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- đź“– The controversy of the Cross
đź“– The controversy of the Cross
The Way, the Truth, and the Life
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The controversy of the Cross
On the Cross, Jesus eliminated the separation between God and humanity.
So everything should be perfect now, right?
Not exactly.
Cruciform Exclusivity
It’s always lovely to receive a present.
But you can’t expect to enjoy it if you don’t accept it.
The Cross works similarly.
Everything about Jesus beating sin and mending the gap is true but can only be enjoyed if accepted.
What Jesus gave us through the Cross is an option, a choice. He paved the Way but we need to follow Him there.
As the man Himself said in Luke 9v23:
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
This means that to reap the benefits of the Cross, one must drastically align their life around the teachings and person of Jesus.
We can only be free from sin’s grasp by embracing the Gospel.
If that doesn’t happen, sin still has the final say.
So, in some lives, sin persists.
Hope Still to Come
The Cross was a major turning point in a still-developing story.
Jesus frequently spoke of the “Kingdom of Heaven,” a place where peace with God is restored fully.
A place where everything is the way it’s supposed to be.
Returning to Edenic peace.
Jesus’ work on Earth inaugurated this Kingdom. By the Cross, He transformed regular humans into forebearers of the Kingdom, people touched and transformed by His goodness - a taste of what’s to come.
You see, Jesus didn’t just stop at the Cross.
After rising from the dead, Jesus gave His disciples the task of establishing the Church before ascending to Heaven with a promise to come again.
So Jesus will return, and with that return, He will bring peace to the planet and all life in it.
In the meantime, the Church lives out His teachings to direct people to Him.
The fullness of the Kingdom is coming and the Cross is how we get there.
The Cross is the subversion of hopelessness. It appropriated the image of what was, at the time, a frightening symbol of death and repurposed it into the greatest symbol of hope the world has ever known.
If God can do that, I'm confident that what we face now can’t hold a candle to what’s to come.
That’s the power behind these two simple planks of wood - the hope of eternity.
Praise God.
For now, be blessed.
Jon,
Theophilus Newsletter
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