1. The Cross
    1. Dictionaries & Encyclopedias (11/12/02-11/29/02)
      1. ISBE (11/12/02-11/13/02)

ISBE

Two words have been used in the Greek to translate the Latin crux. The first is stauros, indicating both cross and crucifixion. The second is skolops indicating a stake. As a symbol and a guiding principal, the cross is central to Christian religion. Historically, the cross has taken on four shapes: the shape typically seen in church symbology, the T shape known as a St. Anthony's cross, the Greek cross with upright and crossbar of equal length, and the X shaped St. Andrew's cross. It is quite likely that the cross of Christ was of the first form.

There are tales among the early Greek historians of the discovery of the actual cross of Christ by Constantine's mother. Based on these tales, holy relics said to be fragments of that cross spread throughout the Christian nations. However, a bit of research shows that these tales merely echo a similar set of stories attributing the discovery of Jesus' cross to the wife of Claudius. The truthfulness of either story is most doubtful.

The symbol of the cross has been found in many cultures, well outside the Christian realms. Egyptians used the symbol to represent eternal life. In South American cultures, it was found by the Spaniards to be prevalent, possibly representing the four elements, or the seasons, or the prime compass points.

The suffering that is found in crucifixion led to the cross becoming symbolic of distress and burden-bearing, building on Jesus' own use of the symbol. Paul used the cross to symbolize the doctrine of Atonement, to declare the unity of Jew and Gentile, the unity between believer and Christ, and to symbolize sanctification.

The cross was detested by the Jews, being an instrument reflecting the curse of Deuteronomy 21:23 - He who is hanged upon a tree is cursed of God. Thus, the idea that Jesus had redeemed us from the curse of death by such a means was unacceptable to them. (Galatians 3:13 - Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.) Unthinkable that the Messiah should be one cursed by God! The cross was no less unacceptable to Roman society, not even to be thought upon by a proper citizen.

Early modes of crucifixion consisted in impaling the victim upon both the upright and the crossbar. Israel learned of this form of punishment via both Syria and Rome. It is noteworthy that the Roman citizen was exempt from such punishment. It was reserved for slaves and deserters. Roman crucifixions followed after scourgings intended to speed the process. This was further accelerated by the requirement that the victim bear his own cross to the place of execution. [The author thinks this proof that the cross was not as heavy as many believe. I think him wrong.] Not all victims were nailed to the cross. Many were simply tied to it, and left to starve. The suffering of this form of death borders on incomprehensible. In spite of the small tablet that supported the feet, it was impossible to avoid tearing and inflammation around the wounds made by the nails. In hot climates, exposure added to the agony, both in burns and in thirst. Nerves would be burning due to lacerations around the nails (as well as the results of the scourging.) Blood would rush to head and stomach, leading to throbbing headaches. The mind would become dysfunctional, confused and anxious. Tetanus often contributed to the mix as well, and as the convulsions brought on by these combined maladies shook the body, the wounds would be torn the more, until the victim finally succumbed to exhaustion, and died. It was unusual for the process to take less than thirty six hours, although it was occasionally hastened by breaking the legs or the shoulders, making it more difficult for the victim to hold himself up. That Jesus died so quickly was clearly a surprise to the authorities, perhaps having come due to a ruptured heart.

Thoughts (11/13/02)

Such incredible pain is almost totally incomprehensible to me. It is difficult to even begin to imagine what agony Jesus must have been in as he hung upon the cross. This article has done its best to convey the physical agonies that he suffered through. Terrible. Terrifying. And yet, this only begins to describe His pain. His pain went far beyond the physical torments His body was undergoing. Added to that strain, He was suffering as well in spirit. He had willingly emptied Himself to come to this earthly life, willingly set aside so much of what He is.

Yet, for those hours on the cross, He was forced to suffer even more. For the time of His punishment upon that cross, He took upon Himself all the sinfulness of man. These trials of sin He had known as a man, but He had overcome as the Son of God. Now, He was carrying the full weight of all man's failures. Now, I believe, as He bore our sins, He was feeling the full force of all the guilt that came with those sins. Everything our hardened hearts and seared consciences had stopped feeling hit One whose compassion was great, One whose righteousness was unmarred. What we had spent years building up resistance to hit Him who had never known the need to build up such resistance. He remained holy in this life. How His spirit must have suffered to feel our sins upon Him, to feel every effect of every sin upon His spirit in one moment!

But even this was not the ultimate pain He would suffer there. Because He took upon Himself our sins, He also took upon Himself the wrath of the Father. He, who had known sweet communion with the Father since before the beginning found Himself out of communion. God is holy. He cannot look upon sin. Because all our sins had come upon His Son, He could not look upon His Son. As a righteous God, there was no place for Him to exercise favoritism. Jesus could not expect special treatment. He was forced to set aside the Father's love for Him, something He had known longer than all His life. Can you imagine what it would be like to find yourself in a courtroom, sentenced with a capitol crime, and see your own father in the judge's seat? Can you imagine the hurt that you would feel in hearing the sentence of guilt passed upon you by your own father? Can you imagine that magnified a thousand fold? Then you've begun to imagine what Jesus' spirit was going through. But, you've only begun.

Another consideration that we cannot afford to miss in looking at the agony that is death on the cross: We are called to share in that death. We are called to die to our sins in this most agonizing, humiliating, and drawn out way. God does not provide us with instant sanctification. Justification came in a moment, in the moment of Jesus' call to us. Sanctification, on the other hand, is a process. It will take time to put this flesh to death. Sin will not let go until it has expended every ounce of its energy clinging to life.

Notice something else about this. The description of those hours on the cross is a description of one desperately clinging to earthly life. In spite of the incredible agony that life represented to them, yet every possible effort was made on their part to remain in that life of agony. This also speaks to me of the nature of sin. The sinner will cling to that sin, even though it is a source of unrelenting agony. Even though he knows that his sin must surely kill him in the end, even though he knows that from this point until his death is accomplished the pain that his sin brings him can only get worse, yet he will cling to that sin with every ounce of effort that he can muster.

What can lead us to put up this kind of a fight to hold on to a life of living death? What can lead us to work so hard to remain in our agony, instead of letting go? Can it be that deep within us, just as we cannot honestly deny knowing that God exists, we cannot honestly deny knowing that what we have done will be punished? Can it be that deep inside every man is the inescapable knowledge that hell is a very real place? Can it be that, knowing our guilt before a holy God, we know our punishment will be as He has declared it to be: an eternity of dying, an eternity of agonies greater even than the agony of the cross? How else can we explain our willingness to cling so tenaciously to our pain, than to see that we know a greater pain awaits?

Thanks be to God, there is a better way! This battle we have put up, to hold on to our sins, we have put up because we have been blinded to the reality of forgiveness and grace. In that moment of justification, in that instant of Jesus' call, we are shown the way out. We are shown an alternative to the eternal punishment we know we have earned for ourselves. There will still be agony. There will still be a dying. It's going to hurt as we set aside our fleshly lusts and desires. They won't go quietly. They will tear at us, they will remain irritated wounds. It will require every bit of our strength to continue the process of their removal.

In fact, since God is working to soften the heart we so diligently hardened, to sensitize the conscience we so carefully seared, we're going to feel the pain of our sins more fully than we have in a long time. We're going to feel the hurt of sin and the hurt of sin's removal. We're going to know sorrow upon sorrow; sorrow for what we were, sorrow for what we made necessary in Jesus' suffering, sorrow for every failure we experience along the way to sanctification. Yet, in that sorrow, we will know that He is turning our sorrows into great joy, because we know that He is working on us. The very pain we feel is proof that He is working upon heart and conscience. The very pain we feel is proof that another part of us is dying on that cross with our Lord and Savior. And every painful proof we feel, is a promise that we will also share in His resurrected life, we will also share in an eternity of knowing God's presence. Every painful proof is a surety of coming glory.

This is the way of the cross: a horizontal death, that we might know a vertical life.