"Somewhere,
before earth's cornerstone was placed,
a hammer
crashed in heaven—nails were driven."
Keith Patman
Crucifixion
was a political and military punishment.
The Romans
who killed Jesus used it on the lowest
classes
of society—slaves, violent criminals and the unruly.
Crucifying
an individual satisfied a lust for revenge and brought great sadistic pleasure.
It was the triumph of the state.
By displaying
the victim naked at a prominent place, crucifixion represented the uttermost
of humiliation.
Often the
victim's corpse was never buried so that wild beasts could feed on the
carcas.
The Meaning
of the Cross From Crucifixion in the Ancient World and the Folly
of the Cross by Martin Hengel
"O my Savior, make me see how dearly thou has
paid for me." Richard Crashaw (1613-1649)
"The cross is the crystallized point in history
where eternity merges with time." Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
"The death of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment
in history of the very mind and intent of God. His death was the very reason
He came." Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
"God, to
redeem us at the deepest portion of our nature—the urge to love and be
loved—must reveal His nature in an incredible and impossible way. He must
reveal it at a cross. At the cross God wrapped his heart in flesh and blood
and let it be nailed to the cross for our redemption." E. Stanley Jones
"For
God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John
3:16)
"Through his death on the cross Jesus Christ
not only readjusts a man in conscience and heart to God. He does something
grander, He imparts to him the power to do all God wants, He presences
him with divinity, the Holy Spirit, so that he is garrisoned from within,
and enabled to live without blame before God."
Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
"The world's one and only remedy is the cross."
Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
"The cross
destroyed the equation religion equals happiness." Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(1906-1945)
"God sat in silence while the sins of the world
were placed upon His Son. Was it right? No. Was it fair?
No. Was it love? Yes. In a world of injustice, God once and for all
tipped the scales in the favor of hope." Max Lucado
"God came to earth to do the one thing he could
not do in heaven. Die." Ken Gire
"For
the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness; but to
us who are saved it is the power of God . . . we preach Christ crucified,
to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who
are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18, 23-24 NAS)
"The cross represents one thing for believers—
complete, entire, absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ."
Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
"Anyone can believe that Jesus was a god: what
is so hard to credit is that He who hung upon the cross was the God." John
Neville Figgis
"God forgives sin only because of the death
of Jesus Christ." Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
"Not all the vials of judgment that have or
shall be poured out upon this wicked world, nor the flaming furnace of
a sinner's conscience, nor the irrevocable sentence pronounced against
the rebellious devils, nor the groans of the damned creatures, give such
a demonstration of God's hatred of sin, as the wrath of God let loose upon
His Son!" Puritan writer Stephen Charnock, from The Attributes of God
"The cross is the ladder to heaven." Thomas
Draxe (D. 1618)
"Starting with Adam, men have rejected God,
becom- ing occupied with serving themselves. Even as a jilted lover, God
never let go." Anonymous
"Without
the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin." (Hebrews
9:22)
"There is a place at which God and the cosmic
reality are reconciled, a place at which God and man have become one. That
and that alone is what enables man
to set his eyes upon God and the world at
the same time. This place does not lie somewhere out beyond reality in
the realm of ideas. It lies in the midst of history as a divine miracle.
It lies in Jesus Christ, the reconciler of the world." Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(1906- 1945)
"The hill of comfort is the hill of Calvary;
the house of consolation is built with the wood of the cross; the temple
of heavenly blessing is founded upon the riven rock—riven by the spear
which pierced His side.
No scene in sacred history ever gladdens the
soul
like Calvary's tragedy." Charles Spurgeon
(1834- 1892)
"O Jesus, 'despised and rejected of men,' how
couldst Thou die for men who treated Thee so ill? Herein is love amazing,
love divine, yea, love beyond degree.
We, too, have despised Thee in the days of
our unregeneracy, and even since our new birth we have set the world on
high in our hearts, and yet Thou bleedest to heal our wounds, and diest
to give us life."
Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
"Never was living beauty so enchanting as a
dying Saviour." Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
"Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to thy
cross
I cling." Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-1778)
"For
I determined not to know anything among you,save Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2)
Prayer Answered by Crosses
by John Newton
I ask'd the Lord, that I might grow
In faith, and love, and ev'ry grace,
Might more of his salvation know,
And seek more earnestly his face.
'Twas he who taught me thus to pray,
And he, I trust has answer'd pray'r;
But it has been in such a way,
As almost drove me to despair.
I hop'd that in some favour'd hour,
At once he'd answer my request:
And by his love's constraining pow'r,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.
Instead of this, he made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry pow'rs of hell
Assault my soul in ev'ry part.
