on this morning when we celebrate the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we solemnly remember and when we joyfully proclaim, we're going to consider or survey the cross using 1 Corinthians 1, 18-25 as a starting point. This is the word of the living and true God beginning at 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Amen.

Well, let us open in prayer. Holy Father, we just bless Your name again that we can gather here this morning to hear from Your holy Word, Lord God. And we do pray that we would hear from it this morning. We would ask that You'd help us to take it in.

That You'd help both preacher and hearer to engage in this act of worship. Solemnly, humbly, and to the praise of Your name. And we pray, Lord God, that we would rejoice, that we would engage in solemn consideration, but that we would also rejoice in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we would see ourselves, all those who believe, as the blessed but undeserving beneficiaries of that perfect crosswork of such a Savior. And it's in His name that we pray.

Amen.

Introduction

Well, C.H. Spurgeon said of Paul Christ upon the cross working out the salvation of men was more to Him than all the sayings of the sages. We see here in 1 Corinthians 1 that it is not the sayings of the sages that serve as our foundation for wisdom, but rather it is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The foolishness, as He would call it, of God is stronger than man, or the foolishness of God is wiser than man.

And what we have in Paul disclosing this particular proclamation concerning the cross being the power of God is we have Paul setting forth the wisdom of God as being that only wisdom which exists in our lower world. We are not to seek after the sayings of stages as wise as they might seem, but we are to seek after the wisdom and the power of God that finds its completion, its fulfillment, its pinnacle in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. a Savior, that bloody spectacle upon Calvary's tree when the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ, suffered what we should have suffered for our violation of God's righteous precepts. So Spurgeon is bang on when he says that for Paul, Christ upon the cross working out the salvation of sinners was more to him than all the sayings of the sages. He might say, give me all of the works of all of the wise men, all of the scribes, all of the disputers of the age.

Give me all of their written declarations concerning philosophy. And they won't even come up close to, they won't even approach the wisdom and the majesty that is seen in Christ upon the cross working out the salvation of sinners. And that is why Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 2, at verse 2, for I determine not to know anything among you except Jesus and Him crucified.

What the Cross Is and Is Not

First off, before we get to four brief considerations concerning the cross, what does the cross mean and what does it not mean? What the cross is not, when we consider this declaration that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God. Or when we consider Paul elsewhere saying, God forbid that I should boast, saved in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's good to know what that doesn't mean. And it isn't the symbol of the cross.

It isn't just the symbol emblem of the cross, a vertical and horizontal cross beam of wood. We don't consider that as the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, as if we would follow after the madness of men and making a pilgrimage somewhere in Europe to look at a shard of what is supposed to be the crucifix of Christ in a glass chamber and bend our knee to that. No, when we read of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, what we are to consider is what Raymond calls that the cross is, or says the cross is, theological shorthand for the substitutionary sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul glories in the cross, he's not glorying in a vertical and horizontal crossbeam of wood.

He is glorying in the substitutionary sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, our Savior. And so that is what we mean by the cross. We also mean what John Gill sums up as the cross of Christ, the doctrine of salvation by a crucified Christ, or the doctrine of peace and reconciliation by the blood of His cross. And of righteousness, pardon, atonement, and satisfaction by the offering up of Himself upon it as a sacrifice for sin is here intended.

And so we're going to consider that cross under four headings this morning. First off, the cross before creation. Secondly, the cross before the cross. Thirdly, the cross of divine chronicle.

And lastly and fourthly, the cross of divine commentary.

The Cross Before Creation

So first off, and I'll explain what all of these mean, the cross before creation. The cross before creation. God in eternity past determined to send Christ to the cross to die for sinners and to rise again. Turn to Ephesians for a moment along with me.

There will be, as there often should be, navigation throughout our Bibles this morning. Ephesians. And you can turn to chapter 3 when you get there. Ephesians chapter 3.

The Apostle Paul has already given praise to God the Father for salvation by the triune God, the predestinating love of God the Father that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that Christ came in the fullness of times to redeem us according to that predestinating decree, and that the Holy Spirit applies the benefits of that saving crosswork by sealing us and serving as the guarantor of our redemption. In Ephesians 3, we see a declaration here concerning the eternal nature of God's work. the fact that it isn't the case that God's redeeming activity was something haphazard or something that just took place in the divine mind after other things had taken place or failed, but rather that the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of an eternal purpose. Ephesians 3, beginning at verse 8, To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the Church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. Two things here that I want to note.

First off, of course, regarding the cross before creation. The cross was in the divine mind as part of the eternal purpose that He had. Notice the language of verse 11. According to the eternal purpose which He accomplished.

The Lord God had an eternal purpose before the foundation of the world to send Christ Jesus to die upon the cross perfectly to save sinners and to rise again. We serve and we worship a God who is all-knowing, who is all-wise, who is sovereign, who is holy, who is majestic. He doesn't operate sometimes like we might operate in our days where we don't really know what we're going to do. Maybe it's a holiday and we wake up and oh, I'll just stumble along throughout the day and find things to do." Our great God, our holy God, orchestrates and conducts all things according to the counsel of His perfect and holy will.

And here we see that He has an eternal purpose, and also that this is an eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. So He has an eternal purpose. He had a purpose before creation. And it is focused in on or centered upon Christ Jesus our Lord.

And it's a great thing that in the context, this eternal purpose includes the church. This eternal purpose includes us as the church. That the wisdom of God, verse 10 at the end, might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. Not only was Christ Jesus and His crosswork central to the divine mind before creation as part of an eternal purpose, but the church also is included in that.

We have the blessed opportunity and the blessed job of engaging and proclaiming the riches and the wisdom of Christ to all who are around us. On the topic of the cross before creation, turn back in your Bibles to Acts 2. Though Christ was taken by lawless hands and crucified and put to death, we have something else that Peter discloses on the day of Pentecost concerning the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death." Notice there that even though we have the declaration that Christ was put to death, having been delivered or taken by lawless hands and crucified, we have the declaration of Peter at the beginning of verse 23 that Christ was delivered by the determined purpose and for knowledge of God. Again, we have a God of determined purpose. Not a God of haphazard action and reaction, but rather a God who acts according to an immutable and divine purpose. Christ was put to death being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.

God, our Sovereign God, has an eternal purpose and He accomplishes it in Christ Jesus our Lord. This eternal purpose of Christ is declared by the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. If you want to turn from Luke's second book to his first book, Luke 22. Luke 22.

Perhaps Peter, on the day of Pentecost, reverberating the words of our Sovereign Christ that He spoke to them as He gave them the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. We'll start reading in Luke 22 at verse 14. This is Jesus Christ instituting the Lord's Supper, Luke's account of this particular historical event. When the hour had come, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him.

Then he said to them, with fervent desire, I have desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Then he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. and he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of my betrayer is with me on the table." And now notice verse 22, "'And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed." This language that we have here should be apparent from the way it's stated in your New King James. And truly, the Son of Man goes as it has been determined.

The Son of Man goes as it has been decreed. The Son of Man goes as it has been eternally preordained. The crosswork of our Lord Jesus Christ was established by eternal purpose before the foundation of the earth. In 1 Peter 1, Peter uses the language that we have not been redeemed by corruptible things like silver and gold, but we have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot.

And he goes on to say that he was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last days for us. We have the fact that the cross existed before creation in the divine mind. And we need to realize that the cross, or creation rather, serves the redemptive purpose of our triune God. Creation serves God's purpose to send forth Christ on the cross to die for sinners and to rise again.

It's not an insignificant thing. The cross is not just some insignificant thing 2,000 years ago in 1st century Palestine. The unbeliever, the unregenerate might ask the believer, why do you put all of this energy and why do you focus so much on an event of such insignificance that took place 2,000 years ago in first century Palestine? What about the Himalayan mountains and the Amazon River and the Nile River?

What about the glory of things elsewhere? on this earth? What about all the course of human history? What about current world events and all those sorts of things? But the unbeliever very confidently realizes that the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is that central aspect of God's history.

That creation itself serves God's redemptive purpose. that God set in order all things. He set galaxies in their spinning and in their orbit, planets in their orbit, and created His green earth so that He would display the multitudes of His grace and of His mercies and in His love, and it would culminate in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ where the Son of His love would be crushed so that His people might give Him praise eternally. And so when we come to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to consider and own and love the fact that the cross was before creation, that God in eternity past determined to send Christ to the cross to die for sinners and to rise again.

The Cross Before the Cross

Secondly, not only do we have the cross before creation, but we have in God's revelation the cross before the cross. God in the Old Testament announced the coming cross work of Jesus Christ. when we usually, or sometimes once a year, when we consider or when we preach regarding the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, not that we're hard and fast confined to a liturgical calendar, but very often we'll preach on 1 Corinthians 15 during that time when we observe the resurrection of Christ. But in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul sets forth the fact that Christ died according to the Scriptures. and that he was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Well, these Scriptures, of course, could have only been the Old Testament, as the New Testament Scriptures were not yet in Scripture rated, at least not in their fullness.

And so we know the fact by our Bibles, by the New Testament's treatment of the old, we know that God in the Old Testament announced the coming crossword of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter writes in his first epistle in chapter 1 that he, speaking of the Spirit of God, testified concerning the sufferings of the Christ and the glories that would follow. That the Holy Spirit disclosed to the prophets in the Old Testament that the Christ would come in the fullness of times, that He would suffer, and that He would rise again the third day. Now a qualification regarding, actually as you turn to Genesis chapter 3 for a moment, but a qualification regarding this fact that God in the Old Testament disclosed the coming cross work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And by qualification I mean a wholesome one of course. We don't have from the outset of revelation, from beginning in Genesis, clear and distinct language. It does not say that in the year 33 AD, a man by the name of Christ Jesus will come. He'll be delivered up into the hands of wicked men.

He'll be crucified and He'll rise again the third day. We do have, though, God, by design and by purpose, a progressive revelation concerning the coming Christ, the coming suffering servant, the coming Messiah, the coming Lamb of God who would redeem His people from their sins and do so perfectly. One man has said, and I know you've heard the quote before, but this is with regards to the Trinity in the Old Testament, but the same language can apply with regards to the disclosure of the cross work of Christ in the Old Testament. It is like a chamber dimly lighted, that all of the ornaments and the decorations and the furniture are in that particular chamber, the disclosure of Christ in the Old Testament.

They're there. Christ upon the cross is there. But as we come to the New Testament, God's revelation in the New Testament, there is light that is opened up and applied to that chamber. And we can see with more clarity the fact that this Christ who came, who died, who rose again, who ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high was disclosed in the Old Testament scriptures.

And one example of that, we won't treat all of them, of course, because that would be a year of sermons, but Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, actually beginning at verse 14. God from the outset of creation, because again, His redemptive plan was an eternal purpose. It was in His mind prior to creation and creation serves His redeeming activity bestowed upon men, those who would be His by election and by grace. Genesis 3.15, we see as a response to the fall of man the promise of a victorious Redeemer given.

Genesis 3 beginning at verse 14. following the fall. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.

He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel." We have we have from the outset of the revelation given to us by God that this promise would be an answer to sin. Rather, it follows the fall and also that it would include a victory over the enemy of our souls, but also in the course of that, that that victor would be bruised. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel. This is the language of Matthew Henry regarding this particular verse.

A gracious promise is here made of Christ as the deliverer of fallen man from the power of Satan. Here was the dawn of the gospel day. No sooner was the wound given than the remedy was provided and revealed. This revelation of a Savior came unasked and unlooked for.

Without a revelation of mercy, giving some hope of forgiveness, the convinced sinner would sink into despair and be hardened. By faith in this promise, our first parents and the patriarchs before the flood were justified and saved." Amen. This language, here was the dawn of the gospel day. No sooner was the wound given than the remedy provided and revealed.

We have from the outset of man falling the fact that God or that God did give the promise of a coming victor and Redeemer who would save His people and be the Redeemer of His elect. Moving forward in redemptive history to Psalm 22. And this ought to be a psalm so familiar and dear to our hearts, preceding the one that followed. or preceding the one that we read this morning that follows it, of course, Psalm 23. But Psalm 22 has been called the Psalm of the Cross, and we can understand most surely why it is called that.

We, of course, won't read the entire Psalm, but one thing that we note in considering this as Christians, and maybe just a note here, it is a wholesome thing. It is a wholesome thing to approach the Old Testament Scriptures with our knowledge given our reading of the New Testament Scriptures. In other words, we don't just come to Psalm 22 and shut off our New Testament minds and try and figure out what's going on here. We have the New Testament, the divine interpretation of the New Testament applied to Psalm 22.

And in fact, we have Christ Jesus Himself upon Calvary's tree appropriating and applying this psalm to Himself. It opens up with what has been called the fourth word of our Savior from Calvary's tree, my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? That is following the introduction to the chief musician set to the deer of the dawn, a psalm of David.

But our Lord Jesus Christ, from Calvary's tree, it isn't just a coincidental thing that he uses the same language of Psalm 22, but rather he rightly and with purpose applies the first verse of Psalm 22 to himself. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And as we read through David's psalm, as we read through, we see quite clearly language concerning the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can turn to v. 15 of Psalm 22.

V. 15 of Psalm 22, My strength is dried up like a pot shirt, and my tongue clings to my jaws. You have brought me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me. The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me.

They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

The language of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ is explicit and it is inescapable. And it's a wonderful thing that as we read Psalm 22, it doesn't end with a crucified Messiah and then that's it, but rather it continues with a victorious Messiah. We see the end of this. A posterity shall serve Him.

It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation. They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born that He has done this. A thousand years approximately prior to the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have the Spirit disclosing the sufferings of the Christ and the glories that would follow. The cross before the cross in the Old Testament Scriptures.

And one other place before we move on. Surely this is in your mind as we're considering the cross in the Old Testament. Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53.

This wonderful language given to a people to whom it has already been declared that there would be a judgment coming upon them by a pagan nation. that Assyria would be coming in response to the fact that the northern kingdom had broken the precepts, broken the covenant of the living and true God. And yet, as a response to the depravity, to the madness of breaking the covenant, God would send a suffering servant, a Messiah, who would come to finally bring those promises to God's people. Isaiah 53, of course, the language should be well familiar, beginning at verse 1, though Isaiah 52, the end, would precede this. Who has believed our report?

Isaiah 53, 1. And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? for He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid as it were our faces from Him. He was despised and we did not esteem Him." And then notice this language. We're considering now the cross before the cross. A little bit later, very soon, will consider the cross of divine commentary.

Well, even before we get to Christ's coming, we see the cross and a disclosure of what it means or what's going on at the cross. What is God doing at the cross? And it begins here at verse 4. Substitutionary atonement by a coming Redeemer.

Notice verse 4. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteem Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. but He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." It's a blessed declaration approximately 700 years prior to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we ought to glory in this fact that God had it in His mind prior to creation that He would have this eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus by the suffering of the cross.

And that He would also disclose the glories, the sufferings of this Christ prior to Him coming so that there would be an anticipation built so that people, His people, and a remnant according to election could praise God and bless God for a Redeemer who would come. And by that Redeemer, those Old Testament saints were saved, justified and saved. The cross before the cross in the Old Testament Scriptures. There are other texts that we could go to.

You could look at Daniel 9, 25-27. Zechariah 12, 9-10. But

The Cross of Divine Chronicle

we're going to move on now to the cross of Divine Chronicle. The cross of divine chronicle. Chronicle simply means a record of events. And when we come to the New Testament scriptures, you can turn to Luke chapter one.

When we come to the New Testament, we find that we've now arrived at the cross of divine disclosure, divine chronicle, divine narrative. It was the case that God had an eternal purpose in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world to save and elect people perfectly to the praise of His name. Throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, it was God working out this plan of salvation. prophesying of and declaring, revealing the fact that a coming Savior would come upon the scenes in the fullness of times to redeem His people. And then we get to the New Testament and we see that time had come upon this particular people, that the fullness of the times had come and that God had sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under it.

Now, first off, under the cross of Divine Chronicle,

Certainty of the Gospel Narrative

notice the certainty of the events. Luke 1, beginning at verse 1. The certainty of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

You see, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the story of His incarnation, which was something that came to serve the cross, the redeeming activity of God the Son. But we have the fact that from the incarnation to ascension, not only there, but all of God's revealed Word, but from the incarnation to the ascension, we're not looking at myth. We're not looking at an intermingling of history and myth. But we're looking at the perfect and certain history of God-disclosed narrative concerning the coming Christ that was promised.

The Word is infallible. The Word is inerrant. The Word is God-inspired. It is given by God.

God-breathed for doctrine, for instruction, for all things wholesome and proper. And we have here the fact that Luke uses the language of certainty, of perfect understanding. Verse 4, He's writing these things that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. And one of those things, of course, the central thing declared, disclosed, is the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection for the salvation of sinners.

Moving forward in Luke, you can turn to Luke 2 and verse 11. Secondly, under the heading of the cross of Divine Chronicle, after the certainty of the events,

The Central Aspect: A Saviour Born

we have the central aspect of the chronicled Christ. The central aspect of this historical and certain narrative given concerning this Christ and His coming cross work. Luke 2 and verse 11. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord." This One born to them at this particular time, this One born to them in the fullness of times, is born in the city of David and He is a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men." Spurgeon has a wonderful sermon on this if you ever want to look up a sermon to read. His sermon on Luke 2, verse 14.

What he calls the first hymn of the Incarnation. Actually, I think he calls it the first Christmas carol. but I tend to paraphrase him and say the first hymn of the Incarnation. But nevertheless, he has a wonderful portion of his preaching where he's talking about the angels and how their praises have built throughout redemptive history. That following their creation, they gave praise to the God.

That all the morning stars shouted with glory. That all the angels sang praises to God for His creation, for His sovereign act of making all things, or bringing all things to bear in creation by the Word of His power in the space of six days, and all very good. And that how throughout creation their crescendo built, or their praises and their glories given to God in the highest built, and it found its pinnacle when Christ Jesus came to redeem His elect. that their praises throughout history were raising and raising. And then at this time in Luke 2.14, where they sing, the angel and a multitude of heavenly hosts sing, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace. goodwill toward men.

It was the first hymn of the Incarnation. It was the first hymn also concerning the redeeming activity of God in time and history. They were singing, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Not for national peace and for countries not to be at war with one another, but singing concerning the fact that Christ Jesus is our peace.

That Christ Jesus in time and history came to bring peace between God and men. It's what Paul writes in Ephesians 2, verse 16, that He Himself is our peace. Or, excuse me, Ephesians 2, verse 14. He Himself is our peace.

Or when he makes that declaration in Romans that therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The peace and good will is speaking concerning the peace that Christ brings by His perfect saving cross work.

Christ Announces His Saving Mission

Also, the cross as fulfillment of this salvific mission announced. Under the cross of Divine Chronicle, if you turn to Luke 18, verse 31, we have the fact that Christ Jesus Himself announces this saving mission and speaks concerning the coming cross. Luke 18, beginning at verse 31. Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.

For he will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge him and kill him, and the third day he will rise again. You see this. Christ Jesus knew that He was sent in order to bring to fulfillment His Father's will and His Father's eternal purpose.

He'll say later on, as we already read, the Son of Man goes as it has been eternally preordained. The Lord Jesus Christ wasn't taken by surprise when He was arrested after praying in the garden. Why? Because we know before that, not only do we know from what the scriptures have already disclosed, but he was crying out to his father on his hands and his knees, Father, if it is possible, take this cup from me.

That cup of wrath that Robert Raymond was speaking of in his quote. If it is possible, take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. He was resigned to the fact that He was given by eternal purpose this mission to save a people to the praise of His name.

And so He discloses that fact as He is marching upon that road to the cross. Also in Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21 at verse 22. Luke chapter 21 verse 22, For these are the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled." He's tying, of course, there into not only his death, his resurrection, and his ascension, but the fact of the coming judgment upon apostate Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

Also in Luke 22 and verse 37. And then we'll move on. Luke 22, verse 37. For I say to you, actually backing up to verse 36, then he said to them, but now he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack. and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.

For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in me, and he was numbered with the transgressors. For the things concerning me have an end." You see here, not only is there a determined purpose, an eternal purpose in Christ that would come to an end, but we see here also the Lord Jesus Christ applying Isaiah 53 to His cross work. and He was numbered with the transgressors. Isaiah disclosed that and wrote that 700 years prior to the crucified Christ. A little bit more than that.

But 700 years approximately prior to Christ's cross work. And Christ, at the time of fulfillment, discloses that to His disciples. And He was numbered with the transgressors. And again, these things concerning Him have an end.

There was an eternal purpose that God accomplished in Christ Jesus. And He accomplished that in time and in history. And

The Cross of Divine Commentary

what is then, fourthly, the cross of divine commentary? What is the cross of divine commentary? Well, we have in the New Testament epistles the language of divine interpretation of what the cross means, what it was and what it did. You can turn to Colossians 1 for a moment.

Actually, first, Galatians. Galatians 3.

Substitutionary Atonement

We note first off that it is a substitutionary word. And what substitutionary means is that Christ served as a substitute. And as it pertains to His redeeming activity, it means that instead of us, Christ received the wrath of God, the fury and the wrath of God against sin. It should have been us, because we were the ones, not Christ, who violated the righteous precepts of a holy lawgiver, that we should have received breach upon breach in our flesh for having breached His law, breach upon breach.

We should have been put to death and damned eternally for our transgressions, for violating God's law, but Christ came in the fullness of the time as a substitute to do that for us. Galatians 3, verse 13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. It's a wonderful language.

And never let go of that grip upon substitutionary atonement. because that is our blessed hope. That is what we rest upon. I know the blessed hope is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if I can borrow that language concerning blood atonement, concerning Christ's redeeming activity, substitutionary atonement is a non-negotiable.

Christ Jesus came in the fullness of the times and He has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us instead of us, in our stead, on our behalf. blessed language of substitution that Paul would also take up in 2 Corinthians 5.21, for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ, when it's spoken of concerning His work, that it was for us, that is that it was substitutionary instead of us, on our behalf, instead of all those whom the Father had given to Him." So, Christ's crosswork is substitutionary. It is a sacrifice. Turn with me to Hebrews 9.

We said at the outset that the cross is not to be seen as a vertical and horizontal crossbeam of wood, but as theological shorthand for the sacrificial substitutionary work of Christ. It is a substitutionary work. We looked at that. It is a sacrificial work.

Hebrews 9 at verse 26. Hebrews 9 and verse 26. We'll back up though to verse 23. Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Not that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood of another, He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once, at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. It's a wonderful language.

Christ Jesus not only served as a substitutionary cross-bearer, but also as a sacrifice, a divine offering to satisfy divine justice. It should have been again the case that we were those who were the recipients of divine justice, but rather Christ came in the fullness of time as a sacrificial offering to God, once at the end of the ages, to put away sin by that offering, by that sacrifice of Himself. It's a substitutionary work. It's a sacrifice.

Not only is it the putting away of sin, but it is characterized by finality. Just a bit to the right, Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, beginning at verse 11, And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.

There is finality to the saving, sacrificial, substitutionary work of Christ. This man, speaking of Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God." And also verse 26. But if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. I wrote down verse 26, but it would seem that I wrote it down Wrongly.

And I apologize, though that is God-breathed Scripture and it's good to read. The point, though, being is that there is finality brought by the sacrificial work of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we come to celebrate, when we come to engage in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper in just a few minutes, we are remembering and we are proclaiming the death of our Lord Jesus Christ that is characterized by finality. It is not the case that we engage in the abomination of the Roman Catholic Church. in daily offering up the same sacrifice, an unbloody one, for the remission of sins.

But rather, we are remembering, we are proclaiming that once for all death of our Lord Jesus Christ upon Calvary's tree that is forever efficacious, that is forever powerful, that forever has removed the guilt of sin, the power of sin, and the reign of sin for all those who believe in Him. There is finality in the cross work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And finally, before we close and we pray, Colossians 1.

The Cross Brings Peace

The crosswork of our Lord Jesus Christ. The divine commentary upon it. We see that His crosswork brings peace. It was announced at His incarnation, glory to God in the highest, peace on earth.

It's declared after His ascension, Christ is our peace, for He Himself is our peace. And here we see, of course, that there is an intimate connection, a necessary connection to His cross work. Verse 19 of Colossians chapter 1, For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross." See, that was the only way. That was the way, the eternal purpose way that God determined that Christ would bring peace, or that peace would be brought between God and between men. that Christ made peace through the blood of His cross.

We have peace with our great God by virtue of the fact that Christ Jesus died a bloody spectacle upon Calvary's tree for us. It was a work that was substitutionary. It was an offering, a sacrifice to God that satisfied divine justice. And it was something that brought peace between God and man.

All those who believe in Him.

Application: Always the Cross

And just two things before we close. The central aspect of the Christian's proclamation is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid that we should boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul, as he declared throughout his ministry, we preach Christ crucified.

This was a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, but for those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God. It is the wisdom of God. And let us always have the cross before us. Let us always be near the cross, because that is the central aspect of Christianity, the cross work. as Raymond said, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God's Alpha and Omega, stands at the beginning, the center, and the end of God's eternal will and all His ways and works.

It is sacred ground. It is the Church's Holy of Holies. And if you're here today and you do not know this Christ, if you're here today and you know nothing of the cross or it is foolishness to you, it's a scandal, how could I believe in a crucified Messiah? How can I believe in antiquated prophecies fulfilled by apparent narrative and by the works of men.

You need to understand that this was, the cross was, something in the mind of God before the world began. That God had an eternal purpose and He accomplished it in Christ Jesus. that throughout the history of human existence, God had been working a trajectory unto Christ Jesus upon the cross, working out the salvation of sinners, that He came in time and history. It's given to us in certain narratives. And that God commented on that, saying that it was a sacrifice, that it was a work of substitution, that it is the only thing by which peace is brought between God and man.

And this is the only way. Christ is the only way that you can be saved. Christ is the only way to heaven. For there is no other name given among men under heaven by which you might be saved.

And it's always been the Christian's plea. If you're here today and you don't know Him, to believe in Him unto the saving of your souls. Because in Him is peace. In Him is divine justice satisfied.

In Him is perfect redemption. And all those who believe in Him will not be disappointed, but will enter into eternal life singing the praises of such a Savior. And so we plead with you, rest upon Him. Rest upon Him for eternal life.

Closing Prayer

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You so much for Your disclosure concerning the cross in Holy Scripture. We thank You, Lord God, that You are a God of eternal purpose, You have a determined knowledge and a foreknowledge and purpose in Christ Jesus that You did send Him in the fullness of time to redeem. But even prior to that, Lord God, You disclosed and promised the coming Christ that people before He came might have comfort in that coming Redeemer.

We thank You, Lord God, that You have given to us a disclosure of what the cross means. We praise You for substitutionary atonement. We thank You that we do not have to undergo Your fury and Your wrath because Christ Jesus underwent that at the cross on our behalf. He cried that cry of dereliction.

My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? And by virtue of that declaration and what it means, we never have to cry that cry. And we just bless Your name for His sacrificial work, a work that brings perfect redemption, perfect salvation and perfect peace. And we just pray, Lord God, that we would conduct our lives in a manner worthy of all that we know concerning the Gospel, concerning what You've disclosed in the cross.

Help us to daily live our lives in light of the perfect redeeming activity of Christ in light of the fact that we were once sinners, but now saved by grace, and in the light of such a gracious, loving, and merciful God, who has caused us to be partakers of this wonderful gift of eternal life. We just ask that you be with us now as we consider the Lord's Supper, as we partake of the bread and of the wine, that you'd help us, Lord God, to approach it solemnly, although with great joy in the death and in the resurrection of Christ Jesus our Lord. And we pray in His most precious name. Amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 3:14-15
• Psalm 22:1; 22:15
• Isaiah 53:1; 53:4
• Daniel 9:25-27
• Zechariah 12:9-10
• Luke 1:1; 1:4; 2:11; 2:14; 18:31; 21:22; 22:14; 22:22; 22:36-37
• Acts 2:23
• Romans 5:1
• 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 2:2; 15
• 2 Corinthians 5:21
• Galatians 3:13
• Ephesians 2:14; 2:16; 3:8; 3:10-11
• Colossians 1:19-20
• Hebrews 9:23; 9:26; 10:11; 10:26
• 1 Peter 1