certainly would be doomed. It is the buttress, the cornerstone of our com mon belief. Biographically, the Gos pels devote a large portion of their narrative to the events connected with the cross. Think of our Lord’s discourses on the subject in addition to incidents which occurred during the last week of His life. Christ was made sin for you and me that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. As we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we are reminded again of His grace and love. It sym bolizes His broken body and shed blood. Historically, the apostles made the cross the central theme of their tre mendous message. Doctrinally, the writers of the epistles as well as the book of Revelation placed the cross of Calvary in the very center of their teaching. Without the cross there could be no salvation for men. The incarnation of God through Christ, stopping short of the cross, would have missed the point altogether. The Saviour endured the cross, de spising the shame. The New Testa ment and Jesus Christ Himself are simply unintelligible unless He died, “the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God.’’ A nurse was disturbed at night by the ringing of the bell at her bed side. This signified that some poor patient was in need of her services. She would repeat again for her own remembrance, “The Master is come and calleth for thee.” As a result, her ministry was a tremendous testi mony, for her faith was firmly root ed and grounded in the cross. Some years ago, Dr. Pettingill told the story of an event in 1919 in the North Dakota country. A rural school was dismissed early because of a great blizzard. A young girl started for home with her two smaller broth ers in a buggy. The vehicle was turned over by the wind and the storm. Knowing that it was useless to walk, she prepared shelter under
the upset cart and wrapped the two smaller children in blankets. Finally, in the dead of night, she got up and spread her own overcoat and herself over the bodies of the other two. When rescued the next day, the two healthy boys were found, safe and sound, but unconscious of the fact that their sister, in protecting them, had herself been frozen to death. Even so, self-giving is the formula of the cross. Here, Jesus Christ, who was God, gave Himself for you and me. As we put our personal faith and trust in Him, we are given ever lasting life. The cross is at once our defense and our discipline. It is our defense against sin, to save us from its guilt and power. It is our discipline to teach us how to bow our head and to lift our load, gaining the courage of Jesus Christ. Let us not serve mammon, but let us serve the Lord. No man has ever contemplated the cross, absorbing life from the power of it, without knowing it was more than he could ever fully and com pletely understand. Yes, the cross of Calvary is God’s tremendous work on behalf of lost men and women. P art II A s THE CENTRAL theme of the Bible, there is no more impor tant theme than the cross of Cal vary. Paul said this was the only area in which he would glory. Throughout the centuries, the won der of this truth has cast its spell over the souls of men and women around the world. To those Chris tians of the first century the cross spoke of the deepest shame. It was the worst that earth could mete out to a bruised and weary human being. To the Jews, Christ crucified was a scandal. To the heathen Greeks, it was utter devastating folly. Yet there was triumph for believers for they were rooted in the meaning of the Saviour’s death. 19
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