Shadow of the Cross

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12. 32).

The shadow of the Cross has lain across the history of mankind since that mysterious forecast made in Eden of the bruising of the serpent. The stage was there set for the fight between the opposing forces of good and evil. Enmity, rivalry, animosity, antagonism, intolerance, deception, persecution, betrayal and suffering have dogged the footsteps of man from that day to this. However great the effort to stem the stream, the vulnerable heel of man has been stabbed with the fiery darts of wickedness. The verdict of the past has been that all have gone astray at some time, like lost sheep in need of rescue. The present gives no reason to change that verdict. When to be good, is considered dull: to do good, officious busy-bodying, when virtue is despised and sin extolled as sensational and exciting, it is plain that humanity has strayed from a safe road into the dangers of the wilderness. It was in the wilderness that Moses lifted up a serpent of brass for the benefit of those who had been bitten by serpents, many of them fatally. Those who could and would look upon the brazen image set upon a pole, recovered from the effects of the poisonous bite. Jesus referred to this incident as a picture of his own lifting up on the cross for the same purpose, to heal those suffering from the fiery bite of sin. "Look to Jesus, look and live. There is life in a look at the crucified one" is no fantasy of the hymn writer but a basic fact of man's condition and need of salvation.

The drawing power of the Cross from the day of Calvary until the twenty-first century been strong; a magnetic pulling of men and women toward the ideals of the Christian life as exemplified by the man who was its chief victim. By its means people have been gathered out of every nation, kindred and tongue to become the first fruits of love, of life given, that through its generosity the straying and the smitten might be "ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven", inspired with high hope of better things to come, of life abundant, flowing to all who believe in him. "For God so loved the world that He gave." The gifts of God are everywhere apparent in the earth He created to be the home of man, but his greatest gift is that of a Saviour. The Cross has become the outward symbol of faith. It stands on mountain slopes, on the pinnacles of churches, adorns the vestments of priests and is worn by some adherents of the various factions of the Christian religion as the badge of their belief. Gatherers of relics claim to be custodians of pieces of the true Cross, but there is no merit in the Cross even if the original is still in existence. It is the man upon the Cross who holds the power to draw all men to him.

"Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth" (Isa. 45.22). The human race, increasing in size, scattered abroad in every corner of the earth, needed then and still needs the offices of a just God. It needs also a Saviour, a bruiser of the monstrous head of evil by which they have been kept in various stages of subjection to cruelty, poverty, ignorance and death. In Jesus, God mounted a gigantic rescue operation. He came declaring himself "the way, the truth and the life". No healing, restoration or harmony with God except through Him; no other name known under heaven by which men may be saved from the perils of sin.

Much theological ink has been spilt over Christian doctrine, causing divisions, and rifts, the splintering of the faith into a thousand fragments, but theories fade before the facts. The world without God is a dark place. Knowledge of a more scientific sort has tended to eclipse salvation, to cloud the once bright vision of the Saviour's face, to dim assurance in the life-giving words that "whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life". The Cross has lost its drawing power. All men have a tendency to look in other directions, seeking satisfaction in the treasures and pleasures of this world, amazed not by grace but by the wonders produced by a skilful, materialistic age which presents itself like the Laodicean church, rich, increased with goods and in need of nothing. Even where there is not a cold indifference to spiritual things and higher needs than bread and supermarkets, there is a lukewarm support, an outward lip service, a superficial knowledge, a greater concern for the crumbling places of worship than for the One to whom all worship is due. When Jesus hung upon the Cross it is recorded that darkness lay over the whole land from the sixth to the ninth hour, prefiguring the darkness of the latter days of this age of which He spoke. The clouded sun, the failing moon, set for signs and symbols of life rejected, of law flouted and defied, of a reeling earth and a bewildered people are not too strong figures of speech when applied to the twenty-first century. Joel saw it as a time when "darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people". The Cross can scarcely be discerned and the figure of Christ grows dim before the oncoming clouds of worldwide strife, of the struggle for power and supremacy, of the last throw for possession of the mind of man.

In such an extremity the prophets saw the rescuing hand of God in operation, inflicting the devastating blow to the kingdoms of this world, setting in the midst of His enemies His king. Crowned, not with thorns, but with glory and honour, reigning not from a Cross but from a throne of judgment and justice, He takes up His great power and authority, to conquer sin and opposition, to bring light and life to a desperate situation, to save to the uttermost all who will come to His side. So startling will be the benefits of His reign in contrast to the fears, the falsity and the deprivations which have for so long existed, that men will weep for joy and relief as those snatched from shipwreck and death. Heads will be turned and hearts drawn toward their great Deliverer.

To those who count time by days and hours and seconds, the time from the Cross to the Crown has been long. From the place of sacrifice to the place of power, where He will put down all evils which separate man from his Maker, has been a long period of strife, doubt and scepticism. Yet to Him who sees the end from the beginning, from whom nothing is hid, it has been but a little while, an interval. The whole history of man has been written and enacted in less than the travelling time of light from some far-flung sun of less importance than the planet designed to be the meeting place of God and man formed in his own image.

The drawing of all men by all-conquering love will be a spectacular work, but it will be done. "For God has highly exalted him and given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2.9-11).