CHAPTER 4: THE CROSS
We will give a survey of the Cross where Jesus Christ, the Son of Man and the Son of God died and took away the sin of the world.
• The tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, V.S. the tree of life
• The Cross: Curse and Blessing; Death and Life; Sin and Forgiveness;
• The reconciliation of Man and the Restitution of All things.
Presentation
In the last chapter, we visited the Fall of Man and the grievous consequences that the Devil inflicted upon mankind. Through one man sin entered the world, and death began to dominate the whole world. Not only mankind as a race was “bitten in the heel” by the serpent, but the poison of death had spread to all creation. Through the power of death and the principality of hades, the devil became ruler of this world, living or perished: the prince of the air, the accuser of mankind, the head of all rebellious spirits and dominions, and the tormentor of man’s soul and flesh. War, famine, diseases, and all forms of wickedness and evil forces, devastating and terrifying, began to permeate this creation that God allotted to Man for his happiness. We become victim of lust, sin and death of our flesh, game and sport of the evil one and his agents. We are powerless, defenseless, hopeless and helpless in face of our own unbridled depravity, cruelty and blood thirst of our fellow being, the prey and plunder of evil with its full sway of schemes and attacks.
Man is a creature without rest and hope, full of anxiety, pride, shame, ignorance and foolishness. What happened? With all our best knowledge and intelligence, endless labor and persistent effort, we couldn’t even get close to a culture of love, peace, and goodness. If it is not to escape, where then is the end of this fatal sickness of our very being? Where is our hope?
Again, let’s turn to the beginning.
Two Trees
In the beginning, God put two trees in the middle of the garden Eden: the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life.
Tree of Death
He commanded Adam and Eve to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or they will surely die. This makes this tree “the tree of death”. But He did not deny their access to the tree of life till they disobeyed.
Let’s give some observations to the process and results of the eating of the “forbidden fruit”.
Ge 3:4-6 [NIV]
4“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
We mentioned before that the serpent availed many tactics and temptations to convince Eve and Adam to partake fruits from the tree of death. One in particular has to do with the very lust of man to covet God’s wisdom, and with it they fell into the way of the flesh. The eyes opened are the eyes of the flesh, the doorway to be plunged into the natural world, or the visible reality and self consciousness, the start of all calculations of self.
Before that, even as they were flesh and blood, with the Holy Spirit governing in totality of their spirit, soul and flesh, there was no separation between the three in man as a living being. (We will talk a bit more in later chapters.) They are fully in the counsel and life that God intended for them. However when they eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they eyes were open to the natural world and a wisdom alien to the one God intended for them. It began to defile their conscience and their way of thinking. The key is that they are opened to a place God would give no other but His mature sons whom He is well pleased with. Only these can be entrusted with the role and responsibility to represent Him to judge with righteousness and justice, and mediate out of love and mercy. And their freewill, which is a unique gift God gave to man to receive love and offer love as an agent and expression of His love, was thus usurped to partake, manage, even create things out of God’s will and against His nature, which is righteousness, holiness, love and goodness.
They began to entertain their own concept of justice, judgment, rooted in a thinking of having to, or by delusion, enjoying the right and ability to, decide what is right and what is wrong. The center of such a judgment and such a desire is to attain unto man’s wellbeing by himself. Man began to take justice in his own hand. So we see, firstly, man began to have his own standard of righteousness and justice; secondly, man began to muster his strengthen or power to obtain them, being it initiation or the rendering of it. This is evident in the case of Cain, only the second generation of man. He killed his brother Abel for two reasons: firstly he deemed himself being pushed by Abel into a position of injustice or being mistreated by God; secondly, he allowed sin entered him to avenge himself by killing the one who undermined his own interest, who were suppose to be the target of his love-even to the point of laying down his life if that love is perfect in the eyes of God.
In this, we can clearly detect a pattern: disobedience leads to sin, sin leads to death, and death leads to the brokenness of human relationships against the constitution that God had designed for the family of man: righteousness, peace, and love in the Holy Spirit-a life of love unto God and unto one another.
When Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened to this wisdom, which is from below or from their earthly nature, they become the victim being assaulted by all kind of wrong things.
• They began to have shame. Nakedness is revealed to man and creation, so they began to veil it, first using fig leaves. Later God made garments of skin to cloth them. They came to the Shame, or sense of unrighteousness, recognizing that they were not worthy to stand in the presence of God, not mention to represent Him. From that day on, the shame of sin began to taunt man.
• They began to have fear. The spirit of fear is in opposition with the spirit of Sonship as explained by Paul. (Rom 8:13-15) Fear is the outcome of an awareness of God’s justice and righteousness. Without a mediator, they will have to face themselves before God the consequences of their disobedience. Because their lack of understanding of God’s goodness, they could not apprehend the concept of forgiveness, nor they have the means to attain unto it. They had to hide from His presence, where His love, counsel, life and glory dwell. The consequence of sin and disobedience is death. From that day on, the fear of death began to assault man.
This tree is where curse or judgment of God issued. It is as if Adam and Eve having hanged themselves on this tree and never got off it, with them, so are those born of them as the seeds or sons of the flesh.
Tree of Life
Genesis does not provide us with a clear description about the tree of life. We know that it stands beside the tree of death, which means it is equally accessible to man, so easy that God had to cast them out of the Garden of Eden in order to deny their access to it.
Gen 3:22-24 [NIV]
22And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Let offer some brief observations of the above verses.
“Man became like one of us.” In this likeness of God, the fullness is not hinted. Judgment or knowing good and evil is only part of God’s attributes, it can never attain unto His wisdom when deprived of His nature. This, in essence, is like a son, given the privilege and role of representing the father, but he spurred the goodness of his father and acted in rebellion, defamed his father and despised his birthright which promises a rich inheritance. He did not add honor and glory to his father to become his father’s joy and glory, but, in rebellion, brought dishonor, pain and sorrow to him. What could the father do but to take away his inheritance and put his out of the family? That is what happened to Adam and Eve in the beginning. They were cast out of God’s family and had their Sonship denied. With the absence of the tree of life, they then were denied eternal life as well, which is the innate part of their inheritance. (We will expound more on this when we talk about Sonship in the coming days.)
The Cross: Curse and Blessing; Death and Life; Sin and Forgiveness
We hereby will not much dwells on the story of Jesus’ death on the cross, nor the prophecies pointing to it. Rather we will spend more time on the essence of it. Indeed this is an inexhaustible topic.
The picture of death and the judgment of a rebellious son are all hinted in the Law God gave to Moses. (Deut. 21:18-23) “Cursed is anyone who is hung on a tree.”
Gal. 3:7-14 [NIV]
7Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. 8The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
10All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” 12The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.” 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
‘Dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Gen 3:19) But through the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross, we are saved from this tragic fate. Paul commented on this in the book of Romans.
Rom 5:6-21 [NIV]
6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
15But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
18Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
20The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
To us who had put faith in Christ Jesus, we will receive the full benefit of the Cross. What are these? Before we dig into that, let’s first look at the symbolic meaning of the cross.
The Cross is the two trees together: death of Christ Jesus in our stead and eternal life in the Father through Him.
Rom. 6:8-10 [NIV]
8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
By identifying Himself as Man, and willingly became the embodiment of sin, he received the wrath of God in its fullness. Once for all, he canceled the curse of sin and death unto Man. He became the way to eternal life. Through His blood, we are reconciled back to God the Father, and He then gives us the Spirit of Sonship.
Rom. 8:1-16 [NIV]
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
The Reconciliation of Man and the Restitution of All things
We will not get into the details of this. There is just too much to discuss. With the brief review of what Man suffered as the consequences of the Fall, we can see how much Christ has restored back to us through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. We are more than being reconciled back to God, we also have everything restituted back to us and more. Now we also have the Son Himself as our brother, our friend, my High Priest and Mediator, our Lord and King, who will always interact with the Father on our behalf as long as we put our faith in Him and walk in His Spirit. We are kept immune to the power and afflictions of sin and death. We are clothed with His power, life and glory in all righteousness.
Paul exclaimed with great excitement and joy because of this truth and revelation in many places. We will visit some of them here:
1 Co 15:54-57 [NIV]
54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom 8:31-39 [NIV]
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rom 11:33-36 [NIV]
33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?”
36For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Scriptures
We have already included many scriptures in the presentation. Please give them some careful reading before you refer to the ones here.
Two Trees
Psm. 1:1-3 [NIV]
1Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
Is 6:13 [NIV]
13And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
Is 11:1 [NIV]
1A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
Mt 13:31-32 [NIV]
31He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
Re 22:1-5 [NIV]
1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
The Cross
Num. 21:4-9 [NIV]
4They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
6Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
John 3:10-18 [NIV]
10“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 12:23-36 [NIV]
23Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
27“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
34The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
35Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
Questions for Reviews
1. What stands out to you when you read this session’s presentation?
2. Please offer your comment on these scriptures:
Jn 1:29 [NIV]
29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Jn 1:36 [NIV]
36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
3. What do you think the most important thing that is restored back to us through Jesus’ death on the cross?
4. Can you offer some comment on Jesus’ statement that He is the way, the truth and the life? (John 14:6)
Questions for Mediation and Application
1. You surely have learned all kinds of things and have a concept of wisdom. How do you evaluate your wisdom in light of fruits from the two trees? Do you think all of them are helpful?
2. The Devil of is the father of all liars. What did he lie to you with your understanding of the cross?
3. What do you think Jesus did for us on the Cross? Is it just the forgiveness of our sins, or much more? What are these?
