyone under your command, you have failed as a leader. So with rocks
in their hands, which were very real, and with the motivation of hatred
that was very real, the people are ready to kill Moses. One time, they had
thought that Moses was wonderful, but now they hate him. That’s one of
the things all leaders must get used to. The people that they lead may like
them one day and hate them the next, but as a leaders, they have to do
their job unto the Lord. Note also that Moses was to take the very staff
that he had used at the Nile River and then move out. This was to remind
them, once again, of their past and of all things the Lord had already done
for them; but as we will see, they had forgotten what He had done. “You
neglected the Rock who begot you, and forgot the God who gave you
birth” (Deuteronomy 32:18). “They forgot God their Savior, Who
had done great things in Egypt” (Psalm 106:21). The Lord tells Moses
to pass before the people and take with him some of the elders of Israel.
Prayer time is over; action time has started! The existence of the elders
indicates the principle of delegated authority. Moses doesn’t handle all the
problems of Israel personally; he delegates responsibility. No one can be a
leader without delegating responsibility because all good leadership must
have organization, which means delegating responsibility to others.

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 The Cross

“Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb;

and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it
that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight
of the elders of Israel. (Exodus 17:6)

When the Lord said “I will stand before you,” it was a reference to
the pillar of cloud. The Lord Jesus Christ had led him to this spot, and
Moses simply followed the cloud. Horeb is the place where Moses saw
the burning bush, so he is back on familiar ground. The striking of the
rock becomes very important. The staff represented the judgment of
God, and the striking of the rock represents the Lord Jesus Christ being
struck on the Cross. “And all drank the same spiritual drink, for they
were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the
rock was Christ” (1Corinthians 10:4). So the lesson was that the Lord
Jesus Christ would be judged for the sins of the entire world. However,
why was it used on this particular occasion at a place called Meribah,
which means to murmur and to complain, to rebel? It was used to teach
the Jews that there was provision to judge their sins and their failures
at the Cross, and as believers, they could recover from their murmuring
and complaining if they chose to do so. This is analogous to the water of
salvation in Isaiah 55:1 and Revelation 22:17.

“Ho! every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you
who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and
milk without money and without cost.” (Isaiah 55:1)

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who
hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come;
let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.
(Revelation 22:17)

We know from elsewhere in the Bible that the water did not sprinkle
out, but rather, the water gushed out. “Behold, He struck the rock so
that waters gushed out, and streams were overflowing” (Psalm 78:20).
The promise was that as Moses struck the rock, waters would gush forth
that the people might drink. The cry of the people had been “Is the Lord
among us or not?” So what more proof could be demonstrated? We have
a solid rock that was struck by a fragile rod and an enormous stream of

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Robert R. McLaughlin

water bursting forth, fresh and pure, enough for over two million people.
The people would be able to drink until they could drink no more, and
this was done in the sight of the elders. Here is another fantastic picture
in the Old Testament that foreshadows the coming Messiah. Our Lord
spoke of this same principle, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me
and drink” (John 7:37). “What then is this that is written, ‘The stone
which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone?’”
(Luke 20:17).
However, the Rock was not only rejected; it was stricken. For it is
written, “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man,
My Associate,” declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd that
the sheep may be scattered” (Zechariah 13:7). It points to the same
astounding fact: in the Cross of Christ, healing streams of eternal life
flow forth for all mankind. John wrote of how the Roman soldier took
his spear and pierced the breast of the Lord, “But one of the soldiers
pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came
out” (John 19:34). In fact, when the Bible comes to a close in the book
of Revelation, we are to understand that all of history is moving toward
this sublime consummation prefigured by the stricken Rock of Horeb.
“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal,
coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Revelation 22:1).
The Lamb, we are told in Revelation 5, stands in the midst of the throne
as one who has been slain; and now the water of life flows from the slain
Lamb. It is the stricken Rock from which the water flows. One could
stagger at the extent of the call with which the Bible closes. There are no
conditions but one, and that is a will­ingness to come. Every person on
the earth is invited. None are too degraded, none are too wretched, none
are too hope­less, and none are too sunken in sin; no one is excluded.
The entire sinful race is invited to come. No conditions whatsoever but
a willingness to come and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The water
flows forth from the stricken Rock for all and forever. The things of the
earth cannot quench our thirst; only the things of God can. The water still
flows from the wounded side of our Savior, the stricken Rock.

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 Chapter Nine
The Rock Stricken Again—a Mistake
on the Part of Moses (Numbers 20)

A gain the Israelites, as they come

to Kadesh, are without water.

Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to

the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people
stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried
there. There was no water for the congregation, and they
assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron. The people
thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, “If only we
had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord!
Why then have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this
wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here? Why have
you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this
wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or
pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.” Then Moses
and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the
doorway of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. Then
the glory of the Lord appeared to them; (Numbers 20:1‑6)

This time, the Lord’s command is not that Moses should take his rod
and strike the rock that was before his eyes, but that he should merely

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speak unto the rock with the promise that it would give forth water so
that the people and their animals might drink.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the rod; and
you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation
and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield
its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of
the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.”
(Numbers 20:7‑8)

However, Moses and Aaron gather the congregation to­gether before

the rock and then begin to misrepresent the character and nature of God
to the people.

So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He

had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the
assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now,
you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this
rock?” Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock
twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and
the congregation and their beasts drank. (Numbers 20:9‑11)

Here is where the consequences for Israel’s great leader are seemingly
heart­breaking. Moses was told that because he had struck the rock when
he had been told simply to speak to the rock, he would not be permitted
to bring the people into the land that the Lord would give them. He would
see the land of promise, but he would not be permitted to enter it. He
would stare at it from a distance and see Canaan’s lovely hills and valleys
and streams but never be permitted to set foot upon the land.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have
not believed Me, to treat Me as Holy in the sight of the sons
of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the
land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12)

This was the verdict given by the Most High. We know from what
we read, in chapter 3 of the book of Deuteronomy, that Moses’s heart
was broken.

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 The Cross

I also pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, “O Lord

God, You have begun to show Your servant. Your greatness
and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on
earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? Let
me, I pray, cross over and see the fair land that is beyond the
Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.” But the Lord
was angry with me on your account, and would not listen
to me; and the Lord said to me, “Enough! Speak to Me no
more of this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up
your eyes to the west and north and south and east, and see
it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.
But charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him,
for he shall go across at the head of this people, and he shall
give them as an inheritance the land which you will see.”
(Deuteronomy 3:23‑28)

It is not hard to understand how much Moses deeply desired to go and

see the good land of promise. Humanly speaking, it would seem unfair
that he would not be the man to lead the Israelites into the land that flowed
with milk and honey, since he suffered greatly to get them there. Moses
begged the Lord so that he would be able to go, but the Lord would not
hear him. In fact, Moses was told to speak no more to the Lord concerning
this matter, and so he did not enter.
Now the question arises—why? Why was Moses’s punish­ment so
severe for striking the rock in an angry fashion when he was told simply
to speak to the rock with the promise that the water would be given?
There is another great lesson here concerning the Cross. It has something
to do with the efficacy of the work of Christ on the Cross. Moses had
perverted the type and slaughtered the figure. Moses had done a terrible
thing in giving an erroneous view of the Cross with its once-and-for-all
consummation of the infinitely glorious work of redemption. The Rock
was to be struck only once and was not to be stricken again.

For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but
the life that He lives, He lives to God. (Romans 6:10)

For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a
mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to

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appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He

should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy
place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise,
He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation
of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages
He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. (Hebrews 9:24‑26)

By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of

the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10)

The importance of once can never be overstated. The lesson is that no

one should even dare to attempt to add to the work of Christ on the Cross.

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 Chapter Ten
The Book of Leviticus Is Filled with the
Foreshadowing of the Cross

N o book in the Bible clashes

more violently with the modern
mind than Leviticus. Why did all those innocent animals have to shed their
blood to put away sin? Why did the Levitical priests have to continually
take a knife and kill innocent animals? Was there no other way to deal
with the sinner? Could the Lord possibly take pleasure in the death of so
many innocent lambs? Does the constant flow of blood, as we have seen
it in Israel’s tabernacle with its altar for sacrifice, make any sense?
If the Lord Jesus Christ had not come to the Cross to consummate
the work of redemption, there would be no satisfactory answer to those
questions. However, He did come as the victim as well as the priest; and
thus the Bible, as always, does explain it­self. The Lord does make it clear
in His Word that He did not take pleasure in the blood of the animals
sacrificed by Jewish priests. “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You
taken pleasure in them” (Hebrews 10:8). The first chapter of the book of
Isaiah alone is sufficient evidence. “What are your multiplied sacrifices
to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of
rams, and the fat of fed cattle; and I take no pleasure in the blood
of bulls, lambs, or goats” (Isaiah 1:11). “For You do not delight in
sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt
offering” (Psalms 51:16). The sacrifices of the tabernacle, the shed

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blood of victims without number, were all ordained by God. To resolve

this seeming contradiction, we must understand that it was all for Israel’s
instruction. The Jews needed to have before them a constant reminder
that sin is no insignificant matter that God could lightly pass over. God’s
law demanded nothing less than the death of the sinner.
Sin would surely be judged, yet how would justice be done on God’s
behalf? The divine claims of the law must be met. The punishment that
sin merits must be administered. If not the sinner, then it would have to be
One who could stand in the sin­ner’s place. It has been said that the easiest
people to win for Christ are lawyers simply because they under­stand
the inflexible nature of law. The demands of God’s law could not be
neglected. It was useless to speak of mercy for law knows no mercy and
law shows no mercy. The righteous demands of the law must be met. If
the blow does not fall on the guilty, then it must fall on one who takes
responsibility and accepts the punishment for the wrong involved. It is
indeed strange that the shedding of the blood of ani­mals in Leviticus is
a foreshadowing, by means of types and symbols, of the great reality
that was to come. The blood of animals pointed to the voluntary offering
of the Lamb of God on the altar of Cal­vary’s Cross for the sins of the
world. The gruesome sight of the innocent shedding blood did make an
over­whelming impact. In Leviticus chapter 16, we have the sacrifices of
the great Day of Atonement. Aaron, the high priest, was instructed to take
two goats; and lots were to be cast.

When he finishes atoning for the holy place and the tent
of meeting and the altar, he shall offer the live goat. Then
Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live
goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel
and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and
he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away
into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in
readiness. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a
solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
(Leviticus 16:20‑22)

The goat upon which the lot fell was to be a scapegoat sent into the
wilderness, bearing the sins of the people and returning no more.

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 The Cross

Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which

is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and
do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and
sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.
(Leviticus 16:15)

The two goats provide a twofold portrayal of the sacri­fice of our Lord.
First, He took our sins into the land where they would be remembered
no more. “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no
more” (Hebrews 10:17). Secondly, He tasted death for every man in
order that the just demands of the Law might be completely fulfilled on
our behalf (Hebrews 2:9).
The book of Leviticus taught these different aspects of the Cross
of Jesus Christ. Animal blood was shed in four out of the five Levitical
sacrifices under the ritual plan of God for the Jewish age. Here are the
five sacrifices:

• The burnt offering taught propitiation or expiation with emphasis on

the work of Christ; therefore, animal blood was used (Leviticus 1:3).
• The food offering taught propitiation with emphasis on the unique
person of Christ; therefore animal blood was not used (Leviticus
3:11). Note that blood is not connected with our Lord’s living but
with His death. The food offering is the only bloodless offering.
• The peace offering represented the doctrine of reconciliation
based on the work of Christ on the Cross; therefore animal blood
was shed at the altar (Leviticus 7:11). On the Cross, our Lord
reconciled man to Himself by removing all the barriers. The
removal of the barriers called for His spiritual death; consequently,
blood was used.
• The sin offering taught rebound, emphasizing the forgiveness of
unknown sins (Leviticus 4:3). Whenever you confess your known
sins, simultaneously God forgives all unknown sins in your life.
Therefore, animal blood was shed. So the blood of Christ is related
to rebound as well as salvation.
• The trespass offering taught rebound, emphasizing the
forgiveness of known sins and confessed sins. Again, animal
blood was shed.

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 Chapter Eleven
Moses Lifts Up the Serpent
(Numbers 21)

N othing in the entire Old

Testament is more meaningful
for the Christian than what took place as Israel was coming into possession
of the land of Edom by the Red Sea. In the incident of the fiery serpents,
the Cross of Christ appears in all of its glory. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself used this passage as an illustration of the Cross in John 3 where
His interview with Nicodemus is recorded. “As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up”
(John 3:14). It was a long, monotonous journey from Mount Hor t­ hrough
the wilderness in the land of Edom. We read that the people—worn out
with fatigue, famished, and thirsty from lack of water—spoke against
God and against Moses.

Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red
Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became
impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against
God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt
to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water,
and we loathe this miserable food.” (Numbers 21:4‑5)

By now, Israel certainly should have known that Jehovah-Jireh

(the Lord will provide) would not fail His people. They had seen His

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faithfulness over and over again. They had seen His mighty power acting
on their be­half to solve every problem and supply every need they had.
Now they were actually even complaining about heavenly food! When
they said “We loathe this miserable food,” the food in question was the
manna from heaven. So in verse 6, the Lord tried a different approach,
but one that was still designed to point to the Cross.

The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the
people, so that many people of Israel died. (Numbers 21:6)

Sin is a fiery serpent, and its sting is the sting of death as we learn in
1 Corinthians 15:56, “The sting of death is sin.” Sin bears within itself
the horror and the pain of its own pun­ishment. However, Romans 5:20
teaches that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”

So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned,

because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede
with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.”
And Moses interceded for the people. Then the Lord said to
Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and
it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he
looks at it, he will live.” And Moses made a bronze serpent
and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a
serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent,
he lived. (Numbers 21:7‑9)

So in verse 9, we have the principle of look and live. Every one of us,
at one time or another, has known the shame and pain of the serpent’s bite
(sin); but here we are told that a look of faith at the crucified Lord brings
a spiritual healing, from God, to the soul of the sinner. The fiery serpent
spoke of Christ being lifted up on the Cross in order that He might save,
through the look of faith, those who were dying from sin.

Why a Serpent?

The serpent was an appropriate figure of the deadly and destructive power
of sin. In Genesis 3:15, unregenerate sinners are said to be the serpent’s seed.
The serpent, therefore, represented the sinner. It seems strange to us that a

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serpent upon a pole would represent the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. It
seems totally unfitting to describe our Lord as Satan is described, a serpent.
The most contemptible of the animal king­dom could never represent the
most wonderful of the heavenly kingdom! However, remember that on the
Cross, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that
we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians
5:21). “He was made a curse for us so that the curse might be removed”
(Galatians 3:13). Nothing could be more appropriate to depict that than
the figure of a serpent. Consider the fact that the serpent is called the devil
and Satan, and Satan is the author of sin. On account of the Cross, the
enemy has been judged; his authority has been shattered. The accuser of
our brethren has been thrown down. He can no longer point to a broken
law. Sin, which gave the devil legal ground on which to exercise authority,
has been expiated. “And they overcame him because of the blood of
the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did
not love their life even when faced with death” (Revelation 12:11).
At the Cross, Satan, the prince of this world, met his demise
forever—defeated by the Son of God. Christ became a curse in the
place of the sinners, and all of our iniquity fell on Him there, but there
was never any similarity. Really, it is an infinite contrast in order that
everything pertaining to the evil one might be taken into death. “The
one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from
the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy
the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
Why didn’t Moses use one of the actual serpents and spike a fiery
serpent on the pole? Well, it would have damaged the typology. It would
have pictured God’s judgment on the sinner himself, and worse still, it
would have misrepresented our sinless Substitute. The type chosen was
in the likeness of a serpent; it wasn’t an actual serpent but, rather, a piece
of brass made to look like one. The one who is the sinner’s Savior was
sent in the likeness of sinful flesh (see Romans 8:3). The brazen serpent
foreshadows Christ only to the point when He was lifted up on the Cross.
The serpent was a reminder and an emblem of the curse. It was through
the agency of that old serpent, the devil, that our first parents were seduced
and brought under the curse of a Holy God. Never forget that on the Cross,
the Holy One of God was made a curse for us.
Why a serpent of brass? This brings out, once more, the perfect
accuracy of the type. In the Scriptures, brass symbolizes divine judgment.

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The brazen altar illustrates this truth for on it the sacrificial animals were
slain. Upon the brazen altar descended the consuming fire from heaven.
When Christ is seen as judge inspecting the seven churches, we are told,
in Revelation 1, that His feet were like fine brass. In our Numbers 21
passage, the serpent spoke of the curse that sin produced; and the brass
spoke of God’s judgment falling upon the One made sin for us. There
is another thought suggested by the brass as well: Brass is harder than
iron, silver, or gold. So it told of Christ’s mighty strength. He was able
to endure the awful judgments that fell upon Him.
Before we leave this chapter, let’s note some things the Jews were
not told to do:

• They were not told to manufacture ointments as a means of healing

their wounds. Spiritual lotions do not cure the disease; only the
Lord can do that.
• They were not told to minister to others who were wounded.
What use would it be for one to jump into deep water to rescue a
drowning man if he could not swim himself? How can one who is
dying, and unable to deliver himself, help others in a similar state?
• They were not told to fight the serpents. What use would it be
for those who had already been bitten to fight the serpents? They
could all have killed a thousand serpents each, but they would
still have died. Fighting against the serpents or fighting against
sin will not solve a thing.
• They were not told to make an offering to the serpent on the pole.
God did not ask any payment from them in return for their healing.
Grace ceases to be grace if any price is paid for what it brings.
• They were not told to look at Moses. They had been looking to
Moses, but God commanded them to look at the brazen serpent.
In other words, they are depending on their own works or the
works of men. Salvation is by grace through faith not of works
(Ephesians 2:8‑9).
• They were not told to look at their wounds. Some think they need
to be more occupied with examining their own wicked hearts.
To be occupied with self is to be occupied with that which God
has condemned! The devil is pleased when he gets an individual
looking at human works like feelings, baptism, self, etc. rather
than the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Now, let’s look at the positive side:

• Moses was commanded by God to make a serpent of brass; it was

something the Lord provided.
• Moses was commanded to fix this brazen serpent upon a pole.
Therefore the divine remedy was publicly exhibited so that all
Israel might look and thus be healed.
• The Lord’s promise was that “it shall come about that everyone
that is bitten, when he looks upon it, he will live” (Numbers 21:8).
• He was to look away from himself to the divinely appointed object
of faith. Here is our principle of look and live. It is the principle
of Isaiah 45, “Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the
earth; For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22).
After salvation, the Christian life continues by looking, “Fixing
our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for
the joy set before Him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). At
the end of the Christian life, we are still to be looking for Christ,
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly
look for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).
From the beginning to the end, it’s looking.
• The brazen serpent was lifted up so that those who were too weak
to crawl up to the pole itself simply could look and, thus, be healed.
No matter how many times bitten, no matter how far the poison
has advanced, if they looked, they could be healed. Please notice
also that anyone could look.

It is interesting that man became a lost sinner with a look. “When the
woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight
to the eyes” (Genesis 3:6a). How wonderful that we may turn to the Lord
Jesus Christ to interpret for us the meaning of this exceedingly strange
in­cident of the brazen serpent. Our Lord looked upon it as a sign of His
own suffering—His own death upon the Cross. Note the context in John
3 for the most sublime passage in the Gospel of John.

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so

must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes
will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes

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in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did
not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that
the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in
Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. (John 3:14‑18)

Nicodemus was familiar with Numbers 21, which gives us the story of
the serpent. So in verse 14, what did our Lord mean when He said “The
son of man must be lifted up”? He meant that life could only come out
of death. In order for a new creation to begin, the old creation must end.
When our Lord died on the Cross, He put an end to the Adamic race, and
a new one began. Our Lord referred to His sacrificial death as a lifting
up because the Jews were looking for a Messiah who should be lifted
up. They wanted the Messiah to be elevated to the throne of David, but
before this occurred, our Lord had to be lifted upon the Cross and put
to shame. It was by this that the curse of the serpent was lifted from the
human race. By the looking at the suffering Messiah with eyes of faith,
one would live forever.

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 Chapter Twelve
Unveiling the Horrors of the Infamous
Cross (Deuteronomy 21:23)

A book on the Cross throughout

the Scriptures would be
incomplete without a look at Deuteronomy 21:23. In fact, the apostle Paul
quoted this passage in Galatians 3:13 in connection with the redemptive
work of Christ on the Cross. The Cross of Christ is something so amaz­ing,
wonderful, and great that it takes many different passages of Scripture to
reveal to us its full meaning and purpose. This passage in Deuteronomy
takes us far beyond the ordi­nary, to the deepest extent of its shame as
well as to the utmost heights of its glory. The statement in this passage
leaves no room for uncer­tainty as to the meaning of the Cross.

If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put

to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not
hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on
the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so
that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God
gives you as an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 21:22‑23)

In other words, such a disgraceful spectacle, a thing so degrading­,

must not be looked upon a moment longer than the law demands. The
dead body on the cross was not permitted to remain through the night
so that the sun would not rise on it, re­vealing more of its shame to the

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eyes of men. If there is one word to describe what this passage reveals
about the Cross, it is the word shame. That’s why the writer of the book
of Hebrews said, “Fixing our eyes [or be concentrating] on Jesus, the
author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured
the Cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2).
In Deuteronomy 21:23, not only do we have such a despicable thing
as a body on a cross de­filing the land, but also something even more
disgraceful and unthinkable—the one whose body was placed on the cross
was accursed of God. It leaves one in awe and amazement to find precisely
that when we turn to the pages of the New Testament concerning the body
of Jesus. We owe Joseph of Arimathea an infinite gratitude because he
boldly entered into the presence of Pilate, begging that he take away the
body of our Lord. The policy of the Romans was to take the dead bodies
off the cross and unceremoniously throw them into the garbage dumps of
Jerusalem. The body of our Lord would have been thrown into one of those
same garbage dumps along with the criminals. Our Lord had come to save
the criminals, but the shame did not extend past the disgrace of the cross.

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea,

named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of
Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of
Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given [to him]. And
Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in
the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance
of the tomb and went away. (Matthew 27:57‑60)

We are not at the mercy of theological theories and speculations

concerning the meaning of all this. The New Testament blesses us with
this clear statement: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law,
having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone
who hangs on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13). This was simply the fulfillment
of another aspect of the Cross found in Deuteronomy 21. It is beyond
human comprehension that God could be willing to leave His throne
in heaven, take upon Himself the form of a man, and identify Him­self
with our sins by becoming the accursed thing that sin is on the Cross.
He did all of this not simply to pay the price for sins, but to arise from
the dead so that we might be identified with Him—now freed from guilt

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and shame—to share the riches of His grace and the victories of His
Ascension as one seated with Him in heavenly places.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love

with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our
transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace
you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated
us with Him in the heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus, so that in
the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His
grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4‑7)

The next verse should have much more meaning now: “For you know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for
your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might
become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). This is such an amazing thing, yet
it is hidden from many, the ones who don’t have time to serve the One
who became a curse on the Cross for them. Many believers reject the
doctrine of accountability; they refuse to gather together habitually with
other believers to learn God’s word. They refuse to use their time, talent,
and treasure to glorify God and to promote His doctrine throughout the
world. They refuse to learn about their spiritual gift and operate in it. Yet
our Lord became a despicable, disgraceful curse for them as He hung
upon the Cross in shame. Perhaps that is why the Bible teaches that the
loser believer will have shame at the judgment seat of Christ. Consider
the following passages in this regard:

For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you
even weeping, [that they are] enemies of the cross of Christ,
whose end is destruction, whose god is [their] appetite, and
[whose] glory is in their shame, who set their minds on
earthly things. (Philippians 3:18‑19)

Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears,

we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in
shame at His coming. (1 John 2:28)

“I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that

you may become rich, and white garments so that you may

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clothe yourself, and [that] the shame of your nakedness will

not be revealed.” (Revelation 3:18)

The last time shame is mentioned in the Bible is in Revelation 16:15,

“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake
and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men
will not see his shame.” This is the gospel of the grace of God. Christ
became a curse for us so that we could be blessed. The depth of His grace
is all, in a sense, so unthinkable that we have no other access to it but the
Word of God. People may find fault with all of this and stumble and doubt
and indulge in theological speculations concerning their responsibility to
God; but for those who have positive volition toward doctrine, this is a deep
spiritual truth—the shame of Jesus Christ. We will either face some shame
now, because of our relationship with Him, or we will face some shame
later. The New Testament is crystal clear that this is part of the calling of
the Church-age believer as the following passages demonstrate:

Remember the word that I said to you, “A slave is not

greater than his master.” If they persecuted Me, they will
also persecute you. (John 15:20)

So they went on their way from the presence of the Council,

rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer
shame for His name. (Acts 5:41)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God

for salvation to everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16)

On the basis of my intense concentration and confident

expectation [a personal sense of destiny] that I shall not be
put to shame in anything. (Philippians 1:20)

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord

or of me His prisoner; but join with [me] in suffering for the
gospel according to the power of God. (2Timothy 1:8)

Isaiah saw the shame of our Lord very clearly when He said: “He was
despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with

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grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised,
and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And
our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted, But He was pierced through for our
transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for
our well‑being [fell] upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own
way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He
was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth;
like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent
before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth” (Isaiah 53:3‑7).
We need these strong, clear statements of Scripture repeated to us over
and over again because the message and the meaning of these verses will
never truly be fully understood until we enter eternity.

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 Chapter Thirteen
The Psalm of the Crucifixion (Psalm 22)

T he Twenty-second Psalm has

right­fully been called the
Crucifixion Psalm. In fact, it begins with the phrase “My God, my
God, why have You forsaken me?” It ends with the Hebrew phrase kiy
asah, meaning it is finished. Translated, it means “He has performed it.”
This psalm is a picture of our Lord’s darkest hours and includes a record
of His dying words. In this psalm, David takes us deep into the horrors
of the Cross while, at the same time, we see the fruits of the Lord Jesus
Christ and His passion in the establish­ment of His kingdom among men.
Even though the psalm was the expression of a personal anguish on the
part of David, this, in no way, invalidates the claim that this was to be a
prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross. In fact, many of the
Old Testament prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ have their roots in the
historical circumstances of the Jewish people. So although David and
his afflictions may be present here in a modified sense, he who sees the
Lord Jesus Christ will neither see nor care to see David in this psalm. In
all of the Scriptures, there is no more accurate expression of our Lord’s
thoughts and feelings during the awful six hours on the Cross than what
we have in Psalm 22.
“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my
deliverance are the words of my groaning” (Psalm 22:1). This was
quoted from our Lord, in Matthew 27:46, while He hung on the Cross. It
was a phrase that caused the Jews to mock while the elect angels rejoiced.
Psalms 22:2 states the unanswered prayer of our Lord on the Cross, “O

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my God, I cry out by day [first three hours, nine a.m. to twelve noon]
and then by night there is no silence for me [the continued prayer of
our Lord during the darkness that surrounded the Cross from twelve
noon to three p.m. when He was being judged for our sins].”
Psalm 22:3 gives the reason why that prayer could not be answered
in the one phrase, “You are Holy, O You who are enthroned upon the
praises of Israel.” God the Father was imputing our sins to Christ and
judging them from His holiness. Therefore, He couldn’t answer the prayer
for deliverance. The Lord Jesus Christ knew that however things may
look, there is neither injustice nor any unfairness with God the Father.
Many people speak evil of God when they are under His afflicting hand
but not so with the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows His Father too well to
let outward circumstances defame His character. In Psalm 22:4‑5, Jesus
even pointed out to the Father that He had previously delivered Israel
under stringent conditions.

In You our fathers trusted [faith‑rest]; they trusted, and

You delivered them [You answered their prayers]. To You
they cried out [in prayer] and were delivered; In You they
trusted and were not disappointed. (Psalm 22:4‑5)

God responded to Israel’s faith when they called for help, and He
rescued them out of all their difficulties and miseries, but in the case of
our Lord, His perfect faith brought no assistance from heaven. Of the ones
who trusted God throughout their lifetime, He would be the only one to
be forsaken by God. Of course, we will never be. “I will never desert
you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
So why couldn’t our Lord’s prayer be answered? The reason is given
in Psalm 22:6, “But I am a worm and not a man.” The word tola refers
to a certain worm that was crushed for its red dye and used to color the
crimson robes of royalty. Our Lord was being crushed for our sins so that
you and I, as members of the royal family of God, could wear the crimson
robe of the royal family forever. Our Lord felt Himself to be comparable
to a helpless, powerless, downtrodden worm—passive while crushed and
unnoticed and despised by those who walk upon Him. The phrase “and
I am not a man” means He no longer even appeared human. The very
people who would have once crowned Him have now condemned Him.
The very ones who benefited from His cures now despised Him. How

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quickly people forget! Psalm 22:7 says He was being ridiculed by gesture
as well as word, “All who see me sneer at me; they separate with the
lip, they wag the head [saying,].” These were gestures of contempt and
hatred. Man made faces at Him, the very One whom angels adore. This
prophecy was fulfilled in the Gospel of Matthew

And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging

their heads, and saying, “You who [are going to] destroy the
temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You
are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” (Matthew
27:39‑40)

Jews and Gentiles, soldiers and civilians hurled abuse at Him, to mock
Him while He was dying for those very sins. Which makes you wonder
the most, the cruelty of man or the love of the Savior? How can we ever
complain of mockery and ridicule after this?
We see some of the verbal sarcastic abuses of the crowd in the Bible.
“Commit [yourself] to the Lord; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue
him, because He delights in him” (Psalm 22:8). Our Lord’s prayer was
heard by all who were there, and they saw that it couldn’t be answered!
They didn’t understand the reason. They didn’t understand that He was
bearing the sins of the world on the Cross. The only unanswerable prayer
of our Lord Jesus Christ could not be answered because it was the way
of our so‑great salvation. He was being judged for our sins, He was our
substitute, and He was taking our place. During His time on the Cross,
He could only be judged; and during His judgment, His prayer could not
be answered.

In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes
and elders, were mocking [Him,] and saying, “He saved
others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel;
let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe
in Him. He trusts in God; let God rescue [Him] now, if
He delights in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
(Matthew 27:41‑43)

If you ever become tormented and mocked and judged and ridiculed
by others, remember what our Lord went through. “For consider Him

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who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that

you may not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:3).

Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You
made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts. Upon You
I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my
mother’s womb. Be not far from me, for trouble is near;
For there is none to help. (Psalm 22:9‑11)

Our Lord’s great sorrow was that God had forsaken Him; His great
prayer is that He would be near Him.

Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan

have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me, As
a ravening and a roaring lion. (Psalm 22:12‑13)

This prophecy was fulfilled, “Now when morning came, all the chief
priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus
to put Him to death” (Matthew 27:1). “Now the chief priests and the
whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus,
so that they might put Him to death. They did not find [any,] even
though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came
forward” (Matthew 26:59‑60). Like hungry cannibals, they opened their
blasphemous mouths as if they were about to devour the one they hated.
They could not vomit forth their anger and jealousy fast enough.
Turning from His enemies, our Lord describes His own personal condition,
“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; My
heart is like wax; it is melted within me, My strength is dried up like
a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws [In John 19:28 He cried
out “I am thirsty”]; and You lay me in the dust of death” (Psalm 22:15).
This is a description of the burning afflictions we saw described under the
physical sufferings of Christ. His strength was dried up in the tremendous
flames of divine justice just as the Passover lamb was roasted in the fire.

For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has

encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. I can
count all my bones. They look, they stare at me. (Psalm 22:16‑17)

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The band of evildoers refers to the Jewish leaders in Luke 23:10‑11.

The piercing of His hands and feet is an astonishing prediction of the
Cross, appearing as it did in this text hundreds of years before crucifixion
was even invented. Right alongside this astonishing prophecy is a similar
one in Zechariah 12:10 where the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem will look upon the Lord “whom they have pierced.”
Obviously, this psalm cannot ultimately refer to David even though he
was the human author of it. The phrase “I can count all my bones” in
verse 17 joins Isaiah 52:14 in prophesying yet another unmistakable mark
of crucifixion. “Just as many were astonished at you, [My people], so
His appearance was marred more than any man, and His form more
than the sons of men” (Isaiah 52:14). Verse 17 of this psalm ends with
the phrase “they look, they stare at me.” Who are they? They are those
found in Matthew 27:36: “And [when they had crucified Him,] sitting
down, they began to keep watch over Him there.”

They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing

they cast lots. But You, O Lord, be not far off; O You my
help, hasten to my assistance. Deliver my soul from the
sword, my only [life] from the power of the dog. Save me
from the lion’s mouth; from the horns of the wild oxen You
answer me. (Psalm 22:18‑21)

The lion’s mouth is a reference to Satan. “Your adversary, the devil,

prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter
5:8). You can be sure that Satan closed in on the Lord Jesus Christ with
a rage never seen before or since. Never was the devil so determined to
destroy a soul, and without a doubt, he threw in all that the kingdom of
darkness had. In fact, the Lord said that this was the hour of the power
of darkness and that Satan would come but would find nothing in Him.
“While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me;
but this hour and the power of darkness are yours” (Luke 22:53).

The afflicted will eat and be satisfied; those who seek Him
will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever! All the
ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and
all the families of the nations will worship before You. For

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the kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations.

(Psalm 22:26‑28)

The truth of the matter is that where Satan did his worst, Jesus Christ
did His best. The Cross is the place where the adversary was stripped of
his authority. For the Lord Jesus Christ bore in His body, on the Cross,
the sins of all men and therefore annulled the rights of the evil one to
accuse and enslave them any longer.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the

salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and
the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our
brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before
our God day and night.” And they overcame him because
of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their
testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced
with death. (Revelation 12:10‑11)

The Twenty-second Psalm does not close without proclaim­ing this

fact: “They will come and will declare His righteousness to a people
who will be born, that He has performed it” (Psalm 22:31). It is
declared that all the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the
Lord. In this way, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, links up His Cross and
the victory won there with the glo­rious future and life that He promises
to all of those who believe in Him.

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 Chapter Fourteen
The Psalm that Takes Us to Calvary
and Beyond (Psalm 2)

W hen the Lord Jesus Christ

appeared to the disciples,
we read that He opened their minds so that they might understand the
Scriptures, how what was written of Him in the Law, the Psalms, and the
Prophets must be fulfilled (Luke 24:44‑45). It is in the Psalms that the
messianic promise is expressed so superbly. In his sermon at Antioch, Paul
quoted Psalm 2:7, declaring that its fulfillment was found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. “That God has fulfilled this [promise] to our children in that
He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are
My Son; today I have begotten You.’” (Acts 13:33). The Second Psalm
is one of the most outstanding passages of the Old Testament concerning
the Cross and the glory of our Lord. The psalm opens with the kings of
the earth setting them­selves against the Lord’s anointed.

“Why are the nations in an uproar, and the peoples devising

a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the
rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us tear their fetters apart, and
cast away their cords from us!’” (Psalm 2:1‑3)

Centuries later, their cries would be “Crucify Him, crucify Him” and
“Let his blood be upon us and upon our chil­dren.” These statements the

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Jews made against the Lord have stood out as his­tory’s most emphatic
denial of the One who would be king of all n­ ations. It is because of their
rejections that they have suffered like no other people in all of human
history. This psalm not only spoke of the Messiah’s rejection, nailed as
He was to the shameful tree, but here we also have the Resur­rection and
the Messiah’s Ascension faithfully foretold. David looked forward to the
fact that someday, Israel’s crucified King would be risen and glorified
and have sovereign authority over all the earth.

“He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them.
Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them
in His fury, saying, ‘But as for Me, I have installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain.’ I will surely tell of the decree
of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have
begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations
as Your inheritance, and the [very] ends of the earth as Your
possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, You
shall shatter them like earthenware.’” (Psalm 2:4‑9)

Then the psalmist takes upon himself the role of the preacher who
proclaims the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says,

“Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; take warning,

O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence,
and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son [show
Him extreme respect especially in light of the Cross], that
He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His
wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take
refuge in Him!” (Psalm 2:10‑12)

The word for homage in Hebrew is nashquw, which means to kiss, to

touch gently, to fasten up together, or to be equipped together. We are to
have this type of closeness with the Lord Jesus Christ. The way we are to
respect and honor Him is by rejoicing with happiness, that is inexpressible
and full of glory. “And though you have not seen Him, you love Him,
and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly
rejoice with joy [happiness] inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter
1:8). This type of closeness and gratitude to our Lord for what He did for

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us on the Cross meant that the en­emies of the Christians, in Paul’s day,
found that nothing could quench the fire of their enthusiasm and devotion.
Neither threats nor imprisonments, stonings nor the lions of Nero’s circus
could quench that fire! The kiss of pardon and reconciliation offered to all
men everywhere through the Cross gave the early Christians the ability
to turn despair into joy. We have all been invited to kiss the Son.

“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your

way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all
who take refuge in him.” (Psalm 2:12, NIV)

Why does it speak of wrath? Why do we read that, upon the occasion
of Christ’s return to earth to judge and reign (as He will), the kings of
the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich men and
the strong and every slave and free man shall all hide themselves in the
caves and among the rocks? “Then the kings of the earth and the great
men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave
and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the
mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall
on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has
come; and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:15‑17).
The reason is to be found in our subject of the Cross of Christ. The
Cross is the fountainhead not only of forgiveness, peace, reconciliation, and
eternal life, but also of judgment and eternal loss. For if we reject the gift of
God’s love provided at so great a cost, Christ Himself having been will­ing
to become our substitute so that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him, then we are saying that we will stand before God based upon
our own merits. The point is that the Son is waiting, and He offers everyone
His pardon. He can do no more; there is nothing beyond the Cross that He
can do. “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not
done for it?” (Isaiah 5:4). At the Cross, God revealed all His love, wisdom,
and power for the liberation and freedom of the sinner who simply needs
to kiss the Son to be saved. One way or the other, Psalm 2 teaches us that,
eventually, Philippians 2:10‑11 shall be true of each one of us: “So that at
the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and
on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

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 Chapter Fifteen
The Cross in High Definition (Isaiah 53)

N owhere in the entire realm of

prophecy does the Cross appear
in such clear definition as in Isaiah 53. Had Isaiah stood at the foot of
the Cross, he could not have given us a more accurate account of what
took place there. Isaiah 52:13‑15 is actually the introduction to Isaiah
53. Originally, there were no chapter breaks in the Bible, and so there are
times when one chapter actually belongs with the next one.

Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted

up, and greatly exalted. (Isaiah 52:13)

The phrase “behold My servant” means more than what it looks.

This is a command for us to respond to His love, and His love is revealed
in His sufferings for us. So it means we are to have doctrine in our soul,
or we will not be able to respond to the love that God has for us! In the
phrase “He will be high,” the Hebrew word for high is gabah, which
refers to being seated in heavenly places. The phrase “lifted up” is the
verb nasah in the passive voice, which means that He will receive a lifting
up, referring to the Ascension into heaven. Satan and his demons did all
they could to try to stop the resurrection of Christ from happening and
to prevent Him from entering heaven. The phrase “greatly exalted” is
the Hebrew word ruwm, which means to rise up. This is a reference to
Resurrection, which was the first stage of glory for the humanity of Christ.

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So we have the Resurrection, Ascension, and Session all mentioned in

this verse!

Just as many were astonished at you, so His appearance

was marred more than any man, and His form more than
the sons of men. (Isaiah 52:14)

Just as many were astonished at the sufferings of the Jews, many were
shocked at the appearance of our Lord on the Cross. Even those who
were antagonistic toward Him were shocked by the unique sufferings of
Christ. The Hebrew word for marred is mimishchath, which means to
be completely disfigured. This is disfigurement without the breaking of
any bones. The face of the Lord Jesus Christ was literally destroyed so
much so that it was a shocking sight to see! Remember that He received
this disfigurement from the abuse prior to the Cross! His face received
disfigurement from His physical suffering, but His spiritual suffering
also caused mental pain and showed on His face as well. He took more
punishment in His body than anyone else who ever lived.

Thus He will sprinkle many nations [the unlimited

atonement, Christ dying for the sins of the world], kings
will shut their mouths on account of Him; for what had not
been told them they will see, and what they had not heard
they will understand. (Isaiah 52:15)

They will discern for themselves that He is the King of kings!

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm
of the Lord been revealed? (Isaiah 53:1)

This is a reference to His work on the Cross! The message is the

Gospel and then doctrines referring to the glory of Christ. The arm speaks
of His power but also refers literally to Him hanging on the Cross! The
next verse speaks of His incarnation, beginning with His childhood.

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like

a root out of parched ground; He has no [stately] form or

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majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that

we should be attracted to Him. (Isaiah 53:2)

Tender shoot is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ as a baby in

a cradle. His deity was hidden, and His humanity was observable!
Furthermore, verse 2 states that there was nothing dazzling about Him as
a human being. The first human king of Israel was King Saul who came as
a dazzling person. The last king of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ, appeared
the first time without the associated glamour and majesty of a king. The
Jews did not see the beauty of Christ because they were negative toward
doctrine; they were religious and legalistic types. With religious people,
things have to be obvious; so if someone is glamorous, they have to be
obviously glamorous! The Jews did not take pleasure in the Lord Jesus
Christ: “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not
receive Him” (John 1:11).
What kind of suffering do we have here so far? First, in Isaiah 53:1,
we see that the message of the Gospel is not believed and that gives our
Lord suffering because of His love as John 3:16 reveals. Then, He is
rejected in Isaiah 53:2 by the very people He was going to die for. But
next, in verse 3, He becomes the object of mental-attitude sins!

He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows,

and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men
hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem
Him. (Isaiah 53:3)

The Hebrew word for despised is bazah, which means to spit out
hatred. He received hatred as He initiated love, and this forms another
part of His sufferings. The Hebrew word for forsaken is chadel, which
means to be rejected verbally. The Lord Jesus Christ is omniscient, so He
knew whenever someone in His presence hated Him. In His humanity,
He was a genius; and He was also a tender plant, meaning very sensitive.
Therefore, another part of His suffering was the verbal rejection and
hatred. The more He loved, the less He was loved! He healed people, fed
people, and clothed people; but it did not matter. The Hebrew word for
sorrow is makob and, in the plural, means many sorrows; and it literally
means pains in the soul. He was thoroughly familiar with grief! He knew
how it was to be maligned, hated, tortured, betrayed, deserted, rejected, and

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slapped; but even worse, He knew how it was to be forsaken! The phrase
“from whom men hide their face” includes the Hebrew word sathath,
which means to cover the face in rejection and to discredit while covering
it. Finally, in this verse, the Hebrew verb for esteem is chashab, which
means to put all the facts together. The incredible facts regarding Christ
were rejected. Unbelievers rejected His person while believers rejected
His doctrine. In spite of all of this rejection, all of the mental-attitude
sins, He still went to the Cross. What a display of grace this was!

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He

carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:4)

The Hebrew word for grief is choliy, referring to disease, sickness,

eternal afflictions, and things that we will never have in the eternal state
because of Him. The Hebrew word cabal means to carry a heavy burden
(the moment our sins were poured on Him and judged He died spiritually).
The Hebrew word naga means to be struck down with sin violently.

But [in spite of all His rejection] He was pierced through

for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;
the chastening for our well‑being [fell] upon Him, and by
His scourging we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

The Hebrew, in this verse, means that every sin was like a point
of a spear as it stabbed His soul. He was crushed by the weight of our
sins. The punishment, which brought us peace, was laid upon Him. The
Hebrew word for scourging is chabbuwrah, meaning bruises, wounds,
and black-and-blue marks. The Hebrew word rapha means to be sewn
together or drawn together because of what Christ did on the Cross.
Through Christ, man was drawn to God!

All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned

to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us
all to fall on Him. (Isaiah 53:6)

The whole human race was guilty. The Hebrew word for have turned
is panah, which means we do it from our own free will. We are sinners by

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our own choosing, even though we were born in sin, because we would
have all sinned eventually. All of our perversity, punishment, and fault
fell on Him.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open

His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a
sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open
His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

Our Lord was harassed, abused, and humiliated; and yet, throughout
all of this, He was completely and totally silent without complaint! He did
not open His mouth. On the Cross, He did say some things, but they were
not complaints. During that time, He was suffering excruciating pain! He
said these three things in this extreme pain! Under great pain, He asked for
forgiveness on behalf of those who were giving Him the pain. He uttered,
“Father forgive them” (Luke 23:34). He gives a promise to the dying
thief (Luke 23:43). He made sure that His mother would be taken care
of (John 19:26‑27). Even under ordinary circumstances, these things are
noble; but He did this under the most extreme suffering ever experienced.
He was thoughtful, tender, and loving despite His sufferings!

By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as

for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out
of the land of the living for the transgression of my people,
to whom the stroke was due? (Isaiah 53:8)

No one protested or complained about the way He was treated!

His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with
a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence,
nor was there any deceit in His mouth. (Isaiah 53:9)

This verse contains prophecy that is remarkable because it is so

detailed. Six hundred years before it happened, Isaiah prophesied that
Jesus would be crucified between those two thieves. Two of the richest men
in the country were the two men who buried Jesus, namely, Nicodemus
and Joseph of Arimathea (John 19:38‑42; Matthew 27:57‑60).

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But the Lord [God the Father] was pleased to crush Him,
putting [Him] to grief; if He would render Himself [as] a
guilt offering, He will see [His] offspring, He will prolong
[His] days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper
in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will
see [it] and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous
One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their
iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the
great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because
He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with
the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and
interceded for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10‑12)

In this final passage, in Isaiah 53, we see our Lord’s spiritual death
serving as the payment for our sins. The Father was satisfied (propitiation)
by the suffering of Christ’s soul, a unique form of spiritual suffering rather
than any physical suffering.

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 Chapter Sixteen
What Are These Wounds?
(Zechariah 13:6)

W e are ready to note our final

Old Testament passage in
this examination of the Cross throughout the Scriptures. There are
many other Old Testament passages that we could note concerning the
foreshadowing of the Cross of Christ in the Old Testament, but we will
not attempt to exhaust them all. However, there is a word in the book
of the prophet Zechariah, which we must examine before we move into
the New Testament. It appears in a messianic passage, which our Lord
Jesus Christ spoke from His own lips, on the night of His betrayal, as
He washed the disciples’ feet and spoke of the shedding of His blood for
the forgiveness of sins.

Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because
of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike down the
shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.’”
(Matthew 26:31)

Notice the word “strike”. Jesus is citing a passage from the prophet
Zechariah that goes even further. The Father is speaking, in Zechariah
13:7, “‘Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man,
My Associate,’ declares the Lord of hosts. ‘Strike the Shepherd that
the sheep may be scattered; and I will turn My hand against the

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little ones.’” This is a passage that many have misinterpreted; they have
concluded that our Lord, through His bitter sufferings and death, appeased
the wrath of God the Father and thereby brought deliverance and salvation
for sinful man. However, this interpretation does not hold water when you
examine the rest of the Scriptures. For one thing, the Bible never portrays
this kind of a division as existing in the three persons of the Godhead.
Also, remember that the Bible says, “For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). The Savior did not appease
the wrath of God by means of the Cross; rather, He revealed the wrath
of God. Paul makes that crystal clear in the book of Romans: “For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness”
(Romans 1:18). There was wrath, but Hebrews 9:26 makes it clear that
it was the wrath of God against sin not against the Son, “But now once
at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” So Zechariah 13:7—“Awake, O sword,
against My Shepherd, and against the man, My Associate—says that
this is not the wrath of God against the Son but the wrath of God against
the sin, or sin offering that the Son became on the Cross. “For what the
Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin,
He condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3).
In the previous verse, Zechariah 13:6, there is this heartbreaking
question, which—we are told—God’s chosen people will utter upon the
return of their rejected King, their crucified Messiah, “And one will say
to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will
say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’” In
Zechariah 12:10, we read, “And I will pour out on the house of David and
on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication,
so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will
mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep
bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a first‑born.” This will
be fulfilled, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will
see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth
will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen” (Revelation 1:7). However,
notice our Lord’s attitude in Zechariah toward who had pierced Him,
wounded Him, and rejected Him for thousands of years. His attitude toward
these people is simply one of forgiveness. “In that day a fountain will be

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opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
for sin and for impurity” (Zechariah 13:1). The prophet comes to the
heart of the matter—the Cross is the fountain of forgiveness.
Joseph Rabinowitz was a Russian Jew who traveled to distant lands in
search of a place of security where persecuted Jews might find peace and
happiness. Among the countries he visited was the Holy Land at a time
when many of his people were still scattered over the face of the earth.
One day, he sat on the Mount of Olives and opened his Bible (the Old
Testament). His eyes fell upon this verse, “And they shall look upon me
whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10). In that instant, it happened
to him as it happened to another Jew many years before on the road to
Damascus. Of course, I’m talking about Saul of Tarsus, the apostle Paul.
The Lord spoke to this Russian Jew; and he realized, in that moment,
that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the promised Messiah. He returned to
Russia to spend the remainder of his days preaching the Gospel to his
people. One approach he used was the following analogy:

We Jews are like a farmer on the way to market with the fruits of
his land. A wheel has come off his wagon, and he is looking for
the wheel up ahead on the road. He will never find it there. He
must turn back to find the wheel. We Jews are looking ahead on
life’s way for the Messiah who we think has not yet appeared.
It is a great mistake. We must turn back to the One whom we
rejected, to Jesus—He is the Christ, the Messiah. It is the One
whom we pierced who alone can save us.

So as you can see, there are many passages in the Old Testament
that speak of the Cross. We could have noted Psalm 34:20, “He keeps
all His bones; not one of them is broken.” This was fulfilled in John
19:34‑36. We could have noted the prophecy of the false witnesses in
Psalm 35:11, which was fulfilled in Mark 14:57‑58. We could have noted
the Old Testament prophecy of the betrayal of Judas Iscariot in Psalm
41:9, which reads, “Even My close friend, in whom I trusted, who ate
My bread, has lifted up his heel against Me.” This was fulfilled in Luke
22:47‑48. There are many others; but the point is that everywhere you
look in the Old Testament there is some mention, reference, or implication
concerning the Cross. Next, I will attempt to describe for you the Cross
as it appeared in the mind of Jesus.

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 Chapter Seventeen
Behold, the Lamb of God (John 1:29)

W e are now ready to move to

the New Testament with our
seventeenth passage dealing with the Cross throughout the Scriptures,
and it appears in the Gospel of John.
When the Lord Jesus Christ began His earthly ministry, John the
Baptist could have said “Behold, your King” or “Behold, the promised
Messiah.” He might have cried out, “Behold the Son of God.” Or he
could have said, “Behold, the Prophet. For now, we shall be taught the
way of God, the perfect law of the kingdom.” This would not, however,
have expressed the true genius of the Scriptures. The supreme purpose
of the plan of God for the human race would not have found its accurate
expression. In Luke 7:28, the Lord said, “I say to you, among those born
of women, there is no one greater than John; yet he who is least in
the Kingdom of God is greater than he.” The Spirit of God put upon
the lips of the last and greatest of the prophets the phrase found in John
1:29, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
It was for this reason that the only begotten Son of the Father had come.
All else was secondary. He had come to redeem mankind and to save
mankind from eternal damnation.
It is true that as Israel’s King, He would eventually exercise authority.
As a prophet, He would teach and declare God’s judgment and God’s
Word. As the Son of God, He would perform miraculous works of love
in healing the sick, but all this would be surpassed beyond measure. Our
Lord’s matchless ministry was so beneficial for those who were sick and

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diseased, such as the lepers; so wonderful for the oppressed who were
groaning under Satan’s bondage; and so magnificent for the poor, the
blind, and the lame. Yet our Lord’s great forerunner, John the Baptist,
could not have announced the appearance of the world’s only hope in any
other term except the one that really mattered, the term of redemption:
“Behold the Lamb of God!”
Stepping on the scene for the first time, to begin His earthly ministry,
coming from thirty years of relative obscurity to meet the problems of the
multitudes and to solve the problem of sin once and for all, the first title
given to the Lord Jesus Christ was “the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world!” The Cross is revealed right here in this New Testament
passage. There had been a powerful awakening among many of the Jews
because John the Baptist had preached as none of Israel’s prophets had
ever done before. John was pointing to the power of sin in all its horrors,
pointing a finger of condemnation and crying out to all the Jewish people
such things as “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the
wrath to come?” (Matthew 3:7). This was all a part of God’s plan, to point
out sin in the lives of the people so that they would see their need for the
Lamb of God who would take away their sin. It was to be based around the
principle of Romans 5:20: “The Law came in so that the transgression
would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
There was to come One after John, One whose sandals he was not fit to
remove: “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He
who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove
His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew
3:11). Many had been baptized in the water of the Jordan, confessing their
sins; however, as great as John was, all he could do was tell them to repent!
Now, the Son of God suddenly appears; there He stands in the midst of the
multitudes. He too had asked for baptism, which overwhelmed John the
Baptist with a sense of unworthiness. Of course, it wasn’t that the Lord
Jesus Christ needed to repent or needed to confess any sin. Instead, it was
so that He might now declare His oneness with sinful man and reveal, in
the waters of Jordan (which signified death), what would later take the form
of an absolute identification with the sins of the world on the Cross.

Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan [coming]

to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent
Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do

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You come to me?” But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit

[it] at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill
all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him. After being
baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and
behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of
God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold,
a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in
whom I am well‑pleased.” (Matthew 3:13‑17)

There was only one thing that the Baptist could say as he saw the
Spirit of God descend upon Him like a dove: “Behold the Lamb of
God, who takes away the sin of the world.” He must speak in terms of
the Cross. No other term could be suitable or appropriate to describe the
Savior. No other title would tell the story; any other would be to defraud
the multitudes who followed the preaching of John the Baptist. And so
they understood. They may not have known all of the glories concerning
the Cross, but they were fully aware of the fact that John the Baptist was
speaking of sacrifice. The highways leading to Jerusalem were filled with
innocent lambs being driven to the temple for Levitical sacrifices for the
customary Jewish worship. To the Jews, John’s method of honoring the
Savior could have only one meaning: The Messiah was here!
John the Baptist, who was standing at the close of the Old Testament
dispensation as the last of the prophets, begins to usher in a new
dispensation—the dispensation of the hypostatic union. At this crucial
moment, he gives the answer to the question that Isaac had asked his
father, Abraham, in Genesis 22:7, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but
where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” The Lord Jesus Christ told
the Jews that Abraham saw His day and rejoiced (John 8:56). This was
the day to which He referred. In fact, seeing the messianic hope in the
light of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, Abraham confidently replied, “God
will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son”
(Genesis 22:8). Here, at last, was God’s provision for man’s problem
with sin. This is not a popular doctrine today. The Church, who has been
deceived by the father of lies, is turning away from the Cross. The Church
has turned toward works and toward self but will never find victory in
any other thing than the Cross.
The purpose of our study is to bring us back to the Cross. The Cross
is the Bible’s central message. All biblical truth converges at and on the

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Cross, and if we don’t understand the Cross, we become enemies of

the Cross—“For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell
you even weeping, [that they are] enemies of the cross of Christ”
(Philippians 3:18).

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and

Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my
name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas;
beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For
Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel,
not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would
not be made void. For the word 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 1:14‑18)

If you understand the Cross and live in its principles, you will be
persecuted for what you believe. “Those who desire to make a good
showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that
they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ” (Galatians 6:12).
Satan loves to blind people from the truth of the Cross because that’s where
he was defeated. “And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself,
having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I
say, whether things on earth or things in heaven” (Colossians 1:20).

Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of

decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken
it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He
had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public
display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
(Colossians 2:14‑15)

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. His
work is finished. His altar is the Cross, and the blood of His Cross is our
ransom. The Spirit shines a light on the pages of Scripture, and we see
His Cross again and again there. Look and live. See Him and be glad.
God has provided for Himself the Lamb.

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 Chapter Eighteen
Destroy This Temple . . . (John 2:19)

W e are now looking at the Cross

in the mind of Jesus. There is
a work of art that presents a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ at the age of
twelve, with an armful of wood, on His way to Joseph’s carpenter shop.
The rays of sunlight that fall across His shoulders leave the shadow of a
cross upon the earth beside Him. Of course, it’s just an artist’s impression,
and yet how true it is. For the Cross was the Savior’s supreme objective.
He did not stumble upon the idea; He had seen it from a distance and
walked forward to embrace it. For Him, it was a must. He had to be about
His Father’s business. It has been said that men are born to live, yet Jesus
came into the world so that He might die. Let there be no mistake. We
are told, in Revelation 13:8, that the Lamb of God was slain from the
foundation of the world. The Bible tells us of Simeon who, upon the
occasion of the presentation of the baby Jesus to the Lord, took the Child
in his arms and blessed God.

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother,

“Behold, this [Child] is appointed for the fall and rise of
many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—and a sword
will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts
from many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:34‑35)

How the sword must have pierced Mary’s heart as, years later, she
stood at the foot of that cross with Mary Magdalene and her sister, the

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wife of Cleopas. The point is that in the early days of the Savior’s public
ministry, the Cross appeared before Him. In the second chapter of John’s
gospel, on the occasion of the cleansing of the Temple when the hostility
of the Jews first became apparent, we have the Lord Jesus Christ saying,
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Now the
background to this passage begins in verse 12.

After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother,

and [His] brothers, and His disciples; and they stayed there a
few days. The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went
up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were
selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers
seated [at their tables]. And He made a scourge of cords, and
drove [them] all out of the temple, with the sheep and the
oxen; and He poured out the coins of the moneychangers,
and overturned their tables. (John 2:12‑15)

The Amplified translation of this verse says, “And having made a

lash or a whip of cords He drove them all out of the Temple, both the
sheep and the oxen spilling and scattering the brokers money and
upsetting and tossing around their stands.” This is a very different
picture of our Lord, isn’t it? However, you have to take Him as He is in
all facets.

And to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these
things away; stop making My Father’s house a house of
merchandise.” His disciples remembered that it was written,
“Zeal for Thy house will consume me.” (John 2:16‑17)

Now, what is the message that we find here? It’s a very radical message,
a message that proclaims the only hope and the only way of salvation. In
fact, what our Lord did here, at the beginning of His ministry, was exactly
what our Lord did when He went up to the Passover feast at Jerusalem in
the end of His ministry. By the way, can you imagine what His followers
must have thought? He starts His ministry by turning water into wine!
The disciples probably thought that this is a great guy to follow; this is
going to be a blast! Then all of the sudden, He disrupts the Temple. He
did it at the beginning of His earthly ministry and at the end. However,

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this is one of the most significant and crucial incidents of His earthly
life and ministry. What was He doing? What was He trying to say with
His actions?
First of all, He was giving the Jewish people a final warning. He was
giving them an indication that unless they change and do what He has
come to tell them to do, they were finished! Remember that AD 70 was
coming soon, and in AD 70, the Roman army came and captured the city
of Jerusalem. They destroyed the Temple and threw out the Jews. So here,
in John chapter 2, our Lord is showing them that the only way to avoid
destruction is through Him. A great deal of His ministry was devoted to
that purpose. He presented Himself to the Jews as their only hope, and
as we know, He was rejected. At the end of His ministry, He stood and
mourned over the city of Jerusalem.
Here is His message, and it is still His message today. It’s not a
message from Church leaders to the world, telling them what they’ve got
to do! Rather, it is a basic message to Christians and their leaders, telling
them what they’ve got to do in their own realm—the Church—and that
is to magnify the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. That is the
tragedy with God’s people. Peter puts it like this: “For [it is] time for
judgment to begin with the household of God” (1 Peter 4:17). The
current tragedy is the Church telling the world what to do. However,
the question is whether the Church is in any condition to do so. It’s not
surprising that the world doesn’t listen. So what is the message? Here’s
the first one: The supreme matter in the life of an individual or a nation is
our relationship with God. All of this is typified, according to John 2:14,
by the Temple. The Temple was the greatest and most fantastic building
in all of Jerusalem; it was the center attraction for the people of God. It
was where people went to worship and to meet with God. The Temple was
the center of the life of the nation. That is why our Lord not only went
to the Temple, but also behaved in the way that He did and said what He
said. Here is the key to everything that happened in the Temple: When
things go wrong in the Temple, they will go wrong everywhere. The key
to everything is our relationship to God, and as goes the believer, so goes
the nation. One of our greatest dangers today is to misunderstand the
Bible or to abuse and misuse it. Many do just that to suit their own ends
and purposes. The trouble with the Jews was that they were misusing and
misappropriating what God had given to them. They abused the Temple,
and this was the very thing our Lord was dealing with. Not only was this

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their constant source of trouble, but it also became the cause of their
ultimate and final tragedy. In Romans 11:13‑23, the apostle Paul warns
the Church of the very same thing.
So I’m suggesting to you that the trouble of the world can be explained
by the trouble in the Church. The Temple needs cleansing; it needs to
stop abusing and misappropriating the things that God has given. That’s
always the cause of the trouble. Eventually, it becomes evident that it is
not only a wrong thing to do, but it’s also a crazy thing to do. This is when
people start to neglect their personal relationship with God and replace
it with their relationship with their ministry. They ignore the ministry of
God the Holy Spirit and turn the temple worship into something formal
and external. There is nothing more terrible for an individual or a nation
than a formal religion. The formalization and externalization of religion
is the greatest of all curses.

And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out

of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured
out the coins of the moneychangers, and overturned their
tables. (John 2:15)

Here, in verse 15, we need to look at some principles. These oxen,

sheep, doves, and the changing of money—these things were not wrong
in and of themselves. These things had to be done. There were people
who came to these feasts from a great distance, and they had to purchase
these animals for their sacrifices. People would come from different parts
of the world with their foreign coinage, and so you had to have money
changers. There was nothing wrong with all of this, in and of itself; but
what was wrong was that it had come right into the Temple, the place of
worship. So the problem was that the merchandizing had become the main
attraction, and many men were becoming rich on this. It was the misuse
of that which was right and appropriate, and we will see how this fits
in with the Cross of Christ. Remember what the Bible tells us about the
Church-age believer, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple
of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that
you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
The danger is taking things that God has appointed and using them
for our own ends. What I’m saying to you is that the sheep, the oxen,
the doves, and the money changers were being used to serve man’s own

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ambition. Just like today, many have used the Church to serve their own
ambition, for the advancement of their careers. This is one of the reasons
why so many are outside the Church, looking in; in effect, they think that
if that’s Christianity, then we are not interested. The greatest need of this
hour in the Church is the presence of the Lord and the knowledge of the
Cross. What will He do when He comes? Well, He will cleanse the Temple.
This is the manifestation of His glory, His authority, His zeal, and His
power. Have you ever realized, when you read this incident, that this was
a miracle? What happened in the Temple was as much a miracle as the
changing of water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana. Wealthy, clever
businessmen are all trading in the temple, and yet this one defenseless
person makes a whip out of cords, and with that alone, He drives them
out. How could a thing like this happen? It was the manifestation of His
glory. You see, His Word comes with power, and He is the Son of God!
“When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at
His teaching; for He was teaching them as [one] having authority,
and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:28‑29). Men felt the authority of
His word when He spoke.

And to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these
things away; stop making My Father’s house a house of
merchandise.” His disciples remembered that it was written,
“Zeal for Thy house will consume me.” (John 2:16‑17)

Our Lord loved His Father’s house, and He pronounced judgment upon
it all. He was filled with a holy indignation and a sense of righteousness.
He gets rid of all the evil that had accumulated: the paganism, legalism,
personality rapport, human power, and so on. He gets rid of all the
hypocrisy, lies, superstition, and moneymaking schemes. All the lies that
make men great and important He wipes out. He restores the original
simplicity of His doctrines, and this is the great need of the hour! We
all need to turn back to Him and allow Him to speak to us, but we also
need to allow Him to cleanse and to drive out. We need Him to come to
His temple and to manifest His glory, to show us His power and to fill
us with it.
The temple in Jerusalem was ordained by God to celebrate His person
and His commands. However, what our Lord found was the place being
abused to serve men’s own selfish ends. God had given these things to

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be used for serving, loving, and honoring Him. There was nothing wrong
with the buying and selling of the cattle and the sheep and the doves, but
this had become the whole show, the chief thing in the Temple itself. So
our Lord summed it up by saying, “Stop making My Father’s house a
house of merchandise” (John 2:16). The Greek word for merchandise
is emporium, which means a commercialized center, a place of business
or trade. The main problem in the Temple was that they were abusing
and misusing the very things God had appointed to worship Him.

The Jews therefore answered and said to Him, “What sign

do You show to us, seeing that You do these things?” (John
2:18)

Apparently, some of the Jews whom our Lord had driven out had
come back, and they wanted some proof of His authority to do what He
had done. So they asked for a sign. Now, our Lord did something very
interesting in that He didn’t give them a direct answer, choosing instead
to answer them indirectly.

Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and

in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews therefore said, “It
took forty‑six years to build this temple, and will You raise
it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of
His body. (John 2:19‑21)

At this time, everybody’s focus was squarely on the literal temple.

Their minds were on the natural and not the spiritual. The Temple was
really something that pointed to the body that the Son of God was to live
in. However, because of ignorance, most people missed that point. The
lesson the Lord taught here is that religion, ceremonialism, and ritualism
must be replaced with understanding of His death on the Cross and the
resultant resurrection. Understanding the Cross means getting rid of all
the nonsense: no gimmicks, no games, and no making the Church a house
of merchandise. In fact, God even cursed the nation of Israel because
of turning the Temple into a big business—“Her leaders pronounce
judgment for a bribe, her priests instruct for a price, and her prophets
divine for money” (Micah 3:11). When a ministry focuses on the finished
work of Jesus Christ and understands the principle of the Cross, they will

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not make God’s house a house of merchandise. They will understand the
principle that freely we have received, and freely we are to give. They will
cry out, “Come there, every one who is thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and
milk without money and without cost” (Isaiah 55:1).

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 Chapter Nineteen
Jesus Points Nicodemus to the Cross
(John 3)

T he third chapter of the Gospel of

John has always been a favorite
passage of Christians throughout the world. In this chapter, we have the
story of Jesus interviewing Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews.
The Lord Jesus Christ pushes aside all the formalities, telling the Jewish
ruler that all of his strict religiosity is good for nothing as far as entering
the kingdom of God is concerned; he must be born again.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a

ruler of the Jews; this man came to Him by night, and said
to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God [as]
a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless
God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can
a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second
time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus
answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said
to you, ‘You must be born again.’” (John 3:1‑7)

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There is no getting around this divine mandate as Nicodemus learns

directly from the Savior’s lips. The Lord speaks with the authority that
was His as the Son of God, affirming that without a rebirth through the
Spirit, Nicodemus could not even see the kingdom much less enter it. The
Lord tells Nicodemus that the agent of this complete transformation of
being born again is the Holy Spirit. This baffles Nicodemus who says to
the Lord, “How can a man be born when he is old?” So our Lord tries
to help Nicodemus by means of a simple illustration:

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound
of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is
going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

However, Nicodemus is still incredulous.

It is what our Lord does next that is of great significance in view of our
study of the Cross throughout the Scriptures. He finally must take Nicodemus
to the Cross and explain to him that it is the Cross that the Holy Spirit uses
to bring about the second birth. The new birth is the direct consequence
of the Cross. The Cross is where the new birth takes place. Though God
the Holy Spirit brings the new birth about, He does not work on His own
because the new birth originates in and through our Savior’s work on the
Cross. So we continue, in verse 9, where Nicodemus persists in his ignorance:

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus

answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel,
and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to
you, we speak of what we know, and testify of what we have
seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you
earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if
I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven,
but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will
in Him have eternal life.” (John 3:9‑15)

The next verse is really the Bible in miniature. If the believer is

unable to recall anything else from the Bible, this is the verse that must
be remembered:

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For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
[uniquely born] Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

So here, our Lord links up the second birth with the Cross. Nicodemus,
needing spiritual eyes to see, is taken to the Cross. It is when the Holy
Spirit unveils the Cross that hard hearts begin to see their need for the
Savior. You cannot honestly look upon the Lord Jesus Christ, pierced by
the Roman soldier’s spear and with blood and water gushing forth, and not
experience infinite gratitude. Understanding the implications of the Cross
is the beginning of your new birth. By believing in the One who died for
you, you are born again for the Holy Spirit works through the Cross.

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 Chapter Twenty
Following the Lord Jesus Christ
Means Bearing Your Very
Own Cross (Matthew 16:13‑27)

O ur Lord operated with a certain

restraint toward His disciples
regarding the sufferings on the Cross. He knew that His disciples would
not be able to bear it. However, the time came when He knew that He had
to begin to prepare them for what was about to happen.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi,

He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the
Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some [say] John the
Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or
one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say
that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the
Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are
you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal
[this] to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to
you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My
church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever
you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven,
and whatever you shall loose on earth shall have been loosed
in heaven.” Then He warned the disciples that they should

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tell no one that He was the Christ. From that time Jesus
began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem,
and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third
day. (Matthew 16:13‑21)

The hour had come when the veil had to be drawn aside so that the
disciples might see what was about to happen. As usual, the impulsive,
self-asserting Peter put his foot in his mouth once again. What in the
world was the Lord thinking of?, Peter thought. Peter felt that it was up
to him to straighten the Lord out in His thinking.

Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying,

“God forbid [it,] Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But
He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are
a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind
on God’s interests, but man’s.” (Matthew 16:22‑23)

This, of course, was the human viewpoint promoted by Satan; and

notice how severe our Lord’s reply was. It was Peter who needed to be
straightened out as well as all those to whom the Cross is an offense.
Most Christians today prefer theology or doctrinal teaching minus any
mention of a personal Cross. They want the blessings of God as they push
the Cross aside to preserve their own life. They trust in their own good
works, what they give, or some strict adherence to a system of legalism.
They do not live in our Lord’s description of the Cross, which is found
in the next few verses of Matthew 16:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come

after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and
follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it;
but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. For what
will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits
his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
(Matthew 16:24‑26)

Here, the sinful nature of man is revealed as the height of selfishness

in view of the paradox of the Cross. Life comes forth from death. Christ’s

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selflessness in death brought new life to the selfish. Yet even after the new
birth of salvation, the selfish self remains and, by its nature, is terrified by
the selflessness of the Cross. But if we are unwilling to forsake that self
and take up our cross in identification with the Crucified-Risen Son of
God, however great our imagined virtue, we are on the road that leads to
death. We shall eventually lose all no matter how much we may seem to
gain. On the other hand, if like Paul, we are willing to bear in the body the
marks of the Lord and go forth from self in the service of others, we shall
find that all is ours. So many Scriptures in the New Testament bear this
out. Here are several, the first four of which appear in Paul’s letters:

From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on
my body the brand‑marks of Jesus. (Galatians 6:17)

I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in

Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. (1 Corinthians 15:31)

So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all

people, and especially to those who are of the household of
the faith. (Galatians 6:10)

And He died for all, so that they who live might no longer
live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again
on their behalf. (2 Corinthians 5:15)

The Lord Jesus Christ said “Greater love has no one than
this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

The Cross not only assures us of forgiveness of our sins and

reconciliation with God, but also declares that we too must die and be
raised up in newness of life—“For you have died and your life is hidden
with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Our Lord taught the principle
that following Him means being willing to take up your very own cross,
which has to do with denying self and living for others.

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 Chapter Twenty-One
The Disciples Follow the Lord,
Fearing the Cross (Mark 10:28‑34)

W e continue to look at the Cross

in the mind of the Lord Jesus
Christ during His first advent. Our next passage, in the Gospel of Mark,
begins with impetuous Peter doing another “Ready, fire, aim” routine!

Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything

and followed You.” Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is
no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother
or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the
gospel’s sake, but that he shall receive a hundred times
as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and
sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with
persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. But many
[who are] first, will be last, and the last, first.” They were
on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking
on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who
followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside
and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him.
(Mark 10:28‑32)

The Lord had spoken to His disciples before about the Cross, but now
the time had come to speak much more clearly. Now the veil is drawn

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aside more fully. Our Lord began to make mention of specific details,
and this was a terrifying experience for the disciples. The disciples saw
something in our Lord’s face that told them He was speaking of a crisis.
He was setting His face like a flint, as the prophet Isaiah said, “I gave My
back to those who strike [Me], and My cheeks to those who pluck out
the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. For
the Lord God helps Me, therefore, I am not disgraced; therefore, I
have set My face like flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed”
(Isaiah 50:6‑7).
He was going to Jerusalem knowing full well all that awaited him
there. Our Lord could have chosen an easier path. He could have bypassed
the Cross. As a man, He could be tempted in all points like we are, yet
He was without sin. Still, He had to make His decisions in the same way
that all men must make them—in the exercise of His free will. What that
cost would be to Him we will see later when we come to Gethsemane.
So this was a moment of tremendous decision. It was reflected in our
Lord’s majestic manner, and it held overwhelming importance. That’s
why, continuing in the Mark’s gospel, we read:

They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was

walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those
who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve
aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to
Him, [saying,] “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and
the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the
scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand
Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on
Him, and scourge Him and kill [Him], and three days later
He will rise again.” (Mark 10:32‑34)

Our Lord knew every last detail of what was about to happen; nothing
was hidden from Him. From eternity past, He had chosen to do His Father’s
will as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. However, while
the choice was made by the Son of God in eternity past, the humanity of
Christ still had to choose in time. This is something that man can never
fully comprehend. To atone for the sins of the world, bear the chastisement
due to our sins, satisfy the claims of a just and Holy God, and express
God’s love to the fullest for mankind who had gone astray, who could

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ever grasp the meaning of such an achievement? Who would presume to

know all that was in the cup that the Lord Jesus Christ had to drink on the
Cross? Now, I want you to notice how Mark records what happened when,
immediately, John and James—the sons of Zebedee—come to Jesus.

James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus,

saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we
ask of You.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me
to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit,
one on Your right and one on [Your] left, in Your glory.”
(Mark 10:35‑37)

This gave the Lord the opportunity to drive home a tremendous lesson
with regard to the glory of the Cross: “But Jesus said to them, ‘You do
not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I
drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?’”
(Mark 10:38). The cup here is a reference to His Cross, and the baptism
He speaks of is His identification with our sins. So here it is; they said,
“We would all like to come to glory and sit at the Savior’s right hand in
His kingdom.” The condition for this, however, is the Cross! The Lord
Himself came into His fullest glory by way of the Cross, “The hour has
come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23). “Jesus spoke
these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the
hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You’” (John
17:1). This was our Savior’s prayer before going to the Cross.

They said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them,
“The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be
baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. But
to sit on My right or on [My] left, this is not Mine to give;
but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” (Mark
10:39‑40)

In other words, if you want to be glorified, if you want to sit with

Christ in heavenly places, the condition is the same as the one put before
John and James; you must take up your own personal cross. Remember
that only winner believers are allowed to sit on the throne with Christ in
heaven: “To the winner, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on

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My throne, as I also became a winner and sat down with My Father

on His throne” (Revelation 3:21).
Let’s close this chapter with two more Scriptures that state this
principle clearly:

“He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost
his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39)

And He was saying to [them] all, “If anyone wishes to come

after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily
and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

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 Chapter Twenty-Two
The “I Am” of Jesus Confirmed
by the Cross (John 8:58)

T he controversy in the Gospel of

John between the Lord Jesus
Christ and the Jewish authorities, regarding His claims to be the Messiah,
comes to a climax in the eighth chapter where we have the Jews ready
to stone the Lord.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will

never see death.” The Jews said to Him, “Now we know
that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets
[also]; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never
taste of death.’ Surely You are not greater than our father
Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You
make Yourself out [to be]?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify
Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies
Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God;’ and you have not
come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I
do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know
Him, and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see My day, and he saw [it] and was glad.” So Jews said
to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen
Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8:51‑58)

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He had dared to say, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was
born, I am.” This was too much. There had been a growing discontent
among the Jewish rulers; the Lord had greatly offended the Pharisees,
the scribes, and the Sadducees. He did it in the cleansing of the Temple,
in healing the sick on the Sabbath, and in so severely condemning the
Pharisees for their pride and hypocrisy. Their hatred now began to burst
into the flames that enveloped our Lord at Calvary. They thought: How
dare this Jew, born in a stable, this ordinary carpenter, this companion
of tax collectors and prostitutes, whose education was limited, how dare
He take upon His lips the sacred name of Deity by which Israel’s God
made Himself known to His people? Only Jehovah—Israel’s God, the
true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the One who appeared
to Moses and secured the freedom of the sons of Israel—dared to say, “I
am.” Remember that it was God who had said to Moses, in Exodus 3:14,
“I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of
Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
To the Jews, nothing more monstrous had ever been done in all of
Israel’s history. This was too much; He must be dealt with.

Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus

hid Himself and went out of the temple. (John 8:59)

Remember what He said to them in John 8:24, “Therefore I said

to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am
[‘He’ is not in the original], you will die in your sins.” In the midst
of the controversy, our Lord makes the claim that He is the great I AM!
The Master lets them have it full blast. Back in verse 28 of this chapter,
we have the Lord staking all on His Cross.

So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man [the Cross],
then you will know that I am, and I do nothing on My own
initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught
Me.” (John 8:28)

The amazing thing is that, while the Jewish leaders and the high
priest felt sure that such a disgraceful form of execution—reserved
for the lowest of criminals and the form of execution reserved among
Romans for slaves who had no rights—would be the end of all claims

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on the part of Jesus to messiahship, our Lord, the Son of God and Son of
Man, knew that the Cross would be the event that for all the ages would
fully substantiate His claims. At the foot of the Cross, men would find
complete assurance regarding the matter of the “I am” of Jesus. For the
rulers of the Jews, it satisfied them to know that one put to death, hanged
on a tree, was accursed of God (Deuteronomy 21:23) and that His body
must be removed at once lest the very land be defiled. So could anything
more unthinkable be conceived than a crucified Messiah?
However, our Lord confirmed His claim to messiahship by saying,
“Before Abraham was, I am.” His claim that He was the Messiah would
find its greatest validation once He was lifted up on a Cross. The Jewish
rulers thought that if they could stone Him, then He would never be lifted
up! They knew that being lifted up was a reference to the cross; Nicodemus
had told them that. However, the Lord knew that the Cross would not only
forever substantiate His claims, but also bring in the glorious age of the
new creation. The old creation would be terminated on that awful tree.
That’s what Paul said in the book of Galatians, “I have been crucified
with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and
the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

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 Chapter Twenty-Three
The Lord Jesus Christ Speaks to Moses
and Elijah of His Death (Luke 9:28‑35).

W hen we think of the Trans-

figuration, we tend not to
automatically associate it with the Cross. Yet judging from a significant
detail that Luke gives us, the most profound significance of the Mount
of Transfiguration is found on Mount Calvary and at the Cross. It is the
Cross that is at the heart of this overwhelming scene, which took place
on the high mountain where Jesus had led Peter, James, and John for
the purpose of revealing to them His glory. Moses and Elijah appeared
to our Lord in His majestic splendor, and as they spoke, the theme of
their conversation was the departure that He was about to accomplish
at Jerusalem. After all, this event came one week after our Lord starting
telling His disciples that He must suffer many things; be rejected by the
elders, chief priests, and scribes; be killed; and be raised up on the third
day (Luke 9:22). Moses and Elijah came to the Son of God and communed
with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration regarding His great work of
redemption soon to be accomplished in Jerusalem.

Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and
John and James, and went up to the mountain to pray. And
while He was praying, the appearance of His face became
different, and His clothing [became] white [and] gleaming.
And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were

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Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking

of His departure which He was about to accomplish at
Jerusalem. (Luke 9:28‑31)

Actually, the word departure can also be translated as exodus. Peter

uses the same word, in 2 Peter 1:15, to refer to his own impending death.
Moses and Elijah spoke with our Lord of His exodus, which was to be
accomplished shortly. It was a moment of glory when the Lord Christ
was transfigured. The disciples fell on their faces; they could not bear
all this glory.

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You

wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one
for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking,
a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out
of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am
well-pleased; listen to Him!” When the disciples heard [this],
they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. And
Jesus came to [them] and touched them and said, “Get up,
and do not be afraid.” And lifting up their eyes, they saw no
one except Jesus Himself alone. (Matthew 17:4‑8)

All of this is of enormous significance for Christians throughout the

ages. When we realize that there, on the Mount of Transfiguration, our
Lord’s face was shining as the sun; that His garments became white as
light, which was His future uniform of glory; and that He spoke with
Moses and Elijah of His exodus to be accomplished in Jerusalem, we
should be left breathless with awe and amazement. Moses represented the
Law, and Elijah represented the Prophets, and together they represented
the entire testimony of the Old Testament to the sufferings of the Messiah
and the glories to follow. When these two meet with our glorified Lord,
we see another word used for the Cross—not simply suffering—but this
time, the word in Luke 9:31 is accomplish. The Greek word for accomplish
is the verb pleroo, which has four basic doctrinal definitions:

1. To fill up a deficiency. We were all deficient of righteousness, and

our Lord filled that deficiency on the Cross. All of the sins of the
world were paid for there.

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2. To fully possess. The believer must be fully possessed by the work

accomplished on the Cross before he can be fully possessed by
the blessings of maturity. We are bought with a price; we are the
Lord’s possession.
3. To fully influence. The believer is fully influenced by the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross so that he can have capacity
for blessing.
4. To fill with a certain quality. The Cross is the basis for our perfect
righteousness being the highest quality of righteousness with
which the believer can be filled.

The Cross was achievement, the Cross was victory, and the Cross was
the consummation. What was said between the Lord Jesus Christ, Moses,
and Elijah, we really don’t know. Yet in one sense, we know because what
was revealed to us in the New Testament epistles was so much fantastic
truth about what Christ accomplished at the Cross. What else could
have passed between these three if not the things that Jesus showed His
disciples as He appeared to them after His Resurrection, opening their
minds that they might understand what was written of Him in the Law
and the Psalms and the Prophets.

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 Chapter Twenty-Four
The Lord Willingly Offers
Himself (John 10)

T his is another important passage

that reveals the Cross in the
mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, in the tenth chapter of John’s gospel,
we have the Savior speaking to the Jews regarding His great work of
redemption in terms best fitted to their racial background. The Jewish
people were, from their earliest origins, shepherds. So our Lord would
say, with the authority that always characterized our Lord, such things as
“Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came
before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and
shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal,
and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might
have [it] abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays
down His life for the sheep” (John 10:7‑11). And then he added, “I am
the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me, even
as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My
life for the sheep” (John 10:14‑15).
Later in this chapter, we read: “‘My sheep hear My voice, and I
know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and
they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.
My Father, who has given [them] to Me, is greater than all; and no
one is able to snatch [them] out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father

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are one.’ The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered
them, ‘I showed you many good works from the Father; for which
of them are you stoning Me?’ The Jews answered Him, ‘For a good
work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being
a man, make Yourself out [to be] God.’” (John 10:27‑33).
There could be no mistake about the implications of our Lord’s words.
It is the voice of the One who had dared to say, “Before Abraham was, I
am.” So more fuel is being added to the flame, which would soon reach
the proportions manifested at Golgotha. However, there can be no toning
it down; Jesus the Lord, who is the truth, must speak the truth concerning
His Person. Here, in John’s gospel, He affirms with immeasurable
assurance His claim: “And I have other sheep, which are not of this
fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they
shall become one flock [with] one shepherd [that’s Gentiles]” (John
10:16). However, no one can come without the Cross. The Cross is the
door by which the sheep must enter.

For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down
My life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away
from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have
authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it
up again. This commandment I received from My Father.
(John 10:17‑18)

Now, this passage teaches that the Father and the Son are one. They
are one as far as the Cross is concerned as well even though the Father
had to forsake the Son. We speak of the divine victim of the Cross, the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. However, symbols are
of value only up to a certain point. The lambs sacrificed by the Jewish
priests in the temple did not know what was about to happen to them.
They went blindly to the slaughter, having made no choice nor having any
understanding regarding their involvement. This is not so with the Son
of God who had all the insight and understanding. He freely chose and
willingly embraced the Cross, setting His face like flint to go to Jerusalem.
It was not the high priest, Pontius Pilate, Judas, the Pharisees, the soldiers,
not even Satan nor any other entity, which caused the Cross, though they
were used; rather it was His own initiative. Peter put it like this: “This
[Man], delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge

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of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put
[Him] to death. And God raised Him up again, putting an end to
the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its
power” (Acts 2:23‑24). It is this that gives the Cross its redeeming power
before God and man. The life of a victim would have had no redeeming
virtue. Had the Savior been taken to the Cross by force, we would still
be with our sins. It is true that He fell from the weight of the Cross, but
every step the Master took along the stony walkway was a willing step.
Our great High Priest mounted the altar, and He Himself was willing to
become our sacrifice: “How much more will the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God,
cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
(Hebrews 9:14).

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 Chapter Twenty-Five
The Corn of Wheat Which Falls
into the Ground (John 12)

T he visit of the Greeks, recorded

in the twelfth chapter of John’s
gospel, opens another window to peek through for a deeper insight into
the thoughts and purposes of the Cross in the mind of Christ.

Now there were certain Greeks among those who were going
up to worship at the feast; these therefore came to Philip, who
was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and [began to] ask him, saying,
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew;
Andrew and Philip came, and they told Jesus. (John 12:21‑22)

Our Lord’s response, at least from the purely human viewpoint, is

strange and altogether impossible to understand unless we view it from
the Cross. Keep in mind that most people were treating Him in a hostile
way; His life was being threatened. It might have been good news that
there were those who sympathized, and they were representatives of the
Greek culture. However, instead of being pleased or finding any ground
for satisfaction, our Lord expresses a cry of pain. His heart is pressed;
grief is in His soul. Notice what He says:

And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the
Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a

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grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself
alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life
loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to
life eternal. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where
I am, there shall My servant also be; if anyone serves Me, the
Father will honor him. Now My soul has become troubled;
and what shall I say, Father, save Me from this hour? But
for this purpose I came to this hour.” (John 12:23‑27)

So strange is our Lord’s behavior that we might not be able to grasp

the meaning of it all were it not for the fact that the Lord Himself opens it
all up to us and gives us the key. We see from His words that the request
of the Greeks suddenly focused His attention upon the Cross. What was
in the deepest depth of His soul was to be the fulfillment of the Passover
Lamb’s sacrifice that would put away the sin of the world. It comes rushing
to the surface. He had a baptism to be baptized with, and He was confined
and restricted to this principle until it is accomplished.
So that there would not be any doubt as to the meaning of His words,
our Lord draws the veil aside even more: “‘Father, glorify Thy name.’
There came therefore a voice out of heaven: ‘I have both glorified it, and
will glorify it again’” (John 12:28). Notice next that the people said that
it thundered; others said an angel had spoken. But the real thunder was the
words that followed: “The multitude therefore, who stood by and heard
it, were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, ‘An angel has
spoken to Him.’ Jesus answered and said, ‘This voice has not come for
My sake, but for your sakes. Now judgment is upon this world; now
the ruler of this world shall be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men to Myself.’ But He was saying this to indicate
the kind of death by which He was to die” (John 12:29‑33).
So there we have it. We have apostle John’s authoritative affirmation
that the request of the Greeks had brought the Cross sharply before our
Lord’s eye. But why? It could have been a flash of light in the midst of
a storm at night to show the way. However, our Lord knew that people
were going to respond everywhere. Our Lord was personally aware of
the verses we read:

Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals;
for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy

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blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and
nation. (Revelation 5:9)

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude,

which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes
and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and
before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches
were in their hands. (Revelation 7:9)

As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see [it] and be

satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant,
will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. (Isaiah
53:11)

The Lord was governed by a great supernatural purpose, which

embraced the entire world throughout all the ages. He is the great Atlas
carrying the world upon His shoulders. This is why He is called the Savior
of the world: “He is the Savior of all men, especially of believers”
(1Titus 4:10). There was no one better than the Lord Himself to know
that only at the foot of the Cross would mankind find the deepest needs of
their souls satisfied. The Son of God had a baptism to be baptized with,
and now He set His mind on it until it would be accomplished. Satan, the
prince of this world—holding domination over the children of men—must
be cast out, his authority destroyed, and his rights annulled; but this could
only be done on legal grounds.
Day and night, Satan accused mankind before God, pointing to their
sins and the broken law. The accuser of the brethren must be silenced and
his hold on the souls of men broken. This could only be accomplished by
the blotting out of sin and guilt (which gave the evil one more ground to
attack man before God). Through the Cross, victory was accomplished.
That is why our Lord said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men to Myself” (John 12:32).

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 Chapter Twenty-Six
Gethsemane’s Garden (Luke 22)

W e now come to Gethsemane’s

Garden where, in a real sense,
we have no right to enter. As the Lord said to Moses “Do not come near
here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you
are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5), He could say this, in effect,
to us concerning this garden. The three disciples who were chosen to
accompany our Lord on the great occasion of His public ministry—Peter,
James, and John—were not allowed to enter. They were brought close,
in fact, closer than the other disciples; but they were also to stay behind.
Luke tells us that He was about a stone’s throw from them: “And He came
out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and
the disciples also followed Him. And when He arrived at the place,
He said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’ And
He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down
and [began] to pray” (Luke 22:39‑41).
The truth of the matter is that we really are not allowed to enter here.
In fact, it is all wrapped in a dark mystery. Many attempts have been
made to decipher the mystery, but the darkness is still there. For example,
what did our Lord mean when He said, “Father, if Thou art willing,
remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done” (Luke
22:42)? Didn’t He know that He was going to the Cross? There have been
many speculations as to why He said this. Some teach that He was being
pressured by demons, but there are no passages that directly state that.
One thing we can be sure of is that He was not suffering the ordinary

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fear of death. Something was going on within Him that is impossible for
us to understand.

And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His

sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the
ground. (Luke 22:42)

It wasn’t fear of death that caused this agony. Christians have gone
to the stake singing, and our Lord is greater than them all. The martyrs
of the early Church have embraced death without a shadow of fear,
rejoicing over the privilege that was theirs, and He is greater than them.
So it wasn’t fear of death. Our Lord had left the Upper Room with His
disciples singing a hymn; He knew that His hour had come. He gave the
traitor an opportunity to repent when he washed his feet, and then He
said, “What you do, do quickly” (John 13:27). Then, in His priestly
prayer, he said, “These things Jesus spoke; and lifting up His eyes to
heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that
the Son may glorify Thee’” (John 17:10). He said to Peter, James,
and John, “‘My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain
here and keep watch.’ And He went a little beyond [them,] and fell
to the ground, and [began] to pray that if it were possible, the hour
might pass Him by. And He was saying, ‘Abba! Father! All things are
possible for Thee; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but
what Thou wilt’” (Mark 14:34‑36). What was going on?
We read that as the Lord returned to them, He found them sleeping,
“And when He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found
them sleeping from sorrow” (Luke 22:45). The shame of it. Here’s the
Lord Jesus Christ, with the burden of the world’s sin upon Him, crushed
by its awful horror; and the disciples are sleeping. Three times He goes;
three times He returns and, each time, finds no comfort in His sleeping
disciples. Why? The answer is He must bear the anguish alone. However,
an angel from heaven comes to comfort Him.

Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening

Him. (Luke 22:43)

The Father could not spare His beloved Son and sinful men too, so
the cup is not taken away. Luke, the physician (strange that it should have

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been he), tells us that our Lord’s anguish causes His sweat to become like
drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.

And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His

sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the
ground. (Luke 22:44)

In the Epistle to the Hebrews—which has, as its theme, the priest­hood

of Christ interceding for the people of God and making atonement for
their sins—we are given the privilege of looking upon the scene that
commemorated the Garden of Gethsemane. We are told, “In the days
of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud
crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He
was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned
obedience from the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:7‑8). We
really can’t grab a hold of the meaning of it all. We can reverently turn to
the Scriptures, which reveal the Savior’s wondrous work of redemption,
and find what they so graciously reveal to us by faith; but that’s all we
really can do. We can’t identify with what He was going through.
Every theologian has difficulty in comprehending the depths of
Gethsemane. The sinner who has found peace at the foot of the Cross can’t
really understand. So the Lord had warned His disciples that the prince
of this world would come; this was the hour of the power of dark­ness:
“Then He came to the disciples, and said to them, ‘Are you still
sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand and the
Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners’” (Matthew
26:45). Satan had entered into Judas, Peter would not heed the warning,
and the adversary sifted him as wheat. All hell was mov­ing against the
Son of God. The devil would find nothing in Him, but he would throw in
all he had in an effort to do so. Some of us may have to face the enemy
some day for we wrestle not with flesh and blood. However, in dealing
with the Son of Man who had come to destroy his works (1 John 3:15), the
devil mobilized the entire forces of his dark kingdom and brought them
down upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The agony of that hour was revealed
by the strong crying and tears the Son of God made through supplication;
that’s why an angel from heaven comes to His aid. His cry was heard. He
was delivered. Our Lord comes forth victorious from Gethsemane whose
ground had drunk His sweat.

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I want you to notice something very important. In Luke 22:42, the

Lord said, “Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me;
yet not My will, but Thine be done.” Only a few moments prior, the
Lord Jesus Christ had spoken in these terms, in the Upper Room, when
He took the cup and gave thanks and said, “This cup which is poured
out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:20). In other
words, Gethsemane can only be understood in light of Calvary. The riches
of grace springing from the Cross might never have been revealed to us
were it not for the apostle Paul. No one has ever looked so deeply into
the wonders of Calvary’s cross as the apostle to the Gentiles. It is he who
dares to say that our Lord was made sin for us that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. In the Galatians epistle, he goes so far as
to say that He was made a curse that we might be freed from the curse
that the law pronounces. Here is where Gethsemane’s awful mysteries
are resolved. The Son of God might cringe and, in the agony of the sweat
of blood, cry out for the cup to pass; but in the cup were the sins of the
world, the cup which He must drink to the very last drop.

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 Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Six Trials for the Lord Jesus Christ

W ith the exception of one short

interrogation, all of these
trials were unfair and unjust in every way. One of the greatest systems of
jurisprudence was used to condemn the One who was not only innocent,
but who, in His humanity, was also absolutely perfect. Of the six trials
recorded throughout the Gospels, two were held before Pontius Pilate
where 1 Timothy 6:13 declares that Jesus witnessed or testified an
honorable confession. The first trial was before Annas who was father-
in-law to Caiaphas, the high priest that same year. We last left the Lord
Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, so let’s continue in John 18:

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with

His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was
a garden, into which He Himself entered, and His disciples.
Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place;
for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. Judas then,
having received the [Roman] cohort, and officers from the
chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns
and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all the
things that were coming upon Him, went forth, and said to
them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered Him, “Jesus
the Nazarene.” He said to them, “I am [He].” And Judas
also who was betraying Him, was standing with them. When
therefore He said to them, “I am [He],” they drew back, and

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fell to the ground. Again therefore He asked them, “Whom

do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus
answered, “I told you that I am [He]; if therefore you seek
Me, let these go their way,” that the word might be fulfilled
which He spoke, “Of those whom Thou hast given Me I lost
not one.” Simon Peter therefore having a sword, drew it, and
struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and
the slave’s name was Malchus. (John 18:1‑10)

By the way, don’t worry about his ear because Luke 22:51 tells us
our Lord put it back. Continuing, verse 11 says, “Jesus therefore said
to Peter, ‘Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father
has given Me, shall I not drink it?’ So the [Roman] cohort and the
commander, and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound
Him, and led Him to Annas first; for he was father‑in‑law of Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year. Now Caiaphas was the one who had
advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf
of the people” (John 18:11‑14).
Annas was not a judge; therefore this was an illegal trial. Annas was
a former high priest, but now he was the political boss of Jerusalem. He
was a very wealthy and powerful man. Annas was also engaged in gangster
activities connected with every system of corruption in Jerusalem as well
as with the bands of robbers in the Negev who owed their protection to
him. Remember, the people who brought the Lord to Annas and to the trial
were all self-righteous religious people—the chief priests, scribes, and
Pharisees. Covered by their veneer of piety, these self-righteous, legalistic
religious individuals proudly and efficiently plotted and secured the death
of Jesus Christ. These are people who would put most of us to shame when
it comes to prayer activities, Temple attendance, and almsgiving. At least
three times a day, every day, they prayed in the Temple and seven times a
day at home. They were very religious, very self-righteous, and also very
lost. So Annas was no longer the high priest—he was not a judge—but
as the political boss, all matters were cleared with him before going to
court. Therefore, Annas, the most religious of them all, approved this
case; and following the counsel of Caiaphas, he said, in effect, take Him
in and kill Him! So much for the first trial.
From the palace of Annas, our Lord was taken to the palace of
Caiaphas who was the legitimate high priest at the time. The second trial is

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described for us in Matthew: “And those who had seized Jesus led Him
away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders
were gathered together” (Matthew 26:57). This was the first trial that
was supposed to be legal. This was after the preliminary hearing with
Annas. Now, think of how fair this trial must have been. Caiaphas was
the one who had said, “It is expedient for us, that one man should die
for the people, and that the whole nation do not perish” (John 11:50).
Caiaphas was a man who recognized the need of finding a scapegoat for
all the anti-Roman activities that were being performed in Israel. He
knew Rome would demand that the lawlessness in Palestine be rectified
by the death of a culprit. Therefore, he wanted the Romans to think that
the Jews were cleaning house without Roman help or interference. So in
his policy of expediency, he contended that it was better for one man to
die than they all lose their power and wealth. The Sanhedrin, therefore,
would try to pass off Jesus as the culprit; and once again, here we see the
satanic schemes of religion. The perfect Son of God is to be presented as
a master criminal by the master criminals themselves.
In the second trial, Jesus was already considered guilty for Annas
had given Him the thumbs-down vote. From now on, all we will see is
the wheels of injustice grinding away at our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice
the assemblage of religious people, “And those who had seized Jesus
led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the
elders were gathered together” (Matthew 26:57). Next, they sought
false witness against Jesus to put him to death: “Now the chief priests
and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against
Jesus, in order that they might put Him to death” (Matthew 26:59).
Deuteronomy 19:15 says that it took at least two eyewitnesses of the
same act, event, or sin to convict. All they needed to draw an indictment
against the Lord was to get at least two people who will agree to their
lies. We do not know exactly how many there were; but there were many,
perhaps twenty or thirty people, who got up and lied about the Lord Jesus
Christ—the One who had never done any wrong! The One who was
sinless! The One who had done so much divine good! The One who had
helped so many! The One who gave eternal life to all who believed in
Him! All the liars were gathered together, but they dressed up their lies
in such a way that not even two of them were able to agree.
Before we go on, notice some of the illegal points of this trial: First
of all, it was held at night, which was contrary to Jewish jurisprudence

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(see Matthew 26:31‑34). However, they were in a hurry to get all their
dirty work out of the way because the next day was the Passover; they
had to partake of it with clean hands. The fact that the Passover spoke
of Jesus Christ dying for their sins was a point that, even if they had
understood, would have mattered little in their evil calculations. They
were anxious to bring about the destruction of the One who had not
only upset their religious applecart, but who also was the perfect patsy
for their evil activities. Therefore, it had to be held at night. Secondly,
there was no defense attorney provided, which was illegal. Thirdly, the
court also sought false witnesses, obviously illegal. Fourth, the court was
prejudiced, and there was violence in the court. So not one aspect of this
trial conformed to Jewish law.

Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying
to obtain false testimony against Jesus, in order that they
might put Him to death; and they did not find [any,] even
though many false witnesses came forward. But later on
two came forward, and said, “This man stated, I am able to
destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.”
(Matthew 26:59‑61)

One after another, witnesses stood up and told their lies; and although
the court tried desperately to get two of them to agree, it was practically
impossible. Finally, two agreed in one area; and out of this, they tried to
form an indictment. I want you to notice what they are accusing Jesus
Christ of. Do you remember when Jesus discussed the Temple in John 2?
“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up’” (John 2:19). Our Lord was actually prophesying
how they would succeed in bringing about His death; but that their triumph
would be short-lived for, on the third day, He would rise from the dead!
So when two false witnesses finally agreed and made the statement that
the Lord said “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,”
immediately the high priest—who had been waiting, perhaps for hours, for
this collaboration—rose up and said, “Do You make no answer? What
is it that these men are testifying against You?” (Matthew 26:62).
The Lord did not answer back; not one word did He speak. This is a
marvelous manifestation of the fact that He did not possess a sin nature,
and He knew that the Cross was rapidly approaching. As lie after lie was

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spoken against Him, the uniqueness of Christ should have been apparent
to all who watched this blatant injustice. In fact, from their own Bible,
they should have been reminded of Isaiah 53:7: “And like a sheep that
is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.”
Many of these men were scribes who studied the Old Testament, on a
daily basis, where hundreds and hundreds of passages point to the person
of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Yet they did not see; they were blinded
by religion. Religion itself is blind, and these people were blind to the
person of Christ. How could the high priest, Caiaphas, watch these people
lie about the Lord Jesus Christ, the royal high priest, and not get up and
say, “He is the Son of God!” Why must we wait for Pontius Pilate to say,
“He is a just man”? Why must we wait until a Roman centurion looks
up at the Cross and says, “Truly, this is the Son of God”? What is the
matter with this high priest? Here, in his court, is the eternal High Priest
after the order of Melchisedek. What was the matter with this supposed
servant of God? The problem was he was so loaded with religion that he
could not see the Son of God. So the Lord held His peace.

But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I
adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You
are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have
said it [yourself]; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you shall
see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and
coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matthew 26:63‑64)

Think of it, the living God was standing in his presence, and the high
priest was commanding Him to speak up! Once again, notice the arrogance
of religion. Our Lord was asked, in verse 63, “Tell us whether You are
the Christ, the Son of God.” His answer, in the Greek, was “Su eipas”;
and it is the strongest of all affirmatives, meaning an emphatic yes. That
was all He said concerning His person; but He added, and this was grace,
the next few items on the agenda: Resurrection, Ascension, Session, and
the Second Advent. This all came from the statement “Nevertheless I tell
you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand
of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” He gave them a short
course in the doctrine of Christology right there in the courtroom.
Now, what was the response of the high priest? Well, it should have
been “Thou art the Son of God. I believe in Thee.” And then, he should

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have fallen down on his knees and worshipped Him. Of course, that is
not what happened. In fact, by this time, he was downright angry.

Then the high priest tore his robes, saying, “He has
blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses?
Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy.” (Matthew 26:65)

Imagine a judge, sitting on the bench, suddenly beginning to tear off

his clothes. Here is the attitude of religion! The judge certainly should
have known that before he could have an indictment written up, there must
be two witnesses who agreed on the accusation. Yet he declares that no
witnesses are needed. By the way, something else in Jewish jurisprudence
says no one can condemn himself by his own statements apart from a
confession of guilt. Actually, if our Lord’s own statements—which would
condemn Him—were not true, they would be ruled out. The Lord did
not speak blasphemy. He did not make a confession of guilt but, rather,
a clear statement of fact. Caiaphas took a clear statement of fact and said
it was a confession of guilt, which it was not.

“What do you think?” They answered and said, “He is

deserving of death!” (Matthew 26:66)

The penalty of blasphemy was death. Remember, this was a

courtroom under one of the best systems of court procedures that has ever
been—procedures which God Himself set up in the Mosaic Law.

Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists;
and others slapped Him. (Matthew 26:67)

Now the violence begins. They were spitting in the face of the One
who would hang on Calvary’s Cross and judged for every sin that had
ever been or will ever be committed—every sin that they ever committed
including spitting and punching Him in His face. Now I submit to you;
is this not a little unusual for a trial? The results of it were shocking! Is
it any wonder why we read, in Isaiah 52:14, that “His appearance was
disfigured more than any man, and His form more than the sons of
men.” When they were through with this second trial, Jesus no longer
looked human. They kept punching Him until His face was destroyed.

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They closed His eyes, His face was swollen, and yet still He stood there.
If you know anything about boxing, you know that no one just stands
still while someone makes a punching bag out of him—and survives.
The ordinary man would suffer anything from a cerebral hemorrhage to
a quick knockout. This was another prophecy fulfilled, “I gave My back
to those who strike [Me,] And My cheeks to those who pluck out
the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting”
(Isaiah 50:6).
Notice their sarcasm, “Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one
who hit You?” (Matthew 26:68). Notice the evil of these religious people!
Religion makes people vicious, evil, cruel, corrupt, spiteful, malicious, and
violent. Very few of the artists who have painted Jesus Christ on the Cross
have understood what the Bible describes of His cruel treatment. Most have
portrayed a skinny figure with ribs sticking out, scrawny shoulders, and
bony frame, looking like a weak, half-starved person. However, in reality,
Jesus Christ was a very powerful man. To receive those severe blows and
still survive, the humanity of Christ had to be very strong. How did Jesus
Christ stay on His feet? How did He live through such punishment? The
humbling answer is that HE HAD YOU IN MIND! He was thinking of
you and me because He had to get to the Cross!
You and I will never be able to comprehend the terrible punishment
Jesus took—and this was only the second trial! Probably, the most amazing
thing is that He did not fight back. All He would have had to do was snap
His fingers, and ten thousand legions of angels would have cleaned up that
courtroom in a hurry. That’s why our Lord said to Peter after he had used
his sword, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He
will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”
(Matthew 26:53). Our Lord’s restraint was very significant for if He had
lost His temper, there would be no salvation. He remained sinless in spite
of the most intense temptations. If you have a sin nature (and you do),
enough slapping and insults will make you lose your temper. However,
if He had lost His temper, we might just as well close up all the churches
because there could be no salvation if Jesus Christ had committed one
single sin. He took all of the punching; He took all of the spitting and
slapping. However, that did not satisfy them. Again, note the evil and
viciousness of religion. The devil himself was present that day, so we have
everything from unparalleled violence to utmost sarcasm. Remember also
that all of the disciples had left him and fled.

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But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the
prophets may be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left Him
and fled. (Matthew 26:56)

So much for the second trial. The third trial was held early the next
morning by the Jews.

And when it was day [morning], the Council of elders of

the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and
they led Him away to their council [chamber,] saying, “If
You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell
you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you will
not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated
at the right hand of the power of God.” And they all said,
“Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them,
“Yes, I am.” And they said, “What further need do we have
of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own
mouth.” (Luke 22:66‑71)

The first two trials, the one before Annas and the one before Caiaphas,
were held at night, which made them illegal. This trial was held early the
next morning by the Jews. The religious leaders, called here the Council
of Elders, realized that the trial at night was illegal. So they gathered
together and decided to make it a legal trial. The Greek word for led away
is the verb apegagon, meaning to lead someone to prison or punishment.
In other words, in their minds, He’s already guilty; they just have to find
some legality to have Him crucified. Now, you may wonder why the Jews
didn’t do it themselves. Well, they couldn’t; the Romans wouldn’t let the
Jews practice capital punishment.

“If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I
tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you
will not answer.” (Luke 22:67‑68)

The Lord would not reveal His claims to those who seek to hear them
in order to reject them and not examine them. Silence is His answer to
these prejudiced Jews. This is what He meant when He said, “Do not give
what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest

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they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces”
(Matthew 7:6). It is at this trial that Jesus gives them the supreme sign
of His messiahship:

“But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right
hand of the power of God” And they all said, “Are You the
Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” And
they said, “What further need do we have of testimony?
For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.” (Luke
22:67‑71)

Realizing that it was a feast period (Passover and Unleavened Bread)

and they could not sentence someone on a holy day according to their law,
they passed Him off to the Romans. So much for the third trial. The fourth
trial was the first trial before Pontius Pilate where Scripture declares that
Jesus witnessed or testified an honorable confession in 1 Timothy 6:13.
The fourth trial is covered in all four Gospels, but there are certain
things in John 18 that emphasize its importance:

They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium

[hall of judgment], and it was early; and they themselves did
not enter into the Praetorium in order that they might not
be defiled, but might eat the Passover. (John 18:28)

This was the day the memorial supper, the Passover, would be eaten.
These self-righteous religious leaders wanted to keep their hands clean
in order to eat the Passover that night—the Passover that spoke of the
death of Christ on the Cross. Eating the lamb was a picture of believing
in the Messiah, yet they had rejected Him. So the Jews took Jesus to the
Roman governor in an attempt to avoid Jewish law concerning the holy
days because the Law stated that they were not to try someone in court
on a Sabbath or holy day. Just like most religious people, they pick and
choose what to follow and find ways of getting around certain things.
Next, we read that Pilate went out to them. Pilate had to go out because
the Jews could not come inside a Gentile dwelling on a holy day: “Pilate
therefore went out to them, and said, ‘What accusation do you bring
against this Man?’ (John 18:29). The entire procedure is very interesting.
Pilate was keeping very cool; he wanted to know what the indictment was.

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He undoubtedly had observed the majestic person of the Lord Jesus Christ
throughout the commotion and shouting. They answered and said to him, “If
this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to
you” (John 18:30). The Jews were very upset by Pilate’s question because
they had been unable to frame an indictment. There was no evidence to
establish a charge against Jesus. They wanted to condemn Him without a
trial. So with characteristic hypocrisy, they are insulted that Pilate is even
asking the question. They posed as righteous men who would never think
of arresting an innocent man. What they said to Pilate is found in Luke’s
account, “And they began to accuse Him, saying, ‘We found this man
misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying
that He Himself is Christ, a King’” (Luke 23:2). Remember that in the
first two trials, they accused our Lord of blasphemy, claiming that He was
God. However, notice that they do not mention blasphemy.
I want you to see just how shrewd and sly these Jews were. Why do
you suppose they did not mention blasphemy? This was a theological
problem that would never hold up before a Roman governor. You see, the
Romans had only one type of worship—Caesar worship! Caesar is kurios
(Lord), they said. Had blasphemy been included in the accusation, the
first thing Pilate would have done would have been to accuse them of not
accepting Caesar as God. That would have put them all on the spot, and
Pilate could have hauled them all into court. So needing to get around
that possibility, they invented lies. Religious people are the worst type
of liars. Their lies generally try to destroy others with their tongue. So
nothing was said about tribute to Caesar in the first trials. However, now
they said that He is forbidding them to give tribute to Caesar, which is,
of course, a deliberate lie. We know that because of what Jesus said when
these same religious people brought Him a gold piece to try to trap Him,
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things
that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). We also know from history that the
high priests and other religious leaders were the ones always trying to
get around paying their taxes to Rome. They were early-day professional
tax evaders. So in their accusation to Pilate, they added what they hoped
would be the clincher, saying that the Lord claimed to be a king. In other
words, they were implying that He was, in reality, setting Himself up as
a king and trying to lead a revolt against Rome. To refuse to pay tribute
to Caesar was tantamount to refusing to pay your income tax to Rome
and would be considered insurrection and rebellion.

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Do you see the picture they were painting before Pilate? Here was a
rival to Caesar and a dangerous revolutionary. You can understand that
after so many agreed to this collection of fabrications, a man in Pilate’s
position might become pretty upset. Pilate could have been thinking that
he had a revolt on his hands and that he had better kill this revolutionary.
I want you to notice what a great man Pilate was in his own right. He
remained calm and completely in control of himself to the very end,
and this is a very important point. The full impact of this is brought out
when the Bible tells us, “Christ Jesus, who has testified the honorable
confession before Pontius Pilate” (1 Timothy 6:13). The Holy Spirit
mentions only the trial before Pontius Pilate because Pilate was the
only person who gave Jesus Christ an honest, objective hearing and
crossexamination.

Pilate therefore said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and

judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him,
“We are not permitted to put anyone to death.” (John 18:31)

Pilate tried to evade the issue. Here was the weakness in his armor.
Pilate thought more of expediency than principle; and it was no accident
that a just, but weak, man was the governor of Judea at this time. Pilate
had the discernment to observe the innocence of Jesus, but he did not have
the character to free Him. The Jews used the law; but they did not execute
the law, just like there are people today who use, and even abuse, the Word
of God. This is exactly what happened here. The reply of the Jews was an
admission that they did not desire a fair trial for Jesus but only His death.

That the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He spoke,

signifying by what kind of death He was about to die. Pilate
therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned
Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative,
or did others tell you about Me?” Pilate answered, “I am not
a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered
You up to me; what have You done?” (John 18:32‑35).

Now, the first question by Pilate implied both ignorance and distress
when he asked, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Pilate, through

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ignorance, expressed his frustration in coming to grips with the real issue.
Pilate further denied any personal interest or association with the situation.
This second question was one that was searching for information: “I am
not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You
up to me; what have You done?” We have only a part of what our Lord
said, but it is very important: “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not
of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants
would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but
as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm’” (John 18:36).
Remember that at this time, Satan is the ruler of this world. It would
be impossible for Jesus to have a kingdom of this world until Satan’s
defeat, which was about to happen at the Cross. This does not mean that
Christ will not have an earthly kingdom, but it was not established on
earth at that time. The kingdom of Christ on earth still awaits the Second
Advent of Jesus Christ. In the meantime, He has a kingdom of regenerate
people known as the Church or body of Christ. At present, the rulership
of Christ is invisible and spiritual. Jesus did not say that His kingdom
was not in this world; He said it was not of this world. John 17:16 tells us
that believers are in this world but not of this world. Our Lord’s kingdom
now fights with the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, rather
than the sword of men.

Pilate therefore said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus

answered, “You say [correctly] that I am a king. For this I
have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to
bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears
My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when
he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to
them, “I find no guilt in Him.” (John 18:37‑38)

When Pilate asked about truth, Jesus had no doubt explained that
He Himself is Truth. This famous sneer of Pilate indicates the state of
the natural mind. Spiritual blindness, and lack of a human spirit, make
spiritual phenomena impossible to absorb (1 Corinthians 2:14). Only
the convincing ministry of the Holy Spirit can change this. The Spirit
makes the Gospel understandable in the mind of the unbeliever, but here
is a case of negative volition. Pilate did not really desire an answer to
the question he had asked, and so indicated it by leaving immediately

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before an answer could be given. What was Pilate’s verdict? Here is the
importance of the fourth trial: “I find in Him [Jesus] no fault!” Here was
the first unbiased, unprejudiced examination. Here was the only impartial
judge. The conclusion was that He was com­pletely innocent. However,
let’s note the reaction of the Jews found in Luke’s account:

But they kept on insisting, saying, “He stirs up the people,

teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee, even as far
as this place.” (Luke 23:5)

The Jews then began to put the heat on Pilate. Finally, the pressure
became too great for Pilate; and realizing that Jesus was a Galilean, notice
what he does next.

But when Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man was a
Galilean. And when he learned that He belonged to Herod’s
jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was in
Jerusalem at that time. (Luke 23:6‑7)

Pilate sought to avoid the pressure from the religious crowd to kill
an innocent man and, instead, let Herod deal with the situation. So under
Herod’s jurisdiction, Jesus underwent His fifth trial. This fifth trial was
before Herod and is found in Luke 23:8‑12.

Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus; for he had
wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had been
hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign
performed by Him. And he questioned Him at some length;
but He answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the
scribes were standing there, accusing Him vehemently. And
Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt
and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent
Him back to Pilate. Now Herod and Pilate became friends
with one another that very day; for before they had been
at enmity with each other. (Luke 23:8‑12)

Herod was excited to see Jesus because he had heard of His reputation
for performing miracles. So hoping for some entertainment, he attempted

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to persuade Jesus to perform one of His miracles. However, when Jesus

refused, Herod angrily ordered Him to be tortured. This was another unfair
trial. So Jesus was now sent back to Pilate for the sixth and final trial.

And Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and
the people, and said to them, “You brought this man to
me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold,
having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in
this man regarding the charges which you make against
Him. No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and
behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him.
I will therefore punish Him and release Him.” [He was
obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner.] But
they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man,
and release for us Barabbas!” [He had been thrown into
prison for a certain insurrection made in the city and for
murder]. And Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed
them again, but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify,
crucify Him!” And he said to them the third time, “Why,
what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt
[demanding] death; I will therefore punish Him and release
Him.” But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that
He be crucified. And their voices [began] to prevail. And
Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand should be
granted. And he released the man they were asking for who
had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder,
but he delivered Jesus to their will. (Luke 23:13‑25)

Notice that Pilate was obliged to release to them one prisoner. This is
not found in all of the manuscripts, so let’s go John 18:39, “But you have
a custom, that I should release someone for you at the Passover; do you
wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?” Before Pilate
once again, Jesus was subjected to one more trial. Remember, and I want
to emphasize this fact, Pilate had said—not once but several times—that
Jesus Christ was innocent. So we pick up from the trial where Pilate was
examining Jesus again. Pilate called Him the King of the Jews. Jesus had
convinced Pilate of His birth, His status, and the facts concerning Himself;
and Pilate made an ingenious attempt to gain the release of Jesus on the

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basis of the custom of the Passover. Realizing that Jesus was innocent,
Pilate would make it possible to release an innocent person, get himself
off the hook, and help the religious leaders save face. However, these
Jewish leaders, under the control of Satan, would not let up until Jesus
was removed from the scene. So here is a judge at a trial and he now has
pronounced Jesus innocent and he has tried three times to get the Lord
Jesus Christ released. It was obvious to him that the Jews wanted Him
executed and that they are using a Roman court to do so.
In his first attempt, here’s what he tried. Pilate was a good Roman
governor in many ways, and he was actually an excellent student of
Jewish custom, so he knew that it was the custom of the Passover for the
Roman government to release to the Jews a prisoner who had already
been condemned to death. Pilate sought this means of releasing our Lord
Jesus Christ. However, it backfired when the crowd demanded the release
of Barabbas, one of the worst gangsters in Jerusalem: “Therefore they
cried out again, saying, ‘Not this Man, but Barabbas’” (John 18:40).
Their position was to not release the most wonderful person who ever
lived but, instead, release public enemy number one, Barabbas. This
man, Barabbas, was not a petty thief; in the Greek, we see that he was a
habitual professional criminal, possibly the number one man of the crime
syndicate in that area. He was vile all the way through, yet the religious
crowd was asking for his release. Religion became the champion of a
despicable criminal rather than the perfect, matchless Son of God.
Matthew’s account of this event interjects an interesting sidelight:
“And while he [Pilate] was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent
to him, saying, ‘Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for
last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him’” (Matthew
27:19). This dream was probably of satanic origin as Satan did not want
Christ on the Cross to bear the sins of the world but wanted him stoned
to death as prescribed by the Jewish law, thereby frustrating the plan of
God. However, Pilate’s wife gave a correct account of Him by calling Him
the righteous one. Convinced of the innocence of Jesus, Pilate attempted
to release him. Here is the judge who is hamstrung by political pressure,
but he was trying his best to get Jesus off the hook. His second attempt
is actually recorded in Matthew’s account: “And when Pilate saw that
he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he
took water and washed his hands in front of the multitude, saying,
‘I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see [to that] yourselves.’ And

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all the people answered and said, ‘His blood [be] on us and on our
children!’” (Matthew 27:24‑25).
Pilate had just declared, once again, the innocence of our Lord under
Roman law; and by a symbolic act, he called his servant to bring in a bowl
of water and washed his hands publicly in front of the entire crowd. The
custom of washing the hands indicated that this person was innocent. The
Roman governor had just indicated that if they kill this man, it is judicial
murder, and they are killing an innocent person. The Jews must have been
shocked when Pilate stood there and washed his hands in front of the
crowd, declaring again this man’s innocence. In fact, even under Jewish
law, this washing of the hands meant innocence (Deuteronomy 21:6‑9).
Pilate had cast a vote that all could see; if they couldn’t hear his voice,
they could see him wash his hands, and they all knew the meaning. Some
thirty years later, on that very spot on which Pilate washed his hands, the
Romans crucified thirty-six thousand Jews. Josephus describes the horrors
of what happened there. He said that first of all, they took the hide off those
thirty-six thousand Jews, and then they crucified their mangled bodies right
there, on that very spot. That very spot where Pontius Pilate washed his
hands became one of the bloodiest spots in all of the lands of the Middle
East. Little did the Jews realize what they were saying when they said, in
Matthew 27:25, “His blood [be] on us and on our children!”
In his third attempt, Pontius Pilate stepped out on the balcony. He knew
our Lord was innocent, and so once again, he discussed the matter:

Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him. And

the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on His head,
and arrayed Him in a purple robe; and they [began] to come
up to Him, and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give
Him blows [in the face.] And Pilate came out again, and said
to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you
may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus therefore came
out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And
[Pilate] said to them, “Behold, the Man!” When therefore
the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out,
saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him
yourselves, and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.”
The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law
He ought to die because He made Himself out [to be] the

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Son of God.” When Pilate therefore heard this statement,

he was the more afraid; and he entered into the Praetorium
again, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus
gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to Him, “You do
not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority
to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus
answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless
it had been given you from above; for this reason he who
delivered Me up to you has [the] greater sin.” As a result of
this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried
out, saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of
Caesar; everyone who makes himself out [to be] a king
opposes Caesar.” When Pilate therefore heard these words,
he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat
at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was
about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold,
your King!” They therefore cried out, “Away with [Him],
away with [Him,] crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall
I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have
no king but Caesar.” So he then delivered Him to them to
be crucified. (John 19:1‑16)

Pilate hoped that perhaps the horrors of scourging would work, that
it might appeal to their sympathy, and so he sent the Lord Jesus Christ
down into the basement with the Praetorian guards. This gave the Roman
soldiers a chance for a little amusement. They stripped Him, and they
scourged Him, which means they took all the skin off His back. Then
He returned, and He was very badly disfigured; His back was raw and
bleeding. They brought Him back out on the balcony with the Roman
governor and put Him out before the crowd and said, “Here is your king.”
Pilate thought that the scourging would somehow bring the Jews to their
senses, but it didn’t! All he heard from that balcony was “Crucify Him,
crucify Him!”
Now, a Roman, at this point, has the chance to go down in history
as a Roman leader or as a simple coward. However, Pontius Pilate chose
expediency and cowardice, and he goes down in history just that way.
In fact, to the Romans, the voice of the people didn’t mean a thing; the

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Romans had a saying that said, in effect, “The voice of the people is
idiocy.” What the people think is usually the incorrect attitude, and Pilate
was a Roman governor, and he knew this. Pilate should have raised his
hands for silence and told them what they were, religious liars, and then
sent them on their way. However, that wasn’t the plan of God; and God
knew billions of years ago that Pontius Pilate, although he was a very
excellent Roman governor, had a weakness.

The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers
were gathered together Against the Lord, and against His
Christ. For truly in this city there were gathered together
against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and
the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy
purpose predestined to occur. (Acts 4:26‑28)

Pilate’s weakness had to do with the fact that he could succumb to

popular pressure.

They took Jesus therefore, and He went out, bearing His

own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is
called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and
with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in
between. And Pilate wrote an inscription also, and put it on
the cross. And it was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE,
THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Therefore this inscription
many of the Jews read, for the place where Jesus was
crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew,
Latin, [and] in Greek. And so the chief priests of the Jews
were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’;
but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered,
“What I have written I have written.” (John 19:17‑22)

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 Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ
while on the Cross

The first statement from the Cross is “Father, forgive them;

for they do not know what they are doing.”

T he first cry from the Cross is

found in Luke 23:34. The Lord
Jesus Christ has now been delivered to the Romans to be crucified on the
cross after the unfair trials and the unjust treatment.

Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away
to be put to death with Him. And when they came to the
place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the
criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But
Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not
know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up
His garments among themselves. (Luke 23:32‑34)

At this moment, our Lord was enduring the first pains of crucifixion;
the executioners had just driven the nails through His hands and feet. He
must have been greatly distressed by the agony of the night in Gethsemane
and extremely weak from the scourging and cruel mocking that he had
endured all through the evening and morning from Caiaphas, Pilate,
Herod, and the Praetorian guards. Yet neither the weakness of the past

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nor the pain of the present could prevent Him from continuing in prayer.
The Lamb of God was silent to men, but He was not silent to God. As
a sheep before the shearers is silent, He had not said a word in His own
defense to man; but in His heart, He continues calling unto His Father.
No pain, no weakness, could silence His prayers to His Father.
What an example our Lord presents to us! In the midst of unjust
treatment and great unfairness, He still continues in prayer as long as
His heart beats. He would not let any form of undeserved suffering drive
Him away from the throne of grace. Actually, all of it drove Him closer.
To cease from prayer in time of suffering is to abandon the comfort that
our circumstance requires.
The Lord Jesus Christ persevered in prayer even through the pain of
crucifixion. He was so accustomed to praying that He could not cease
from it. This should be our example; never—under any circumstances, no
matter how severe the trial or depressing the difficulty, no matter what the
adversity—are we to cease our prayer life. Also, observe that in His prayer, our
Lord remains in the position of His sonship. The extreme suffering to which
He now submitted Himself could not prevent Him from still being a son.
Our Lord’s prayer begins in verse 34 with “Father,” and that is how He
taught us to pray. We should address God as our father because our assurance
in prayer depends upon our confidence in our relationship with God. Under
undeserved suffering or picking up our cross, we may be inclined to think
that God is not dealing with us as a father would with a child but, rather, as
a judge with a condemned criminal. Of course, this is not true. The prayer of
our Lord, while He is under the ultimate of pain and suffering on the Cross, is
still addressed to the Father. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, when blood
fell from His face to the ground, His cry was “My Father, if it is possible, let
this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39).
What is even more remarkable is the fact that our Lord’s prayer to His
Father was not for Himself. He did pray for Himself on the Cross when
He said, “‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why
have You forsaken Me?’” (Matthew 27:46). However, the first of His
seven great cries on the Cross had no direct reference to Himself. It was
“Father, forgive them.” You will recall how Isaiah 53:12 says, “Yet He
Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.”
This first saying was a petition for others, and though there was an
implication concerning the cruelties that they were executing upon Him,
notice that He did not say, “I forgive them.” His forgiveness is to be taken

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for granted. He didn’t focus on the fact that they were doing any wrong
to Him; instead, He focused on the wrong being done to His Father. They
were insulting the Father by not honoring His son.

So that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father.
He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father
who sent Him. (John 5:23)

The cry—“Father, forgive them”—is an unselfish cry, as though

He was not even suffering Himself. If there had ever been a time in the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ when He might have confined His prayer to
Himself, it would seem like it would be now, while on the Cross. However,
the Lord Jesus Christ began His prayer on the cross by pleading for
others, and so we see His compassion even as He was being crucified!
This unselfishness is something we are to have as well.

Do not merely be regarding your own personal interests, but

also for the personal interests of others. Keep on thinking
this [doctrine] within yourselves which was also resident in
Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:4‑5; author’s translation)

Not only was He praying for others, but, in fact, He was also praying for
His cruelest enemies. It was a prayer for those who were there murdering
Him. In fact, it was a prayer that included the scribes and Pharisees, Pilate
and Herod, the Jews and Gentiles, and in a sense, the whole human race.
If we knew nothing more about Him than the fact that He prayed this one
prayer, we should honor and respect Him just for that.
The first thing our Lord reveals on the Cross, in the character of His
intercession, is graciousness. Those people whom our Lord prayed for
did not deserve His prayer. They had done nothing that was worthy of
their being prayed for. In fact, on the contrary, they were undeserving
individuals who had conspired to put Him to death. They had lied about
Him, accused Him falsely, and now were crucifying Him. They were
utterly undeserving of a single good word from the Savior. What’s more is
they didn’t even ask Him to pray for them; in fact, it was the last thought
in their minds—to ask Him to intercede for them! They even mocked
Him while He was praying for them. In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ
prayed for those who did not deserve the prayer but deserved a curse. It’s

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interesting that we are told that, in heaven, He is still doing this today:
interceding for the undeserving.

My little children, I am writing these things to you that you

may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is
the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also
for those of the whole world. (1 John 2:1‑2)

He is the great High Priest who pleads for guilty men and, notice,
even for the unbeliever.
No one on earth deserves His intercession. He pleads for none on the
assumption that they deserve it. He stands there and pleads as the One
who is just on behalf of those who are unjust. Notice, it doesn’t say, “If
anyone is righteous, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous.” It says, “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous.” Our great Intercessor pleads for those who,
through ignorance or arrogance, have never even asked Him to plead for
them. Since He prays for those who reject Him and His Word, therefore
think how much more He prays for those who love Him and His Word.
I want you to notice another principle in His prayer. Back in Luke
23:34, when He said “Father, forgive them; for they do not know
what they are doing,” He actually found something good to say about
His enemies! It is as if our Lord recognized that they were all simply
pawns of the devil. He has the same attitude today. He knows our exact
condition at this moment and the exact state of our heart with regard to
the suffering and the temptation that we may be facing. Even more than
that, He foresees the trials and the temptations that are awaiting us; and
in His intercession, He prays for us.

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded [permission]

to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your
faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned
again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31‑32)

He knows us better than we know ourselves. He understands every

secret form of grief and sorrow. In fact, we don’t have to be so concerned
with how we word our prayers because He will put the wording right.

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In Luke 23:34, when He said “They do not know what they are
doing,” He was pointing out willful ignorance. They could have known
that He was the Lord of glory. There was enough proof that He was the
Messiah. The point is that on the Cross, He still cared for those who were
rejecting Him. Also, notice, in this first saying on the Cross, that the
Lord Jesus Christ sought what is important for those around the Cross.
He said, “Father, forgive them.” He didn’t say, “Father, enlighten them
for they do not know what they are doing.” Enlightenment would have
created torture in their conscience. What they all needed, at this point,
was forgiveness. The first thing that the guilty need is forgiveness for
sin, and the Lord Jesus Christ prayed for that very thing. In fact, many
of those for whom He prayed became saved. Do you remember what He
said to His disciples after He rose from the dead?

Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ
should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and
that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed
in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
(Luke 24:45‑47)

On the day when Peter stood up with the eleven apostles and convicted
the people that, with their wicked hands, they had crucified and slain
the Savior, three thousand of them—who were justly accused of His
crucifixion—became believers in Christ; and they were baptized in
His name. We read, “So then, those who had received His word were
baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls”
(Acts 2:41). That was an answer to our Lord’s prayer. Even many of the
priests who were responsible for His murder believed: “The word of
God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to
increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were
becoming obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7). Here was another answer
to the prayer.
Since all men shared in His mistreatment, Gentiles as well as Jews,
the Gospel was preached to all of them. This was an answer to our Lord’s
first saying on the Cross, “Father, forgive them!” As He was, so His
Church is to be in this world. The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world
not to be ministered to but to minister, to save others: “For even the Son

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of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life
a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). When believers understand this,
they will perceive that they are not here to gather for themselves wealth
and honor or to seek some temporal position; rather, they are here to
live unselfishly and to serve those whom the Lord Jesus Christ died for.
Our Lord’s prayer also teaches us that we should be unselfish and
concerned with the spiritual in an unlimited way. Remember that He
prayed for the wicked, those who had surrounded His Cross! He prayed
for the ignorant; He prayed for the arrogant. He said, “They don’t know
what they’re doing!” He prayed for His persecutors, the very ones who
lied about Him and mistreated Him. This teaches us that our duty is not
just to those who treat us respectably but also to those who mock and
criticize our words and pass judgment upon our teaching. Our duty is not
only to those who treat us kindly and generously, but also to those who
despise us and reject us. This is the mind of Christ. The Gospel is meant
also for those who persecute it.
The first saying of the Cross, therefore, teaches us that we must not
live for ourselves. We are not to live for the accumulation of money,
children, or houses; all this we may indeed have, but there must be a
greater objective than this if we are to live the Christian way of life. We
are to live for others. Paul put it like this:

Here for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I

will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours,
but you; for children are not responsible to save up for their
parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly
spend and be expended for your souls. If I love you the more,
am I to be loved the less? (2 Corinthians 12:14‑15)

So the one word that describes the first saying on the Cross is
forgiveness. Forgiveness means to give up resentment, to excuse a guilty
party, to release from payment, to forget an offense, never bringing it up
again and not even discussing it. If you desire to know how many times
you should forgive someone, we are told, “If he sins against you seven
times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive
him” (Luke 17:4).
The greatest illustration of forgiveness is the Cross itself where all the
personal sins of the human race were imputed to our Lord Jesus Christ.

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By His work on the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ opened up the way for
God the Father to forgive us! “In Him we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches
of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7). Your sins have been paid for by the blood
or saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. Ultimately, when people sin,
they sin against God. This is why David said, “Against Thee, Thee only
I have sinned, and done what is evil in Thy sight” (Psalms 51:4).
We do not have the right to remain angry or bitter toward someone
who has legitimately wronged us because Christ paid for that sin. So
when they do this, they have really sinned against God even though it
may have been directed toward us! This is why to not forgive others is
actually to sin against God. This pattern of forgiveness is applied to the
believer as part of the royal family honor code:

Bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever

has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave
you, so also should you [forgive others]. (Colossians 3:13)

You do this because it’s for your own benefit! You can bear with people,
put up with them, tolerate them, and have patience with them; and that
may not benefit them at all! However, it will benefit you! You will not let
them get to you! Therefore, you will avoid mental-attitude sins, sins of
the tongue, and overt sins!

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other,

just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32)

This attitude describes the winner in the spiritual life. He is

tenderhearted and forgives others on the basis of the fact that God has
forgiven him. Forgiving others also allows God to handle the situation
rather than self: “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave
room for the wrath [of God], for it is written [in Deuteronomy 32:35],
‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19).
Another reason why we are benefited by forgiving others is because failure
to forgive means no production of divine good. This means that all of our
works are unprofitable if we hold resentment or if we don’t forgive. This
is one of the principles behind Matthew 5:23‑24, “Therefore, if you are
presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your

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brother has something against you, leave your offering there before
the altar, and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come
and present your offering.”
Notice that if you have anything against your fellow believer, leave
your gift, or your offering, at the altar and go and be reconciled first.
Why? Because if you do not forgive others, you cannot be filled with
the Spirit, and therefore everything that you do will be rejected by the
Lord no matter how good it may appear overtly. So if we don’t forgive,
we will not experience fellowship with God. In other words, if you make
others suffer and pay for what they’ve done to you, you will be the one
who suffers and pays!
Another reason why we are benefited by forgiving others is so that our
prayers will be heard: “For if you forgive others for their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive
others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matthew
6:14‑15). Many believers get out of fellowship through resentment and,
thus, never have their prayers answered: “Whenever you stand praying,
forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who
is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions” (Mark 11:25).
As believers, we must have an unlimited attitude of forgiveness—not
an “I’ll give you one more chance” attitude but an unlimited attitude!
The Greek word for forgive in this passage is aphiemi, which means to
completely cancel, to send something away without even discussing it,
never bringing it up again!

Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall
my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven
times?” (Matthew 18:21)

This question illustrates Peter’s ignorance toward true forgiveness

because to forgive someone up to seven times means that you must keep
count! To keep a count means that you do not forget, and you bring up
the situation again. Therefore, you did not really forgive! When Peter
used seven as the number of times that an offending brother should be
forgiven, he may have thought he was doing some great thing. Actually,
what Peter did in suggesting a limit to our forgiveness was to imply the
notion that a man, in forgiving, gave up a right, which he might under
certain circumstances exercise. Peter makes it sound like he was giving

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up the right to take vengeance on someone for what he did, and that is
not a right! The purpose of this parable is to make clear that when God
calls on a member of His kingdom to forgive, He is not calling on him
to renounce or give up a right because, in reality, he has no right in the
matter at all!

Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times,

but up to seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:22)

This represents the unlimited amount of forgiveness that comes from

God! Then our Lord begins the parable:

For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to

a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.
When he had begun to settle [them], one who owed him ten
thousand talents was brought to him. But since he did not
have [the means] to repay, his lord commanded him to be
sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had,
and repayment to be made. (Matthew 18:23‑25)

It was customary in the ancient world that if someone could not pay
you what they owed, you could not only take all of their property and
attach it, but you could also even take them and their family and sell them
as slaves (see 2 Kings 4:1; Nehemiah 5:8).

So the slave fell [to the ground] and prostrated himself before
him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will repay you
everything.” And the lord of that slave felt compassion and
released him and forgave him the debt. (Matthew 18:26‑27)

This statement simply shows the extreme fear in the moment, which
made him promise impossible things, for he could never repay what he
owed his lord. Now, how much did his lord forgive him? Ten million
dollars worth! And notice the word compassion because compassion
motivates forgiveness.

But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves
who owed him a hundred denarii [twenty dollars]; and he

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seized him and [began] to choke [him], saying, “Pay back

what you owe.” (Matthew 18:28)

This is a picture of believers who want unlimited forgiveness from

God but will not forgive others! Notice the phrase “he went out” because
it is one of the key words in the parable! He went out from the presence of
the lord and found someone who had owed him something. It is because
we go out from the presence of the Lord that we are in danger of acting
like this servant, with an unforgiving heart! He has forgotten the benefits
that he received from his lord. The small sum is mentioned to show how
little man can offend his fellow man compared with the amount in which
every one of us has offended God.

So his fellow slave fell [to the ground] and [began] to plead
with him, saying, “Have patience with me and I will repay
you.” But he was unwilling, and went and threw him in prison
until he should pay back what was owed. So when his fellow
slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and
came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then
summoning him, his lord said to him, “You wicked slave,
I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in
the same way that I had mercy on you?” (Matthew 18:29‑33)

Notice, the guilt laid upon him is the fact that after having received mercy
and forgiveness, he remains unmerciful and unforgiving toward others.

And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the
torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.
(Matthew 18:34)

This is divine discipline on the believer who is unforgiving. The

torturers represent the three enemies of the believer: the flesh, the world,
and the devil.

My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of

you does not forgive his brother from your heart. (Matthew
18:35)

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In other words, it’s not just saying that you forgive; it’s what you really
think! If someone has wronged you and you do not forgive him in your
heart, you have had it! However, this is where the principle behind Daniel
9:9 comes into focus, “To the Lord our God belong compassion and
forgiveness.” To have forgiveness toward others, we’ve got to know God!
You will discover that when people harbor bitterness, anger, resentment,
indignation, or implacability, they do not know God; and that is the real
problem! It is through occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ that we
develop a capacity to forgive. This means the ability to forgive yourself for
the things you do and forgive others for the things they’ve done to you!

The second statement from the Cross is “Truly I say to you,

today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

One of the criminals who were hanged [there]was hurling

abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself
and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said,
“Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same
sentence of condemnation? And we indeed [are suffering]
justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds;
but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying,
“Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”
And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be
with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39‑43)

The salvation of the dying thief reveals the power of the Lord Jesus
Christ to save mankind, and His willingness to receive all that come to Him
in spite of their predicament. Remember, the Lord, at the time that He saved
this thief, was at the lowest moment of His life. Stripped of His clothing
and nailed to the cross, mocked by the crowd and dying in agony, in that
condition, He still achieved this gracious act of reaching out and saving
someone. The writer of Hebrews puts it like this, “Therefore He is able
also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since
He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
What makes the salvation of the thief so extraordinary is not only
the weak condition our Lord was in, but also the fact that the dying thief
recognized the Savior. He talked about fearing God (Luke 23:40), and he
knew that Jesus had a kingdom (Luke 23:42). I wonder how many of us

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would be willing to believe that the one hanging on the Cross, in agony, is
the Son of God? This thief was also in great pain, and yet in the midst of
that pain and of being almost dead, he exercises a faith and a confidence
in the Messiah. In fact, there is a passage that teaches that even he had
mocked the Lord in the beginning, but then, he repented and changed his
mind, “And the robbers also who had been crucified with Him were
also insulting Him with the same words” (Matthew 27:44).
There are certain principles that are brought out in our Lord’s second
saying on the Cross. The crucified thief was our Lord’s last companion
before His physical death on earth: “For both He who sanctifies and
those who are sanctified are all from one [Father]; for which reason He
is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:11). Our Lord was
a friend of the tax collectors and sinners, and He came to call sinners not
the righteous. So it was a convicted felon that our Lord associated with last
while alive. Another reason that these words were recorded is that we might
know how quickly someone can be saved and have their entire life changed
for eternity. That we might know that salvation is by grace through faith:
“By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast”
(Ephesians 2:8‑9). This thief could do absolutely nothing for salvation
except believe on the Lord. This thief also reminds us of the doctrine of
eternal security, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and
the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37).

The third statement from the Cross is one of compassion

(John 19:2‑27).

The Bible records that there seem to have been only five people around
the Cross in favor of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only male disciple was
John who, apparently, came back after running away when Jesus was first
captured; the rest were all women. The first one was His mother who was
now seeing the fulfillment of what Simeon, the prophet, had said:

And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother,

“Behold, this [Child] is appointed for the fall and rise of many
in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—and a sword will pierce
even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts
may be revealed.” (Luke 2:34‑35)

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The second woman, the wife of Cleopas was Mary’s sister-in-law.

The third was Mary Magdalene. Then the fourth woman was the mother
of John, and her name was Mary. It’s interesting that each one of them
was named Mary because the name means bitterness.

When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom
He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman,
behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold,
your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her
into his own [household]. (John 19:26‑27)

This passage teaches the affection and tenderness that our Lord had
for both John and His mother. Joseph, her husband, was dead; and the
Lord Jesus Christ had supported her, and now that He was dying, what
would become of her? He saw her standing by and knew her cares and
grief, and He saw John standing nearby, and therefore He confirmed a
new relationship between His mother and the apostle John.
The point that I want you to focus on is, once again, the affection and
care that the Lord showed others while going through the tremendous
suffering of the Cross. This can be something we learn to do when we
go through some suffering: “For each one shall bear his own load”
(Galatians 6:5). Also notice something else; He calls her woman, not
mother, not out of any disrespect to her but because mother would have
brought in some of the heretical doctrine that we have today such as
Mary being called the mother of God. So we have a manifestation of
His feeling of parental duty. If children have the ability to do so, they
should provide for their parents. This was actually an honor put upon
John and a testimony both to his wisdom and to his loyalty. The Lord
knew that John loved Him and that he would be loyal and faithful to His
mother. This was actually a blessing to John because it is a great honor
to be utilized by Christ and to be entrusted with any of that which is His
interest in the world.
We should also admire Mary’s marvelous fortitude and courage.
She was not hysterical or demonstrating sorrow. There was no show of
weakness, no wild outcry of uncontrollable anguish, no falling to the
ground and collapsing from what she saw. There’s not a word that she
said on this occasion that has been recorded by any of the four Gospels.
Apparently, she suffered in unbroken silence, but she didn’t fall or faint.

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She just stood by the cross. Here is our Lord, occupied with the most
strenuous work ever done not only on earth, but also in the entire universe
and under a burden that no one else could possibly have sustained, still
caring for others. Here He is the object of Satan’s ruthless treatment!
About to drink the awful cup, which meant separation from God Himself
for three hours. Nevertheless, even at such a time, the Lord Jesus Christ
did not consider natural ties as unworthy of recognition. To the very
end, He showed Himself both the perfect Son of God and the per­fect
Son of Man.
It is also interesting to note our Lord’s treatment of John who is being
honored and being treated very graciously. Why was that needed? We
read, in Matthew 26:56, “Then all the disciples left Him and fled.” He
had said to them, in Matthew 26:31, “You will all fall away because
of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.’” You can bet that they
were ashamed to be found in His company after forsaking Him. With the
responsibility given to John, it was as if our Lord was telling Him that He
had been forgiven. One word can describe this saying on the Cross, and
that is compassion. Compassion is defined as a feeling of deep sympathy
and sorrow for another’s suffering or misfortune accompanied by a desire
to alleviate the pain and remove its cause.
We have all experienced the compassion of God toward us, and we
are to share that same compassion with those around us. This is why there
is no place for revenge or rejoicing when you see your enemy fall. Your
attitude of compassion should always aspire to see an unbeliever become
saved, or a believer restored to fellowship. Compassion also motivates
long-suffering and patience. We are told that the Lord will never fail to
be compassionate toward us.

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His

compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great
is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22‑23)

The Fourth statement from the Cross deals with anguish.

Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land
until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out
with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”

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that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
(Matthew 27:45‑46)

These words, found in Matthew and Mark as well as in Psalm 22,

were literally screamed. In this cry, Jesus Christ made it clear that God
the Father, with whom He had eternal and unbroken fellowship, had to
break fellowship at that moment. Therefore, we know immediately that
this is the time when Jesus Christ “bore our sins in his own body on
the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). This was the unspeakable agony of the Cross,
the spiritual death prophesied in Psalm 22:1. The fourth cry indicated
that He was being judged for us. God the Father had to pour out all of
His wrath, as a matter of justice, upon God the Son while the humanity
of Jesus Christ bore the sins of the world. This is why the Father had to
turn His back upon Him.
These words were screamed by the humanity of Christ. Some call this
the saddest cry from the Cross. In fact, during the time that Moses was
pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father‑in‑law, he came to the mountain of
God called Horeb. There he saw a very unusual sight, a bush that burned
with fire and, yet, was not consumed. As Moses drew near in order to
examine this phenomenon, he heard God’s voice say to him: “Do not
come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place
on which you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5).
I am going to deal with this statement in a personal way not in a
theological way. “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” is a tremendous statement
that no man will ever be able to really understand. First of all, the Lord
Jesus Christ was accustomed to address God as His Father. If you look at
His prayers, you will find Him speaking to God as His Father. However,
in this instance, He does not say “Father” but “My God, My God.” Was it
that He had any doubt about his sonship? Absolutely not! He was simply
speaking from His humanity, and that this is the reason why he cried “My
God, My God” rather than “My Father.” This statement shows us how truly
human the Lord was, that He could be forsaken by His God. It is hard
for us to comprehend that the Lord Jesus Christ, being Emmanuel (God
with us) and His deity and humanity being permanently united in one
person, could have been forsaken by God. However, this is holy ground,
and we must believe it by faith because God says it. This is such a sacred
statement that it is one of the only verses given in all three languages the
Bible was originally written in.

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He was and is the God-Man who has been scourged, who has been spit
upon, and who has died. All these things were made not only possible, but
also sacredly certain in order to complete the redemption of His people. It
was necessary for Him to be both God’s beloved Son and to be forsaken
by his Father. This forsaking was something personal to Him. It was a
personal grief that came from a personal cry, “My God, my God, why
have You forsaken me?” The Lord Jesus Christ made no mistake about
this, for God had truly forsaken Him. He knew what He was saying, and
He was right in what He said, for His Father had forsaken Him for the
time being. God did forsake His Son, but He loved Him as much when
He forsook Him as at any other period. In fact, if it had been possible
for God’s love toward His Son to be increased, He would have delighted
in Him even more when He was being judged for the sins of the entire
world. God was not angry with Him personally. God did not look upon
Him as unworthy of His love. God did not regard Him as unworthy of
being the One who was His beloved Son and the One in whom He was
well pleased.
Imagine the misery of a lost soul in hell, one who is forsaken by God
and who cries out in bitterness. Can you picture that dejected state? Well,
if you can, you have not, even then, gotten anywhere near the position
of Christ on the Cross because that soul in hell does not seek for God
or ask God for help. That lost soul is so hardened that it never thinks
about whether God would receive it even if it repented; the truth is that
it does not want to repent. The misery that men will suffer in the world
to come will be a self-created misery, arising out of the fact that they
loved self so much that they brought eternal sorrow upon themselves.
It is an awful thing for a person in hell to be without God; but, as far as
their own consciousness is concerned, they are so hardened to be without
God that they are incapable of knowing the beauty of a relationship with
God from whom they are separated forever. How different was the case
of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross! He knew, as no man could ever
know, what separation from God meant.
None of us knows the presence of God as Christ knew it. No believer
has ever enjoyed the love of God as Christ enjoyed it. Never did any human
being know so much and enjoy so much of the love of God as Christ had
done. He had lived in it, and there had never been any interruption to
it: “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I
always do the things that are pleasing to Him” (John 8:29). The point

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is that our Lord Jesus Christ had enjoyed the love of God to the fullest.
So think what it must have been for Him to lose the conscious enjoyment
of it. For the light of His Father’s face to be taken away from Him, this
was a dark and terrible thing to him.
It is important to remember also the absolute purity of Christ’s nature.
In Him, there was no sin, “You know that He appeared in order to take
away sins; and in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). “He committed
no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth” (1 Peter 2:22). Think
then of the perfectly holy Son of God fully agreeing with His Father in
everything and finding out that the Father had, for good and sufficient
reasons, turned away His face from Him. Jesus Christ was forsaken by
God because we deserved to be forsaken by God. He was there, on the
Cross, in our place. As the sinner, by reason of his sin, does not deserve
to enjoy the favor of God; so Jesus Christ, standing in the place of the
sinner, had to come under the judgment just as the sinner would have
come if Christ had not taken his place. He was forsaken so that you and
I would never be.

The Fifth statement on the Cross can be identified by the

word suffering.

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been
accomplished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
said, “I am thirsty.” (John 19:28)

It is wonderful to realize how Jesus Christ loved the Scriptures as they

then existed and how His life, in His humanity, centered in them. The first
great lesson from the fifth phrase is the importance of the Word of God.
The thirst of Jesus indicates His humanity for deity does not thirst. Again,
it focuses our attention on the importance of the humanity of Christ for
deity alone could not suffer the penalty of sin. This fifth statement from
the Savior—“I thirst”—fol­lowed the three hours of darkness during which
the light of God’s countenance had been withdrawn from Him. This cry,
then, tells of the intensity of what He had suffered, the awful severity of
the conflict through which He had just passed. However, even though His
sufferings were like no other and as great as His thirst was, it was not
desire for the relief of His body that now opened His lips. Far different,
far higher, was the motive that prompted Him.

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The very fact that He did thirst evidences His perfect submission. He,
who had caused water to flow from the smitten rock for the refreshment
of Israel in the wilderness, had the same infinite resources at His disposal
now that He was on the Cross. He, who turned the water into wine by a
word from His lips, could have spoken the same word of power here and,
instantly, met His own need. Why, then, did He hang there with parched
lips? It was because, in the volume of that book that expressed the will
of God, it was written that He should thirst! He came here to do God’s
will and ever did He perfectly per­form it. In death, as in life, Scripture
was—for the Lord Jesus—the authoritative Word of the living God. In
the temptation in the wilderness, He had refused to minister to His own
need apart from that Word by which He lived, so now He makes known
His need not that it might be relieved, but that “the Scriptures might
be fulfilled.” The terrible thirst of crucifixion is upon Him, but that is
not enough to force His parched lips to speak; but “it is written” is what
caused Him to speak.

They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they
gave me vinegar to drink. (Psalm 69:21)

Here again, He shows Himself in active obedience to the will of God,

which He came to accomplish. He simply says “I thirst”; the vinegar is
extended, and the prophecy is fulfilled. How com­pletely self-possessed
the Savior was! He had hung on that cross for six hours and had passed
through suffering un­paralleled; nevertheless, His mind was perfectly
clear and His memory entirely unimpaired. He had before Him, with
perfect distinctness, the whole truth of God. He knew the entire scope
of the messianic prophecies; He overlooked nothing. What a proof this
was that He was superior to all circumstances!

A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a

sponge full of the sour wine upon [a branch of] hyssop, and
brought it up to His mouth. (John 19:29)

The first drink of vinegar and gall, commonly given to criminals to

deaden their pains, the Lord refused. The drink of vinegar or sour wine
He here ac­cepts is in obedience to His Father’s will. The ones who gave it
to Him were probably the Roman soldiers who carried out the details of

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the crucifixion. Little did they think that they were executing the counsels
of God! I want you to consider the phrase “I thirst!” Have you ever been
hungry or thirsty and literally had nothing to eat or drink? Yet here is our
Lord on the Cross, suffering for the sins of the world and thirsty! What
right do we ever have to complain? So the One who said, in John 7:37, “If
any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink” was now Himself
thirsty. If our Lord had not thirsted for us, every one of us would have an
eternal thirst, forever separated from God.

The sixth statement from the Cross can be described by the

word victory.

When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said,

“It is finished!” And He bowed His head, and gave up His
spirit. (John 19:30)

When the Lord Jesus Christ uttered the words “It is finished,” He
evidenced the fact that salvation was complete. Nothing could be taken
away from it, and perhaps above all, nothing could be added to it. It was
purely a matter of grace. No one has ever deserved this salvation, and there
never will be any member of the human race who deserves something as
wonderful and as marvelous and as precious as the blood of Jesus Christ,
which—as a representative analogy of His spiritual death—cleanses from
all sin. Consequently, when He said “It is finished,” He made it very clear
that to add anything to the finished work of salvation is sheer blasphemy!
That is why the Scripture reiterates over and over, “He that believeth on
the Son has eternal life.”
The phrase “It is finished” comes from a single word in the Greek,
tetelestai. It was the shortest and yet the fullest of our Lord’s seven
statements from the Cross. Eternity will be needed to make manifest all
that it contains. All things had been done that the law of God required;
all things had been established that prophecy predicted. All things were
brought to pass that the types foreshadowed; all things were accomplished
that the Father had given Him to do. All things were performed that were
needed for our redemption. Nothing was left undone. The costly ransom
was given, the great con­flict had been endured, sin’s wages had been paid,
and divine justice satisfied. True, there was the committal of His spirit
into the hands of the Father, which immediately followed His word here.

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There was His resurrection, ascension, and session on high; but these
are the fruit and reward of this work that He com­pleted. Nothing more
remained for Him to do; nothing more awaited its fulfillment. His work
on earth was consummated.
“It is finished” was not the despairing cry of a help­less martyr. It was
not an expression of satisfaction that the end of His sufferings was now
reached. It was not the last gasp of a worn-out life. It was the declaration,
on the part of the Divine Redeemer, that all for which He came from
heaven to earth to do was now done. That all that was needful to reveal the
glorious character of God had now been accomplished. That everything
necessary for the putting away of the sins of His people, providing for them
a perfect standing before God, securing for them an eternal inheritance,
and fitting them for it had all been done.

The seventh and final statement from the Cross can be

described by the word contentment.

And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father,

into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He
breathed His last. (Luke 23:46)

When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross, it was voluntary:
“For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life
that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay
it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and
I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received
from My Father” (John 10:17‑18). Upon His physical death, His human
spirit went into the presence of the Father; His soul went into Hades, to
a compartment known as Paradise; and His body went into the grave
to wait for that glorious moment, some three days later, when the body
would be rejoined by the soul and the spirit; and Jesus Christ would rise
from the dead. The seventh cry was the beginning of the end; and yet the
end was now a new beginning. Jesus Christ would arise from the grave
in His resurrected body, walk among men for a short time, then ascend
into the presence of the Father to sit at His right hand as our great High
Priest and make intercession for us forever.
Note that there is a change in the vocative from the “My God” of
the previous phrase to “Father.” In addressing Himself to the Father, it

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is obvious that His work has been completed and that He is no longer
paying the penalty of sin, the act that elicited the vocative “My God.”
The Father has been propitiated by the spiritual death of His Son. Jesus,
through spiritual death, fulfilled an analogy to the blood sacrifice of the
Old Testament; He was then ready to dismiss His Spirit. All references
to the blood of Christ refer to His spiritual, rather than to His physical,
death. However, note again how the Lord Jesus Christ lives and passes
away in the atmosphere of the Word of God. The last word He uttered was
doctrine! He was the great original thinker, “Never did a man speak the
way this man speaks” (John 7:46). He never lacked suitable language,
yet you will notice how continually he quoted Scripture; the great majority
of his expressions may be traced to the Old Testament. Even where they
are not exact quotations, His words drop into scriptural shape and form.
You can see that the Bible had been His one book.
In His death, He was not driven beyond the power of thought, He
was not unconscious, and He did not die of weakness. He was strong
even while He was dying. It is true that He said, “I thirst”; but after He
had been a little refreshed, He cried with a loud voice, as a strong man
only could, “It is finished.” Now, as He bows His head in the silence of
death, He utters His final words, “Father, into Your hands I commit
My spirit!” Our Lord might have made an original speech as His dying
declaration; His mind was clear and calm and undisturbed. In fact, He
was perfectly happy for He had said “It is finished.” His sufferings were
over, and He was already beginning to enjoy a taste of victory. Yet with all
that clearness of mind and freshness of intellect and the fluency of words
that might have been possible to Him, He did not invent a new sentence;
but He went to the book of Psalms and took, from the Holy Spirit, this
expression, “Into Your hands I commit My spirit.”
How instructive to us is this great truth that the incarnate Word lived
on the inspired Word! It was food to Him as it is to us, and if He lived
upon the Word of God, should you and I not do the same? He, in some
respects, did not need this book as much as we do. The Spirit of God
rested upon him without measure, yet He loved the Scripture, and He
went to it and studied it and used its expressions continually.

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 Chapter Twenty-Nine
The Apostle Paul Discovers the Cross

A fter our Lord died on the Cross

and rose again three days later,
He appeared to the disciples. He didn’t tell them that it was all over, that
they should go home and forget about what happened on the Cross. On the
contrary, He said in effect, “Let’s remember it forever, and let’s proclaim
the Cross throughout all of the world and place it before the eyes of men
everywhere and forever.” We read in the New Testament that our Lord
appeared to His disciples for forty days with many infallible proofs:

To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering,

by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over [a
period of] forty days and speaking of the things concerning
the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3)

Our Lord showed the disciples His hands and His side, and He
iden­tified Himself by means of His Cross. He revealed Himself as the
Crucified-Risen Lord. Thomas, because of his doubts, was told to reach
forth his hand and put it into the wounded side of his Lord. So there is
no thought of hiding or forget­ting the shame of the Cross. Rather, it is
to be the basis and theme of the disciples’ preaching for Jesus says to
them, “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and
to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:26).
There is no thought of hiding or forget­ting the shame. The Lord
opens their minds so that they might understand the Scriptures, saying

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that what was written in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the
Psalms regarding Him was now fulfilled: “Then He opened their minds
to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, ‘Thus it is written,
that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third
day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed
in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem’” (Luke
24:45‑47). In speaking to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, He
takes them through the Bible to show them that these things con­cerning
Him were all written centuries before His coming. These men—who
for years had read the Old Testament and had heard it expounded by the
rabbis—now see, for the first time, its deepest meaning a­ nd its true intent.
They see their Risen Lord as the crucified One throughout the pages of the
Bible. The Lord Jesus Christ does not ask His disciples to forget what took
place at the shameful, disgraceful, degrading Golgotha. On the contrary,
He commands them never to forget. This is why we are to celebrate the
Lord’s Supper until He comes again (1 Corinthians 11:26).
They now see the Cross in the light of the Resurrection. No more
disgrace, dishonor, and shame! They realize that there was never a victory
such as our Lord’s victory on the Cross. At the Cross, the head of that
old ser­pent, the devil, was bruised. At the Cross, the rights and authority
of man’s greatest enemy were forever annulled, “Through death, the
Re­deemer destroyed him who had the power of death, that is to say,
the devil” (Hebrews 2:14; author’s translation). So with that, the early
Church went forward, proclaiming the Cross of Jesus Christ.
No one has ever gloried in the Cross of Christ as did Paul, the apostle
to the Gentiles. Others have gloried in the Cross; but Paul’s cry was “But
may it never be that I should 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). It was the alpha and the omega of the
apostle’s life, the dynamics of his missionary teachings, the very heart of
his epistles, and the essence of his preaching. How did he arrive at such
devotion so that the supreme passion of his life became the Cross? The
question takes us to the ninth chapter of the book of Acts where we have
the story of Paul’s conversion.
He is the one who, as a Christian, said that he counted all else but
dung so that he might win Christ. He was just as fervent and passionate
in the days of his unbelief when, as a Jew and a Pharisee, he persecuted
the Church. He was determined to uproot and destroy this fast-growing

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movement that threatened to spread over the earth. He felt it was his
duty to drag Christians to prison, to make them blas­pheme the name of
Christ, and if neces­sary, to see to their stoning as in the case of Stephen,
the Church’s first martyr. Saul of Tarsus, as he was then called, was an
absolute vicious tiger who was breathing threats and murder against the
disciples of the Lord. However, on the road to Damascus, he met with
his destiny. As he ran proudly toward that great city, in order to take more
Christians to prison, one of the greatest events of history took place. We
can say that because Paul is one of the greatest men in history. Here is
where Saul meets Jesus! The Risen Christ appears to him, and he falls to
the earth, stricken with blindness by a glory that he couldn’t bear:

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the

disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked
for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so
that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and
women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was
traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus,
and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and
he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who
are You, Lord?” And He [said,] “I am Jesus whom you are
persecuting.” (Acts 9:1‑5)

Saul, trembling with astonishment, takes at once the attitude that

characterized him the rest of his eventful Chris­tian life—namely, that
of a soldier—and says in effect, “Lord, what will You have me to do?”
However, of prime interest for us at this point is the fact that the Lord
says to this enraged persecutor, “I am Jesus.” Why didn’t He say what He
said most of the time, “I am Christ”? For that is the name appropriate
for our Savior as Paul saw Him. He is the Christ of God. To His divine
nature, He is the Christ; to His human nature, He is Jesus. Paul is blinded
by a glory he cannot look upon; it is all divine. The glory is that of God.
Yet the voice is that of a Man, “I am Jesus.” How very strange, but it
is exactly right. Had the Lord said “I am Christ,” the effect would not
have been the same. Saul might have gone on his hateful way, per­secuting
Christians and destroying the Church, for he believed in the Christ as all
true Jews did. This was not the point of controversy. He could have said

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what the Samaritan said: “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is
called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to
us” (John 4:25).
What Saul had not believed was that Jesus, re­jected and crucified as
though a blasphemous impostor, was indeed the Christ. Now Saul knew,
and never again did he harbor a doubt. In that instant, Paul’s the­ology
was formed. He knew that the glory that had knocked him to the ground
was none other than the glory of God. And yet the voice was that of
Jesus, and that meant that Jesus Christ was God mani­fested in the flesh!
“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers
or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him”
(Colossians 1:16). Here we have the great apostle’s Christology. The most
emphatic teachings in the Scriptures regarding the deity of Jesus Christ
are found in the Epistles of Paul.
However, how did Paul come to construct such a Cross-centered
theology? Many of the disciples wouldn’t accept Paul in the beginning.
How did he ever arrive at the position expressed in his Galatian epistle
where he declares that he will glory in nothing but the Cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ, saying that there he too had been crucified unto the world
and the world unto him? To find the answer, we will have to follow him
to the Arabian Desert where he went right after this experience on the
Damascus road.

But when He who had set me apart, even from my mother’s

womb, and called me through His grace, was pleased to
reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the
Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles
before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once
more to Damascus. (Galatians 1:15‑17)

Paul desperately needed time for meditation and prayer. His world
had been demolished. Moses and the Law were gone. Phariseeism was
dead, and he was no longer a Jew; he was a Christian. Paul must form a
new world with the Lord Jesus Christ as the center. Paul withdraws to the
Arabian Desert with a burden that would have crushed the average person,
with an agony that might well have taken him to his grave. It was the Cross.

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He needed to recon­cile the glory of the vision on the road to Damascus

with Gol­gotha’s shame, and Paul knew his Bible. He knew that awful word
in Deuteronomy about the one being hanged on the cross, that he was
accursed of God. In fact, he mentions it in Galatians: “Christ redeemed
us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is
written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” (Galatians 3:13).
Could such disgrace and shame ever be brought into harmony with such
glory and majesty as was the Christ’s? Or must it forever be the terrible
stumbling block that it was to the Jews? Would the offense of the Cross,
which to the Greeks was foolishness, never cease?
Paul found out because Paul did not go to Arabia alone; the Lord
Jesus Christ went with him: “For I would have you know, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received
it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11‑12). Paul tells
us, in this Epistle to the Galatians, that there, in the desert lands of Arabia,
the Lord Jesus Christ was not only re­vealed to him, but also in him. He
tells us that he received his Gospel straight from Jesus Christ without any
human intervention. Knowing as we do the outcome of it all, as found in
his epistles, we can, with perfect confidence, confirm that he was taught
more about the Cross than the others, the ones who walked with Christ.
It was revealed to him that although wicked hands had slain the Lord
Jesus Christ, it was all in the determinate counsel and foreknowl­edge of
God. Paul comes to see, at last, that the Cross was the fulfillment of the
prophecies in the Old Testament. His eyes became open to the fact that
the Messiah would be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our
iniquities. Think of what a joy it must have been for him when he learned
that the sinner’s justification was con­summated by the Savior on the Cross.
In fact, when he returned from his three years of retreat, he came forth
with the message that would be proclaimed in all of the world.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

He realized that it was through grace that the crucified and Risen
Lord had met Saul, the sinner, and that this grace was for the entire
world. Paul would say, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full
acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,

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among whom I am foremost of all” (1 Timothy 1:15). Then he would

say, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). This man, under the headship of the Lord
Jesus Christ, would become the master builder of the Church, constructing
her doc­trines, extending her borders as no other has ever done, and
establishing the principles that should govern her to the end of time. Even
though his apostleship was contested by many in his day, no other apostle
was ever so worthy to be called an apostle as was Paul. He would begin his
fantastic ministry by focusing on the Cross of Christ. He would begin by
pointing to the forgiveness and grace of God. Until a man realizes that all
of his sins have been completely wiped out and paid for, that man really
has no hope! He bears the burden of his own sins, and having violated
God’s holy laws constantly, he comes under His right­eous judgment with
no means whatever of justification. He slips away in shame to hide from
God as Adam and the woman did. The apostle tells us “Christ died for
our sins,” and he says this is the good news; this is the Gospel.
Of course, in a sense, Paul is not telling us anything new. The Lord
Jesus Christ said it all in the Upper Room. However, it needed to be
reaffirmed, and here is the interesting point: It would be reaffirmed by
that one who was the number one enemy of the early Church. He tells us
why beginning with 1 Timothy 1:12:

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me,

because He considered me faithful, putting me into service;
even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor
and a violent aggressor. And yet I was shown mercy, because
I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord
was more than abundant, with the faith and love which
are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement,
deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in me
as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect
patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him
for eternal life. (1 Timothy 1:12‑16)

Here is a man who went from being the most notorious enemy of the
Church to being the master builder of it. No justifying circumstances,

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no merits of any kind (he was out to destroy Christians and the Church,
therefore, attacking Christ Himself), no sign of a change of heart (he was
on the road to Damascus getting ready to murder more Christians when
he was called by God)—all he had was just sheer hatred, of the deepest
kind, for Christians. But Paul was forgiven because of the Cross where
Another, the very One whom he had hated, had borne his guilt. Paul must
have seen this truth, this mystery concerning the Cross, many times as
he spent those months in the Arabian Desert in solitude with His Lord,
the One who now taught him these incredible mysteries of doctrine that
Paul would soon share with the world.

Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share

in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He rescued us
from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the
kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:12‑14)

No wonder why he said, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies
behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13).

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the

forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His
grace. (Ephesians 1:7)

A false teacher was known to say: “Of course, God forgives. It’s His
business.” However, he didn’t understand the payment for forgiveness.
A cheap forgiveness is of no value. A father whose business it is to
forgive every­thing his children do, who establishes no authority and
who enforces no law, is not worthy of being a father. Inevitably, his
home will be filled with chaos and grief and shame. There can be no
authority, no govern­ment, no divine order—whether in heaven or upon
earth—without law; and law has no meaning if there is no punishment
for those who break it. If the demands of the law are violated and
ridiculed, and there is just forgiveness or an overlooking of the rebellion,
there is no authority, no government, no divine order! It collapses, and
anarchy takes over.
Yes, God is love. Yet with all His love, which can never be measured,
He could not pass over man’s sin because He is also just and righteous. If

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He merely overlooked sin, He would cease to be holy. If He ceased to be

just and righteous, He would cease to be God; heaven would be hellish,
and God’s throne would be defiled. The spiritual death of the Lord Jesus
Christ on the Cross allows God to be in the business of forgiveness. God’s
righteousness approves of the perfect God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Righteousness approves of His perfect work on the Cross in payment
for the sins of the world, the entire human race. Therefore, justice is
satisfied and is free to bless anyone who believes in Christ. God loves
the sinner even while hating the sin, and He solved the problem of sin
through the Cross of His Son. That was a vital part of Paul’s message.
That is why, from the beginning of human history, when man fell into
sin, a Redeemer was promised (the seed of a woman) who would undo
the work of Satan and free the human race from the devil’s bondage and
sin’s guilt. That is the good news Paul constantly proclaimed, being, as
he was, such a supreme example of the grace and forgiveness of God.
Many misinterpret our Lord’s sufferings as an appeasement of the wrath
of the Father, but this is completely off base. Jesus Christ did not die on
the cross to appease the wrath of an angry God. He satisfied the perfect
justice of a holy and loving God. John 3:16 says that God so loved the
world that He gave His uniquely born Son. Everything in God’s nature,
every fiber of His justice and righteousness, cries out against sin. The
wages of sin is spiritual death, and so the Lord Jesus Christ paid those
wages in the saving act of His death. The resulting propitiation is the
basis for God being gracious and merciful toward us. At the Cross, the
character and nature of God was revealed to mankind and to angels in all
its glory; and that includes His justice, His righteousness, and His love.
We should all join the countless grateful souls around the throne of God
to sing to the Lord as redeemed worshippers:

Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and
honor and power; for You created all things, and because of
Your will they existed, and were created. (Revelation 4:11)

Being forgiven so much, the apostle Paul loved much (Luke 7:47). This
is why Paul would say such things as “He made you alive together with
Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions” (Colossians 2:13). Paul
constantly gloried in the Cross because he realized that Christ’s work there
restored everything that had been lost in the fall of man. Man desperately

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needed to be redeemed from the slave market of sin, be reconciled to

God, and have the justice of God satisfied on his behalf. Though the
crime was great and the depravity complete, there is a Savior who gave
the deliverance that will satisfy, for both time and eternity, the righteous
demands of God, leaving nothing to be desired. The Cross demolished
the barrier that had existed between man and God.
Paul would teach that on the merits of Christ’s work on the Cross,
the believer of the Lord Jesus Christ is not only forgiven, but also is the
beneficiary of fantastic grace gifts at the moment of salvation. Because
the Cross wiped out the sin problem forever, no obstacle remains to God
declaring the believer perfectly righteous! “Therefore, having been
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ” (Romans 5:1). The Amplified Bible presents the fact in stronger
terms that really drive home Paul’s insight: “Therefore, since we are
justified [acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing
with God] through faith, let us grasp the fact that we have the peace
of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy” (Romans 5:1).
The sinner who believes in Christ is declared righteous, acquitted, and
given a right standing before God. When a person realizes that this was
the work of redemption consummated on the Cross, it leaves one with
amazement and an inexpressible happiness. By reason of the efficacy
of the work of Christ on the Cross, God can declare a man righteous
and free from all guilt. If only more believers could comprehend this
marvelous fact, they would be delivered from all guilt, fear, worry, and
anxieties. They would be a manifestation of “And you shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Paul ex­pounds
on this principle in his Epistle to the Romans where he puts the whole
world under conviction of sin, both Jews and Gentiles, de­claring that
there is not one righteous—not even one in the entire world—according
to God’s standards. Paul an­alyzes man and states the case of the sinner
before God. He removes the mask and reveals the scars of fallen man’s
true condition.

As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one;

there is none who understands, there is none who seeks
for God; all have turned aside, together they have become
useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.
Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep

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deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose

mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift
to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and
the path of peace have they not known. There is no fear of
[respect for] God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10‑18)

Paul states the total depravity of man and the wickedness of sin. If
you have any doubts, take a good look at the Cross where we have not
only the ultimate revelation of God’s love, but also the horrible results
of man’s sin. God was at His best, and sinful man was at his worst.
Crucifixion was the sinner’s answer to God’s invitation of love. As in the
parable, mankind said to God, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him,
and seize his inheritance” (Matthew 21:38). The sin­ner’s attitude toward
God has been portrayed for all time at the Cross­. Paul goes on to face
the problem of God’s righteous­ness in view of man’s horrific rebellion
against God. He explains that God can’t pass over man’s wickedness
when there is such a profound antagonism between the righteousness
of God and the unrighteousness of man. Moses had said that it was not
possible for God to justify the ungodly. Were He to do so, He would cease
to be just. For example, a judge who, for bribes or other considerations,
justifies the wrongdoer ceases to be a real judge. He descends to the
level of the criminal he acquits. So it is with God. Were He to declare
man free from guilt and shame by overlooking sin, He would stoop to
the level of the wicked and become sinful Himself. So Paul would teach
that the Lord cannot justify the unredeemed sinner. However, God found
a way—a way so wonderful, so glorious—which would reveal the glory
of the Godhead. Nothing more sacred, more worthy of praise, will ever
be known through­out all eternity. God found a way whereby He could
pardon the sinner who constantly trampled underfoot His laws, mocked
His sovereignty, and resisted His kingship. Paul would teach that this
pardon and forgiveness could never be broken either by man or angel.

Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one
who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus
is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the
right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,

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or sword? Just as it is written, “For Thy sake we are being

put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to
be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly
conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able
to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. (Romans 8:33‑39)

Because of the Cross, no flaw will ever be found. Because of the

Cross, no blemish will ever appear on believers. Because of the Cross,
God’s throne will forever be that of a Holy God whose righteousness will
stand uncompromised before millions of angelic beings and redeemed
souls. Because of the Cross, Paul would say that though your sins are as
scarlet, “yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through
death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and
beyond reproach” (Colossians 1:22). Paul would teach that at the Cross,
man’s sin was dealt with. Man’s crimes were given what they deserved:
the penalty of separation from God. Man’s rebellion and his wickedness
were judged: “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this
world shall be cast out” (John 12:31). The Lord Jesus Christ would
say that as He set His face to go to Jerusalem, it was the sin of the world
receiving its just due so that mankind could be saved without the throne of
God compromising its righteousness: “I, even I, am the one who wipes
out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember
your sins” (Isaiah 43:25). It was the world’s sin being pun­ished as the
righteousness of God demanded so that God could begin to deal with
sinners on the ground of mercy rather than judgment. Therefore, Paul
would write:

For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might

show mercy to all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His
judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known
the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or
who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to
Him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him

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are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (Romans

11:32‑36).

God found a way to justify the sinner and yet remain just:

Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption

which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly
as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to
demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance
of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the
demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time,
so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has
faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:24‑26; emphasis added)

The Cross demonstrated God’s righteousness, that He might be

just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. This remarkable
work of grace gives the believer such a standing before God that God
declares him righteous without the possibility of the declaration ever
being challenged. Once God justifies a man, he is justified forever. God
declares the believer righteous and totally free from guilt. No wonder
why Paul was determined to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified! He loved teaching this message.
So Paul begins by emphasizing forgiveness, as we have seen, and the
wonder of the believer being declared righteous in view of the Cross. But
Paul would also focus in on the principle of reconciliation.

For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and
on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by
Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him
all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the
church; and He is the beginning, the first‑born from the
dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in
everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the
fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all
things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of
His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or
things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated

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and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now

reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order
to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond
reproach. (Colossians 1:16‑22)

The Cross is the ground for our reconcilia­tion with the Father. For what
good is forgiveness for our sins, and what value is justification, if mankind
is not also brought back into fellowship with God. Thankfully, the Cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ has also reconciled us to the Father to present us
holy and blameless and beyond reproach. Paul puts it like this:

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have
been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is
our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down
the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh
the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained
in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into
one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile
them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having
put to death the enmity. (Ephesians 2:13‑16)

Notice what Paul keeps focusing on in the books of Galatians,

Romans, Colossians, and Ephesians: the Cross, the Cross, the Cross!
“But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14). Notice, in Ephesians 2, that not
only was man reconciled to God, but man was also reconciled to men
(Jews and Gentiles); the wall of separation is broken down. At the Cross,
all of our racial distinctions are done away with. You cannot stand at the
foot of the Cross and hate your fellow man for whom Christ died as He
did for you. The walls of separation between man and God, as well as
between man and man, have been broken down through the Cross. They
were all abolished at Calvary. This is why we need the Spirit of God to
give us the grace to embrace the Cross of Christ so that, in our life, any
enmity we have—whether it be in our relationship with God or with other
people—might be completely destroyed.
Paul would go on in his understanding of the Cross and also teach
something else that the others did not teach. The sinner has not only been
forgiven, justified, declared right­eous, freed from guilt, and reconciled to

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both God and man, in view of the efficacy of the Cross; but something
more is also there. Paul finds, in the Cross of Christ, another advantage
no less essential to our happiness, namely, freedom from the old sin
nature and its inherent power to enslave and master us. The sin nature
not only produces sin and guilt, but it also becomes a tyrant over those
it com­mands and controls when it is obeyed. We need forgiveness for
what we have done in the flesh, but we also need freedom from what we
are in the flesh.
In Romans 6, Paul immediately raises the question of sin’s power
over man: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that
grace might increase?” (Romans 6:1). At the moment of salvation,
the believer is justified in a legal sense, declared righteous, which is
the real implication of Romans 5:20. “And the Law came in that
the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace
abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20). Does this mean that man is
righteous before God but still under the power of the sin nature? Is he left
to the mercy of the sin nature, which is the destructive, God-defying force
in the life of one declared righteous legally but still unrighteous? This
is where many Christians are today, justified before God but in bondage
to their old nature, and they end up either in antinomianism or legalism.
Many think that if sin is still dominant in their life, all that matters is
that they have believed and are, consequently, justified by faith; and
there­fore they have peace with God. However, this does violence to the
Cross of Christ, which is not only the ground of a right standing before
God legally—having been freed from all guilt—but also the ground of a
spiritual transformation in which the believer is freed from the sin nature
as a governing principle and is able to live in the very righteous­ness of
Christ. In other words, we are saved not only to be declared righteous,
but also to be made righteous.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace

might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died
to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who
have been baptized [identified] into Christ Jesus have been
baptized into His death? (Romans 6:1‑3)

Then comes the great declaration re­garding the Cross of Christ that
he makes in Romans 6.

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Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that
our body of sin might be done away with, that we would no
longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from
sin. (Romans 6:6‑7)

The old man, or the sinful self, was crucified together with Christ
so that the body of sin might be destroyed and that we should not serve
sin. With the phrase “Christ died for the sinner,” we must also add “with
Christ, the believer died also.” The Cross was not only used to put away
the sinner’s guilt and to give him a right stand­ing before God, but also to
break the backbone of this monster called the old sin nature and to set man
free from its dominion. That’s why Paul goes on to say, “Even so consider
yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans
6:11). As we do this, we are guaranteed that the sin nature shall no longer
have dominion over us: “For sin shall not be master over you, for you
are not under law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Here we have God’s
answer to the believer’s struggles and bondage! Here we can have victory
over the world, the flesh, and the devil. Sadly and tragically, for most
believers, it all comes to nothing. They are either living in the weakness
of their flesh, in sin, or the strength of their flesh, in self-righteousness.
They are either living in the weakness or the strength of their old sin
nature, and they can’t please God with their self-effort! Dealing with the
very same subject, Paul says, “And those who are in the flesh cannot
please God” (Romans 8:8). Self-effort cannot achieve what only Christ
crucified could bring to pass. Here is God’s answer: On Calvary’s cross,
a cosmic blow was dealt to the monster. The sin nature was stripped of
its governing principle over the life of the believer as it was taken down
into death with Christ. This is only true for the believer! “Therefore if
any man is in Christ, [he is a] new creature; the old things passed
away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old
creation—with its life, pride, bigotry, and self-centeredness—has ended
when the Lord Jesus Christ said, “It is finished.”
The curtain went down on history, and it was the dawn of a new age.
In the power of His Resurrection, the Son of God, the Son of Man, brought
to light the new man. All this is just as important, and as much of a gift,
as forgiveness and justification. It springs from the same Cross.
We do not attain it by effort. We must rest upon an accomplished
fact, namely, that the Lord Jesus Christ not only dealt with our sins on

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the accursed tree, but also with the sin nature that governs man’s way and
life. Our old self was nailed to the Cross with Him; it is an accomplished
fact. Nothing can be added to it. If we learn to rest in all that the Cross
signifies, victory will be the result.
There’s something else that Paul emphasized as he pointed to the
Cross—that is, the Cross also puts an end to legalism. Legalism is defined
as man’s futile attempt to gain salvation, or to continue in God’s plan,
by way of some system of dos and don’ts. This is human good for the
purpose of gaining God’s approbation! There are at least eight systems
of legalism, or asceticism, that the believer must be aware of:

1. Prohibitions and taboos is the viewpoint that an individual is

spiritual because he doesn’t do certain things. Certain prohibitions
may exist when a believer is in fellowship with God, but they are
the result of spiritual growth not the means.
2. Personality imitation is manifested by dressing a certain way,
mannerisms, and even vocabulary.
3. Comparativeness is a system of relativity, thinking along the
lines that your sins are worse than mine; therefore I’m more
spiritual.
4. Emotionalism is similar to getting involved with tongues, slaying
in the spirit, manipulating through weeping, and the fire-and-
brimstone presentation.
5. Asceticism is a strict denial of self or self-sacrifice. This is when
an individual tries to give up normal activities and necessities of
life in order to please or impress God.
6. Ritual is thinking one is spiritual because he goes through various
forms of ritual. The Jews used circumcision; today many use
baptism, dedication services, even communion.
7. Confusing the means with the results is also a system of legalism
that the believer must be aware of. It is like thinking you are spiritual
if you pray, give, witness, etc. All of these things must be done
from the power of God not the power or the energy of the flesh.
8. Self-crucifixion is a misunderstanding of Romans 6, of being
crucified with Christ. You can’t get rid of self! Self does not crucify
self! The fact of that matter is that it runs all through Paul’s epistles
that the Cross of Christ was the end of legalism.

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For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were
realized through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)

It took Paul, our Lord’s chosen vessel, to bear His name before kings
and to fully expound this fact and to show how this came to pass. In his
Epistle to the Colossians, Paul says, “Having canceled out the certificate
of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and
He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians
2:14). Not only did He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, not only
did He judicially put an end to the old creation, but he also terminated the
old Jewish legal system, which was so vitally related to both. Our Lord
said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). The law was
given to the old man, the old Adamic nature. Where sin has been cancelled
and the old Adamic nature crucified with the Lord Jesus Christ taking it
to the Cross, the legal system stemming from Moses no longer applies.
Its reason for existence has gone. Our Lord gave some insight into this
many times.

You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye, and a
tooth for a tooth.” [He is quoting Exodus 21:24.] But I say
to you, do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you
on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. (Matthew
5:38‑39)

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor,
and hate your enemy.” [He is quoting Deuteronomy 23:6 and
25:17.] But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for
those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:43‑44)

The great passage regarding this principle is Romans 7. Here we are

told that by means of the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ took us out, in
the most drastic fashion conceivable, from the old Mosaic system with
its legal demands, its decrees, and its ordinances. It is declared, with the
authority God had given to the apostle Paul, that Christians have died
to the Law by the body of Christ, that they might be married to another,
even to Him who is raised from the dead:

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Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those

who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a
person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound
by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband
dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.
So then if, while her husband is living, she is joined to
another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her
husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an
adulteress, though she is joined to another man. Therefore,
my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through
the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to
Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit
for God. (Romans 7:1‑4)

So the decree has gone forth, from the very throne of God, that Christians
are to consider themselves dead to the Law. The Lord Jesus Christ took that
which was contrary to us and nailed it to His cross. Therefore, we are free
to marry another, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the grace of God. This places
us on ground so high that there shouldn’t be any wrongdoing, because we
have the freedom from being in bondage to a legal system. In Romans
chapter 7, Paul explains all of this as he describes himself as being under
the Law, and finding his absolute moral bankruptcy apart from grace, and
coming to the end of himself. There was a command that really bothered
him, which he could not overcome. In Romans 7:8, he says, “But sin, taking
opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of
every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.” The command “Thou
shalt not covet” drove him crazy. It tormented him because he realized that
no matter how much he struggled with it, it was not within his power and
moral capacities to fulfill the command. Even when he tried to do good, he
found he could not because evil was present and he was carnal, sold under
sin: “For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into
bondage to sin” (Romans 7:14).

I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one
who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law
of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the
members of my body, waging war against the law of my
mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is

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in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me

free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through
Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself
with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other,
with my flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:21‑25)

So if the Law could not be followed, what value was the Law? If the
Law awakens in me that which it prohibits, is it good? Paul says, “But
sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me
coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. And I was
once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came,
sin became alive, and I died” (Romans 7:8‑9). Here he says that all the
Law did was to stimulate the sin nature within him! Is there something
wrong with the Law? Absolutely not! “So then, the Law is holy, and the
commandment is holy and righteous and good” (Romans 7:12). The
trouble doesn’t lie with the Law. The trouble lies in the fact that when
he tries to do good, evil is present with him. The reason for the Law is
found in Romans 7:13, “Therefore did that which is good become a
cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order
that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that
which is good, that through the commandment sin might become
utterly sinful.”
Here we have the heart of the whole matter, and to what a tremendous
conclusion we are brought. The Law is impotent, powerless to do anything
for us but kill us! “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was
through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh and [as an offering] for sin, He condemned sin in the
flesh” (Romans 8:3). The only thing that the Law does is to aggravate the
whole matter. It was never given to be kept but to be broken. That sounds
like heresy, but it happens to be pure biblical truth: “Because the mind
set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to
the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Romans 8:7). Then
why was the Law given? It was given to show sin for what it is. Some
diseases have to be brought to a head; the physician must provoke a crisis
before he can effect a cure. The Law provokes the crisis, and the cure
is in the Cross: “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us
to Christ, that we may be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). That’s
why, in Colossians 2:14, we read, “Having canceled out the certificate

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of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us;

and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” It
is not surprising that in the very next verse, Paul declares that the Lord
Jesus Christ spoiled principalities and powers, making a show of them
openly, and triumphed over them by means of the Cross, “When He had
disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of
them, having triumphed over them through Him” (Colossians 2:15).
Satan loves to drive us to Mount Sinai, where the Law was given, to put
us under the Law. Why? “The sting of death is sin, and the power of
sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56). On the other hand, the Holy Spirit
takes us to Calvary, to the Cross, where “the accuser of the brethren” was
silenced: “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb
and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their
life even when faced with death” (Revelation 12:11).
Here are some principles concerning legalism and the Law:

• The believer has died to the Law (Galatians 2:19).

• The believer has received all the benefits of the Spirit through
faith (Galatians 3:1‑5).
• The Law brings nothing but condemnation (Galatians 3:10‑14).
• The Law has no power to give life or to sustain life (Galatians
3:21).
• The Law is a bondage to the believer (Galatians 4:9).
• Law and grace are mutually exclusive principles; therefore choose
one or the other (Galatians 4:21‑31).
• The believer has an abiding freedom in Christ and, therefore,
cannot be under the Law (Galatians 5:1).
• The believer must keep all the Law if he would attempt to keep
even part of it (Galatians 5:2‑4).
• The persuasion to put the believer under the Law is not from God
(Galatians 5:8).
• Legalism of the believer does away with the offense of the cross
(Galatians 5:11).
• The believer’s proneness to sin calls for dealing with him according
to grace, not dealing according to the Law (Galatians 6:1‑5).
• All who advocate the Law for the believer cannot keep it
themselves, and their intention is ultimate glory in the flesh
(Galatians 6:13).

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Paul taught another important principle we need to note, and that is

the Church was born crucified. The Church was taken out of the wounded
side of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, just as Eve was taken out of
the first Adam’s ribs. This is why the Church is called the Bride of Christ.
Unfortunately, the Church in general does not understand this intimate
relationship, and this explains her spiritual impotence and apathy. The
world looks at the Church and sees her divisions, rivalries, and jealousies;
it shakes its head and, therefore, is not convinced that Christianity is
the truth. Carnality, strife, rivalry, jealousy, and worldly ambition are
the same stuff that the world is made of. You will recall, in John 12:21,
how certain Greeks came to Philip and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see
Jesus.” Remember that our Lord did not consent to their wishes because
first was to come the Cross (John 12:20‑23). So it is with the Church.
Many would like to see Jesus, but the Church can only show forth His
glory by means of the Cross. The Church must realize that she was born
crucified; and that apart from the Cross, as we have seen it in Romans
6, she becomes impotent and filled with pride and rivalries. This is why
Paul emphasized that the Church is the body of Christ, that Christ is the
Head, and that Christians are the members.

For even as the body is one and yet has many members,
and all the members of the body, though they are many, are
one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether
slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body is not one member, but many. (1 Corinthians
12:12‑14)

But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in
the body, just as He desired. (1 Corinthians 12:18)

And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of

you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the
body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those
members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these
we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable
members become much more presentable, whereas our

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more presentable members have no need of it. But God has

so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that
member which lacked, so that there may be no division in
the body, but that the members should have the same care
for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members
suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members
rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually
members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:21‑27)

This unity can only exist when the Cross is taken up among believers.
How can this unity, love, and respect exist in the body of Christ? “For I
determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). “Therefore from now on we recognize
no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ
according to the flesh, yet now we know [Him thus] no longer” (2
Corinthians 5:16). There is only one remedy for that which, even within
the Church, causes divisions and separations; and that is understanding
the application of the Cross to our relationships with one another. James
tells us that war does not come primarily from economic, commercial,
ideological, or national problems, but from the wickedness, which he calls
lust, in the hearts of men: “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts
among you? Is not the source your pleasures [lusts] that wage war
in your members?” (James 4:1). Jeremiah knew what he was talking
about when he said that the heart of man was desperately wicked and
deceitful above all things in Jeremiah 17:9. Isaiah knew it when he said,
“From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in
it, only bruises, welts, and raw wounds; not pressed out or bandaged,
nor softened with oil” (Isaiah 1:6).
So what is the solution? There is only one hope. Pride, jealousy, and
denominational bigotry give way before one, and only one, power; and that
is the Cross. The Church must realize that she was born not Presbyterian,
Methodist, Baptist, nor any other thing. She was born crucified. Take the
Cross out of her heart, and the spirit of the world takes over. Christ is no
longer the head, the subtle workings of the flesh took over, and there is
little or no spirituality left:

But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why
do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all

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stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As

I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every
tongue shall give praise to God.” So then each one of us shall
give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one
another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an
obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. I know and
am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in
itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him
it is unclean. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you
are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with
your food him for whom Christ died. (Romans 14:10‑15)

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off
[Gentiles] have been brought near by the blood of Christ
[cross]. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups
[Jews and Gentiles] into one, and broke down the barrier
of the dividing wall. (Ephesians 2:13‑14)

There was never such a wall of separation as there was between the
Jews and the Gentiles. To the Jew, the Gentile was a dog, a stranger to the
Law. To the Gentile, the Jew was even more detestable. The antagonism
could never be removed by human power. Paul tells us that the wall was
broken down at the Cross, “By abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which
is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in
Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing
peace” (Ephesians 2:15). The Lord had to take religion from the Jew
in order to bring him into oneness with the Gentile. Nothing separates
people, causes conflicts, divisions, and separations like “religion.” Here,
in Ephesians, Paul is as bold as a lion. He faces the two camps, Jews and
Gentiles; and he tells them to lay down their arms in view of the fact
that both have been reconciled to God on the same ground, the ground
of the Cross! If more believers understood the Cross and really believed
our Lord, “To the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of
Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40)—we
would not see so much bickering and so many divisions among believers.
The world would know that we are truly disciples of the Lord: “By this
all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another” (John 13:35).

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It was at the Cross where the Lord terminated the old creation,
which generates divisions, strife, jealousy, and pride. In the power of the
Resurrection, the new man, the new creation was brought into being:
“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one
died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live
should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose
again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no man
according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according
to the flesh, yet now we know [Him thus] no longer. Therefore if any
man is in Christ, [he is] a new creature; the old things passed away;
behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:14‑17).
In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul says something else that is very interesting:
“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel,
not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be
made void. For the word 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 1:17‑18). The Cross is the power of God. The Cross has
the power to change men’s lives! One would not naturally associate
power with the Cross. God’s power is revealed in the creation and the
maintenance of this and every other universe in existence. However, there
was a much greater power released in the redemption of man, at the Cross,
when God judged the sins of the entire world. Never was there such a
display of the power, wisdom, love, and righteousness of God as there
was in that hour. Nothing was withheld. The glory of God was revealed
in its most complete, most exalted, maximum illumination! There, on the
Cross, was the eternal Christ who, by the word of His power, holds the
universes together (Hebrews 1:3). On the Cross, the One who knew no
sin was made to be a sin offering on our behalf so that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21), that we might be
free from sin’s awful guilt and condemnation. When you really perceive,
through the power of the Holy Spirit, what the wisdom and love of God
did for you on the Cross, you will say, with the apostle Paul, “But may
it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ” (Galatians 6:14).
In 1 Corinthians, the word for power in the Greek is dunamis from
which we derive our word dynamite. “For the word 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). Truly, the word of the

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Cross is the dynamite of God. No other power can break down the proud
hearts of men like the word, or the doctrine, of the Cross. When the Holy
Spirit reveals and teaches us of the Cross of Christ, it changes people’s
lives; it sets people free. Do you remember what happened after the Lord
said, “It is finished”? The power of God was manifested.

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up
[His] spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in
two from top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks
were split, and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of
the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming
out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy
city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, and those
who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they
saw the earthquake and the things that were happening,
became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son
of God!” (Matthew 27:50‑54)

The veil was almost a foot thick; only God Himself could rip it.
Furthermore, it stood forty feet high, and it was ripped from top to bottom.
God Himself ripped that veil to show that entrance into heaven was now
available not only for Old Testament believers, but also for any believer
who dies now. The resuscitation of these Old Testament believers was
a part of the leading of the captives in Hades out of their captivity and
transferring them to the third heaven. It conveys some idea of how the
Old Testament saints were transferred to the third heaven after our Lord’s
efficacious spiritual death on the Cross. However, what I wanted you to
notice was the power of the Cross! Dynamite is used to remove great
barriers. It is used to remove great barriers, powerful granite blockades,
when a highway is being opened up or a building being built. However,
there’s never been such an insurmountable blockade like that which man’s
sin had raised against God. However, the dynamite of the Cross broke
through it! The power of God opened a door that all of the demons of
hell, with their prince, the roaring lion Satan, can never close. It is the
door of mercy opened at the Cross for anyone who believes.
Dynamite also destroys, and there is a stronghold in the heart of every
man called pride. Even the fear of hell cannot remove pride from the heart
of man. Law cannot move it. The mightiest angel is powerless before

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pride’s strength. Prisons, torture, and even death cannot remove pride!
It is the very strength of the sinner in revolt against God, but there is a
power that destroys this mountain called pride. We saw it in Paul when he
was Saul of Tarsus. There wasn’t a prouder Pharisee than Paul. However,
it was the Cross, through the blinding vision on the road to Damascus,
that did the work so that we could hear him say, “I have been crucified
with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me”
(Galatians 2:20). Now Christ is on the throne in Paul’s life; the power
of the Cross wiped his pride away. Paul is willing to be nothing so that
Christ may be glorified. The dynamite of the Cross did it.
The very first promise in all the Scripture gave out this power. The
Seed of the woman (the Lord Jesus Christ) would bruise the head of that
old serpent, the devil (Genesis 3:15). The blow was struck on the Cross.
The dynamite was released through the Cross. The power of God removed
the authority that the kingdom of darkness had over man. That is why the
preaching of the Cross is the wisdom of God:

But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block,

and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:23‑24)

And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now the

salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and
the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our
brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before
our God day and night.” And they overcame him because
of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their
testimony, and they did not love their life even to death.
(Revelation 12:10‑11)

We must now face a word in Revelation that a lot of people pass over
concerning the Cross. We are told that upon our Lord’s return, according
to the promise, many shall seek to hide themselves in the caves and in
the rocks of the mountains.

And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was
a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth

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made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and
the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its
unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. And the sky
was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up; and every
mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the
kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders
and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man,
hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the
mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks,
“Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on
the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great
day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”
(Revelation 6:12‑17)

It is not the blood of the Lamb but the wrath of the Lamb. The Lord
Jesus Christ is so gracious and infinitely merciful but not without wrath.
If He could look upon the wickedness of man without experiencing a
righteous, holy indignation, He would be less than the people we know
who could not look upon injustice, abuses, the mistreatment of inno­cent
children, or the infamous crimes of a tyrant such as Hitler without disgust
and legitimate anger. This is the One who could say to the Phari­sees who
made long prayers and yet devoured widows’ houses: “You serpents,
you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell?”
(Matthew 23:33). The wrath of the Lamb is love that has been rejected.
Here is the One who was moved with compassion as He looked upon
the multitudes—“sheep without a shepherd”—who drew to Himself
prostitutes, lepers, and publicans; sat with sinners at banquets; and said
to the thief on a cross by His side, “Truly I say to you, today you shall
be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). This is the One who offered
forgiveness as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,
and now we see His wrath. However, they have willfully chosen to reject
the cost of the sacrifice, which could have made them free from guilt
and condemnation; and therefore, standing on their own merits, they are
now under His wrath. They have spurned and rejected God’s infinitely
gracious offer of salvation made through His Son. They have rejected
infinite love and, now, will face the wrath of the Lamb. Infinite love was
willing to redeem the sinners with such a passionate willingness to bear
all their shame, guilt, and sin; but they have said no to it! This infinite

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love becomes, as it rightfully should, wrath. What would you say of a son
who rejected his father’s love after the father died in his place? Wouldn’t
everyone cry “shame” at such a thing and be moved by legitimate anger?
Wrath is as right and needful as ­love. If they will not embrace the Savior,
then they shall be compelled to meet the Judge.
As we move to the last days, there is a great revelation of our Lord,
given in Revelation 19, where the Son of God goes forth to war. Many
do not like to hear about these types of principles as found in the Bible,
but they are there. They wonder how going forth to war represents the
meek and humble Son of God who stooped to wash the feet of fishermen.
However, that’s because they have failed to fully comprehend the Son
of God, and they’ve failed to understand the angelic conflict. One of the
tricks of Communism is to talk peace as if war was not on their minds
and to try to disarm the free na­tions if possible. Satan, as the god of this
world, believes this; and he is on the warpath, as never before in all of
human history, because h­ e knows his time is short.

And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and

He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in
righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a
flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He
has a name written upon Him which no one knows except
Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and
His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which
are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were
following Him on white horses. And from His mouth comes
a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and
He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine
press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His
robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF
KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:11‑16)

This is the amazing revelation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as
we come to the closing chapters of the book of Revelation. ­What does it
mean? It means that the One—who died on Calvary’s Cross and, on the
third day, rose again—will have the last word in the great struggle with
the evil ones. It is true that the enemy has been judged and stripped of
the legal rights man’s sin had given him, but the roaring lion of 1 Peter

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5:8 stalks the earth for one final battle. The armies of heaven follow the
Great Captain; so do we. We follow the One who has never lost a battle.
All authority has been given unto Him in heaven and upon earth. The
Scriptures never let us lose sight of the Cross for it was victory. However,
we must remember that our Prince won through death. The Cross was
His weapon as it must be ours. That is the mean­ing of His robe dipped in
blood. He is still the Crucified One though He has risen. We are defeated
apart from a never-ending identification with the Cross. If Satan can get
us away from the Cross, the old self life lifts its ugly head and puts us
back in bondage once again.

And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as

the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals
of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the
Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the
glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and
His bride has made herself ready.” And it was given to her
to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine
linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And he said to me,
“Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage
supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true
words of God.” (Revelation 19:6‑9)

The Bible comes to a close with the most extraordinary hope of all
ages. It opens with man, fresh from the hands of God, in a garden crowned
with unspeakable glory and riches but then falling into sin and death. It
closes with redeemed man r­ eunited with the One he had so offended, his
Father and his God, in what is called the marriage supper of the Lamb.
“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the
Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). It is the union of God’s redeemed people with
the Lamb for all eternity. Man owes it all to the Lamb that was slain. Man
is in the midst of the splendors of heaven because of the virtue of the
Cross. Man has not come by any merit of his own; his robes, as we have
already seen, have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Heaven knows
of nothing greater than earth’s greatest moment, which is the Cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We are placed in union with our crucified and Risen
Lord and become His bride by embracing His Person and the work of
His Cross through faith. Then we see with Paul, that as we came into a

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vital, indissoluble, ever-­perfect union with the Lord Jesus Christ—who

is forever the Crucified-Risen Lord—we should also be willing to share
His Cross, and with Paul, say, “I have been crucified with Christ; and
it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). It
is the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is, in a word, the Cross that forever
secures heaven and guards the Holy City of God against any further
ap­pearance of evil.
It should surprise no one that the Bible should close, as it does in the
twenty-second chapter of the book of Revelation, with a vision of the
stream of blessing that the apostle John describes in this way:

And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as

crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
(Revelation 22:1)

Through sin came death, but through the Lamb comes life. The
Lord Jesus Christ abolished the awful reign of death, bringing life and
immortality to light through the Gospel: “But now has been revealed
by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death,
and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2
Timothy 1:10). Life, life, life—this was the Redeemer’s object as He
came to restore what man had lost through sin. That’s why He said, “He
who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being
shall flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:38). The invitation seems to
be more emphatic, free from all condi­tions except a willingness to come,
as it is found on the lips of the Risen Lord here in the closing words of
the Scriptures:

“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for
the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the
bright morning star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who
is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life
without cost. (Revelation 22:16‑17)

Here is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, blasting away
all the barriers, tearing down all ecclesiastical walls, and annihilating all
that the law and sin have put in the sinner’s way. Our Lord declares that

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there is but one condition, one and only one prerequisite, a willingness to
come. The river flows freely. It flows everlastingly for all who will come.
In fact, the last word in the Bible is the Greek word pas meaning all!
So the river of the water of life proceeds from the Lamb. This was
the goal God was marching to all through the ages. History finds here
the key to unlock its mysteries. The Lamb was slain from the foundation
of the world. It is the Lamb Slain who invites us to come. The moment
you approach the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, you are
acknowledging your sin and need for the river flows from the cross where
Christ was slain to put away the sins of the world. This life is very pure
(a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal), and as you drink, you
are made pure. It is the life of the Crucified, and as you partake, you “eat
of the flesh and drink of the blood” as John 6:54 teaches. It is the life of
the Son of God, and this is the life of the ages in which there is no pride
nor love of self nor unholy thing. God cannot say it more emphatically
or more tenderly than this:

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one
who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come;
let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.
(Revelation 22:17)

God has swept away all barriers and says, “Whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely.” The psalmist could not find a more
expressive manner with which to make known his joy:

How precious is Thy lovingkindness, O God! And the

children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings.
They drink their fill of the abundance of Thy house; And
Thou dost give them to drink of the river of Thy delights.
(Psalm 36:7‑8)

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

The holy dwelling places of the Most High. (Psalm 46:4)

Ezekiel, the prophet, saw a river flowing from beneath the altar. In
the Bible, the only legitimate altar is the Cross of Christ; all the others
were types: “And it will come about that every living creature which

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swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will
be very many fish, for these waters go there, and the others become
fresh; so everything will live where the river goes” (Ezekiel 47:9).
The Lord’s hope is that all the members of the human race might plunge
in and live. The Cross of Christ has removed all the barriers of sin and
pride, and guilt and shame, so that we can come and drink freely of the
water of life and, having drunk, drink again forevermore. It is a one-shot
decision away from any member of the human race:

Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. (Acts 16:31)

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