MEANING of Cross is where the power's at

“It was to Paul that the glorified Lord first revealed all that the cross had accomplished,” argues Bible scholar C.R. Stam in his 1963 book The Controversy. “If our opponents could see this their appreciation of our Lord’s redemptive work would be greatly increased. . . They would see clearly their completeness in Christ in the heavenlies and could truly say with Paul: ‘But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.’ (Galatians 6:14)

In what is regarded as an extremely important principle to understand, Paul writes in I Corinthians 1:

[17] For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
[18] For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
[19] For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Jordan says, “The 'preaching of the cross' is an expression that describes sort of a title for Paul’s ministry and his message.

“What Jesus Christ did at Calvary when He died and was raised again the third day is the very heart and essence of what grace is all about. Folks, you ought to be fascinated by that.

“When Paul talks about the ‘preaching of the cross,’ he’s talking about much more than the events that took place at Calvary; he’s talking about the MEANING God assigned to those events.

“In I Corinthians 2 is an amazing passage that can revolutionize you’re thinking about what happened at Calvary. Paul writes, [6] Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
[7] But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
[8] Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

“Paul’s saying, ‘We’re speaking wisdom, but it’s not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world. It’s not the wisdom of human viewpoint and it’s not the wisdom of the satanic policy of evil, designed by the devil, which runs the world system.

“Had the princes of this world understood this wisdom Paul’s preaching they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. It’s an amazing thing to me, that God Himself, in order to bring to naught the wisdom of the Adversary . . .

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“Folks, Satan knows more about that Bible . . . we used to say he’s forgotten more about it than you’ll ever know. He knows more about human nature, how people react to things . . . 

"He’s had 6,000 years of dealing with the likes of you and me and he’s learned how to do it and he’s pretty good at it, and he’s got a policy and a plan and he touts his wisdom before the Creation.

“Yet, all God had to do to take the wise in his own boastfulness--all God had to do to destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent was keep a secret.

“If all I’ve got to do is not tell you about my ace in the hole over here and I can beat you, well, you weren’t all that smart to start with, you know that?

"If you couldn’t figure out what I was doing . . . I mean, the whole thing about craftiness and wisdom to start with is to outfox the other guy.

“When you’re out here outfoxing the other guy and you wind up outfoxing yourself, well, people are going to give you the old ‘hee-haw’ and that’s just what God does.

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“Through the Cross, God kept a realm of knowledge and understanding about what He was going to accomplish through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; He kept the MEANING of those events secret.

“He didn’t keep the events secret. They’re clearly prophesied in the Old Testament. He didn’t keep secret the fact He was going to wage a war with Satan and win that war against the Adversary. It’s clearly revealed in the Old Testament scripture.

“When He revealed that secret truth and purpose in the Cross to the Apostle Paul, it was as much a shock to Satan as anyone else in all the universe. In fact, J.C. O’Hare used to say the most shocked creature in all the universe when Christ revealed the mystery to Paul was Satan because it forms the basis of all of his undoing.

“Satan reached the climax of his career of deception when he literally deceived himself at Calvary and did the very thing for God that produced his own undoing.

*****

“Now, the ‘preaching of the cross’ is about taking that hidden wisdom God bound up in the Crosswork of the Lord Jesus Christ and explaining and detailing it. In other words, expounding the fullness of the meaning of Calvary. The issue is to talk about what God has accomplished BY and THROUGH it.

“Paul says this preaching of the cross, explaining and expounding all the wonderful things God accomplished, is to them that perish foolishness but to us who are saved it is the POWER of God.

"The unsaved look at it and reason, ‘You guys are talking about some old dead Jew hanging on a cross somewhere and that’s supposed to make some difference to anybody?!’

“He wasn’t just a dead Jew hanging; He’s God who lived in human flesh and He was dying. That’s mystery enough, isn’t it?! God dying? Wow! And then what was He dying for? He was dying for your sins, but not just that, He was dying AS you. That’s you dying there. That’s you dying, identified one with Him and His death, burial and resurrection.

“All of a sudden, you get interested in that and go to studying it and people say, ‘Well, Ash Wednesday’s here; are we going to go down and get the . . .’ You say, ‘No, I’m too busy, I’ve got to study this stuff over here.’

"They say, ‘Whatcha giving up for Lent?’ You say, ‘Well, I don’t have time to worry about that right now; I’m trying to learn this stuff.' They come back with, ‘Well, what you going to wear on Easter?’

“Religion comes along and says that's foolishness; just nuts: ‘You don’t have any ceremonies? Well, what do you all do anyway?’ Not much, we just get in the Bible and go, ‘Have you ever seen this stuff over here?!’

“It’s foolishness because they don’t appreciate what it is, but to us who are saved, it’s the POWER of God.

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“Paul writes in I Corinthians 1: 22-24: [22] For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
[23] But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
[24] But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

“The ‘preaching of the cross’ is what Paul’s epistles do and that’s the explanation. The Book of Romans is the foundation book, and that’s the reason it stands at the head of Paul’s epistles.

“Romans explains the Cross doctrinally and lays out an edification process; the four basic principles of grace and the way the Cross of Christ has equipped you and me as members of the Body of Christ to live right here on Planet Earth as members of the Body for God’s glory.

"It tells us how He’s equipped us to function in every avenue and area of life on a daily basis and orient us more and more to God’s grace to us through Calvary.

“The Book of Ephesians extolls the glory of what was accomplished through the Cross, not just for us, and not just our identification with Him and His with us, but what God is going to do for Himself through the Church the Body of Christ.

“You see, first you understand how He’s made us members of the Body, and what that means in our identification with Him, and then He takes you over and says, ‘Now let me show you why I formed the Body and what I’m going to do with it and where you’re going to be out through the ages to come.’

"In Ephesians the air gets real rarified and you get all excited and it’s thrilling and, all of a sudden, your viewpoint just completely changes.”