Bulletin Articles
Boasting in the Cross
Paul said it: “But far be it from me that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14).
That’s a statement that really captures the heart of what it means to be a Christian. We have nothing in ourselves about which we can boast. We are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is God’s gift (Eph 2:8-10). Central to God’s grace is the sending of Jesus to die for our sins. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace…” (Eph 1:7).
The cross is such a central part of the Bible that we can hardly forget about it if we are reading the Scriptures at all. Though the events of the cross are found within the pages of our New Testament (gospels), the cross is still a vital and central part of the Old Testament. How so? Because in the Old Testament we find the cross:
Planned: from the time sin entered the world, God was putting the plan of salvation into effect. This plan was surrounding the cross, and even though “cross” is not explicitly mentioned, we can see how God worked this plan out from the beginning (see Gen 3:15; 12:1-3). Further, this plan was not an afterthought; this plan was THE plan all along. We are saved by the precious blood of Jesus, and He was “foreknown before the foundation of the world” (1 Pet 1:19-20). God was not caught by surprise and then quickly came up with a fix. The cross was planned and carried out according to God’s wisdom and knowledge: “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23).
Foreshadowed and Pictured: The cross is foreshadowed through a number of events. These events serve as types of pictures of what was coming in the cross. For example, the sacrifice of Isaac is like a pre-snapshot of Jesus. The Passover lamb (and all the sacrifices for that matter) picture Jesus as our great sacrifice. Indeed the entire Old Testament is like a giant picture that points to Jesus and His salvific work.
John the immerser was already preparing the path for Jesus, and when he saw Jesus he was able to make the connection: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Paul, writing to the Corinthians, uses a similar concept: “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7). Jesus is the bread from heaven (John 6). He is the Light of the world (John 1). The Scriptures pointed to Him, and students of Scripture were expected to see it: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39).
Prophesied: While there are many individual prophecies that are fulfilled in Jesus, the entire Old Testament itself is fulfilled in Jesus. That is, Jesus is prophesied about right from the beginning through the end of the Old Testament. Speaking to the ones he appeared to on the road to Emmaus, He said, “‘Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:26-27). Jesus said that “everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44).
Boasting in the cross, then, is not about anything great that we have done. Rather, it is a recognition of what the Lord has done for us in giving Himself up for our sins. The cross is central to everything we can read and know in the Bible. It was no afterthought of God that brought Jesus to the point of death. It was the plan all along. Boasting in the cross means accepting this fact. It means accepting that plan for our own lives as well. It means understanding the benefits of the shed blood of our Savior.
The New Testament, of course, is all about the cross of Jesus. This is not about the physical wood that made up the cross, but rather what the cross stands for. Paul wrote, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). Clinging to the “old rugged cross” means clinging to the salvation brought about through the death of Jesus. It means we are redeemed, forgiven, reconciled with God, and fitted for eternal life with Him. Is anything on this earth or in your life more important than what God has done for you through Jesus?
