THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CROSS
THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS!
Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007
INTRODUCTION:
In the past several weeks, we have explored together the significance of the Preparation For The Cross, The Cost of The Cross: Obedience, last Sunday Pastor Mark so well spoke on The (perceived) “Foolishness” of The Cross, and just this Friday we were reminded of the sobering realities of the Reconciliation of the Cross. Today, it’s Resurrection Morning! Contrary to the many images we commonly see, Jesus is NO LONGER on the cross!
So, why are we still focusing on the cross this morning? Shouldn’t we just be moving on to the empty tomb? Yes, we need to recognize the empty tomb, but FIRST we need to be sure we understand that apart from the cross, apart from Jesus’ sacrificial DEATH on the cross, the empty tomb is next to meaningless. There is much discussion and question today about what really happened on the cross, whether Jesus really died. Why? Because the answer means EVERYTHING!
Let me provide an example. A woman wrote in to a question and answer forum. “Dear Sirs, Our preacher said on Easter, that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think?” Sincerely, Bewildered.
Soon after this reply was posted (by the way, please understand this is a rhetorical reply): “Dear Bewildered, Beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails with 39 heavy strokes, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear thru his side . . . put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens.” Sincerely, Charles.
Before anyone gets any ideas, let it make it clear: I, Pastor Ellison, Pastor Mark, believe and teach without question that Jesus, the Son of God, Himself died a literal death on a literal cross as the ONLY means of God’s satisfaction of and our salvation from our sin! For this reason, we may gather this morning and celebrate together The Triumph of The Cross!
Yes, the Cross of Christ is unimaginably tragic. Yet, it is also amazingly triumphant! There is pain, but out of that pain will emerge new joy. There is despair, but out of that despair will arise eternal hope! On Friday, April 21, 2000 – Good Friday AND the 1-year anniversary of Columbine - Diana Butler Bass wrote a syndicated newspaper article and a poignant reminder of the lesson of the Passion. She writes:
For those of us who embrace Christianity, this grisly anniversary parallels another tragic
commemoration: Holy Week and its culmination in Easter. . . This year’s eerie correspond-
ence between Columbine and Easter points toward a discomforting aspect of our national
character: We want quick resurrections. American Christianity has never emphasized Holy
Week – a supposedly morbid exercise in churchgoing best left to Lutherans, Episcopalians,
and Roman Catholics. Most American Christians ignore Tenebrae (the service of “darkness”),
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday in favor of Easter celebration. . . .
We celebrate life, not death. We skip the hard part. If we skip the hard part, however,
Easter quickly devolves into a sentimental celebration of spring . . . But we prefer it that way.
Cute baby chicks and new church clothes delude us into thinking that faith is an eternal spring.
After all, Christians are called an “Easter people.” The Resurrection is the basis of
Christian belief. Why dwell on the bad stuff that comes before?
The answer is quite simple: Without death, there can be no resurrection. Winter always
comes before the spring. . . a cold, unrelenting winter. . . The darkness breaks, the snow
melts, and days of sunshine bring forth daffodils and tulips. It is over!
Then, from nowhere, a blizzard closes in as if it were once again December. Will spring
ever come? Will it ever end? (Hmm, I wonder what that feels like?!)
Holy Week is much the same. . . To us, three days seem so short, but to Jesus’ followers
it must have seemed as forever. They did not expect resurrection. . . Resurrections do not
happen quickly. Nor do they arrive on the cue of the calendar, on anniversaries, or while
reporters are watching. . . Healing comes in fits and starts as unexpectedly as spring. . .
We would prefer an instant miracle, jumping over suffering into eternal life. But it just
does not happen that way. Not even for God. Easter faith does not avoid pain. It only
recognizes that somewhere, sometime, in some unexpected way, pain will recede in the
gentle grace of God’s love.1
PRAYER
TAUNTS OF THE UNCERTAIN
Jesus’ presence on the cross was certainly NOT seen as a sign of triumph to those who witnessed it first-hand. Matthew 27:39-46
Human nature, experience and even common-sense loudly cry out that such a scene can ONLY be one of utter failure, embarrassment, disappointment and defeat. And, if it had been anyone other than the Son of God – fully human, fully God and perfectly righteous – they would have been absolutely right.
But, sometimes, God and His ways is different, much greater and far beyond our nature, experience or common-sense. This was the greatest of those times!!!
“IT IS FINISHED!”
As the seeming end approached, Jesus cried out for a drink that He might depart with a final proclamation. John 19:28-30.
In the Greek text, it is one word – a cry of victory!
What did He mean? What is “IT” that He finished? Friends, He was NOT referring to His life, His mission, or His revolution. No, the Good News of the Gospel is that with His death on the cross as the only perfect, infinite and acceptable sacrificial lamb, Jesus completed His Ultimate Triumph!
True, He had yet to miraculously arise from the tomb. But, friends, while His resurrection was the SIGN and evidence of His triumph, it was achieved on the Cross!
Consider:
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
1 Corinthians 1:17-18
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with clever words, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect. For to those who are perishing the message of the cross is foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is God’s power.
Galatians 6:14
But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Colossians 1:20
and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross whether things on earth or things in heaven.
1 Corinthians 1:22-23
For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.
TRIUMPH AT THE SON-SET
Even as the Son of God ’set’, the humanity of Christ hung life-less upon that cold, splintered cross, He had triumphed as none before or since in the history of the universe! On behalf of all sinners who would believe, He fulfilled everything that the Law required. As a result, there was:
Triumph Over Suffering
Hebrews 2:9-10
But we do see Jesus-- made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace He might taste death for everyone--crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. For it was fitting, in bringing many sons to glory, that He, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make the source of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Triumph Over Condemnation
Romans 8:1-2
Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Triumph Over Death
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:54c-57
Death has been swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Triumph Over Doubt
Galatians 2:19-20
For through the law I have died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
TRIUMPH AT THE SON-RISE
For all that Christ accomplished on the Cross, we must not forget either that He did rise again! And with Him, because of His sacrifice on the cross, He rose to triumph FOR us and reclaim what had been lost!
Triumph For True Freedom
Galatians 5:1
Christ has liberated us into freedom. Therefore stand firm and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Triumph For Eternal Salvation
Acts 4:12
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved."
1 John 5:11-13
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Triumph For Eternal Glory!
Romans 8:18
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
CONCLUSION:
All of this, my friends, leads us in anticipation of the Second Coming of the Son. No matter how dark, no matter how dreary, no matter how depressing or frightening, no matter how lasting and disappointing these times may be, this sin-induced winter of our souls and world will NOT last! Jesus will return! And, this time, when the Son sets it will be the last time as His light will be eternal and without interruption. And, on that day, even the most lilly-white and rigid among us will not be able to help but to jump up and shout as loud as we can: “Glory, Hallelujah!” As Scripture says:
Revelation 5:12-14
They said with a loud voice: “The Lamb who was slaughtered is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing! I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them say: Blessing and honor and glory and dominion to the One seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever! The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.
And
Revelation 21:3-4
Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look! God’s dwelling is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will exist no longer; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.
