The Christ of the Cross

Introduction

Today we are once again faced with the paradoxical reality that we Christians worship a King whom human beings put to death. The cross is a point of sober joy, as it is for us not only a sign of our forgiveness, but also a sign of victory for the one who died on it.

The cross of Christ only brings hope if we know who the Christ of the cross is. Indeed, if it were anyone else the cross is hopeless, grotesque, and only brings to mind evil. With Christ on the cross, it is a place of hope, redemption, forgiveness, and peace.

Who is Jesus Christ: He is the God-man, the very nature of God in human flesh.

In this text we see that through the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, both God’s work of creation and of redemption are accomplished.

Who is the Christ whom we look to at the cross? Who is this man who paid for our sins with his death? How are we to understand his identity?

Christ the Very God

The Image of the Invisible God.

This statement is another way of saying that is he fully God and fully man. Through him, the fullness of who God is, his invisible image, is revealed in the incarnation of the Son.

To the Jews, it was said that God made himself known through his wisdom, which was often personified with similar language used here of Christ. That is, the invisible God could be known both through wisdom and through his Word. This communicated the glory of God seen in his covenants and in the created world. It shows God’s closeness and revealing of himself to the world, though he is invisible and unseen by human eyes.

Paul uses this language to speak of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God. That is, in the incarnation of the Word, God made man.

The question is, how can we encounter a God who is not experienced directly through our senses? The answer is through revelation: through the created world, through God’s communication with prophets, through his covenants, and now, most fully, through Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Just as God’s presence and authority were communicated to the physical creation through human image bearers, God reveals himself to us, those same image bearers, through another human image bearer who has not only the human image of God, but also gives us direct communion with a person of God himself.

Firstborn - inheritor of creation. “Firstborn” here refers to a relational position, not a chronology of creation. The ancient heresy of Arianism tried to assert that this phrase proved that the Son was a created being, and therefore was not equally God with the Father.

The Nicene Creed responds to this by describing Jesus as “   begotten from the Father before all ages,            God from God,            Light from Light,            true God from true God,       begotten, not made;       of the same essence as the Father.”

“Firstborn” in this context speaks to his position of inheriting creation. A firstborn in the ancient world, and for much of history, was entitled to the lion’s share of his Father’s estate. In Revelation 5 Jesus is identified as the only being in heaven or on earth worthy to open the scroll with seven seals. This most likely references a will, and gives us the same idea as in our text. Just as Adam and Eve were the fallen king and queen at creation, Jesus is the rightful King of all, not only as God, but through him accomplishing as a human being what had never been accomplished by humans before: perfect obedience to the Father, even unto death. Therefore, he is the rightful heir of the Father and all creation belongs to him because of the suffering of his death in obedience to the Father.

All things created through him and for him.

Paul puts these two ideas together by telling us that all things were created through him and for him. Through him, because he along with the rest of the Trinity each have their own role to play in the creation of the world. For him, because he is the firstborn of all creation and the rightful heir of the Father.

This not only includes the physical world, but the spiritual as well. “visible and invisible”. All authority among created things is his.

In these, we see Christ as preeminent. He is the rightful King of Creation and deserves to be regarded as such. It is beyond doubt that he deserves our worship.

Christ for the World

But Paul isn’t done yet. When asking, “who is the Christ of the cross?” As we saw who he is as God, we now look at who he is for the world as God in human flesh.

In him, we are told, the Fullness of God Dwells with Mankind. In his incarnation, Jesus’ human body became a Temple: a space in the created world where God’s presence is manifest.

Reconciliation and Peace through the Blood of the Cross.

Our sin separates us from God, but the blood of Christ brings peace through reconciliation. By his blood, our sins are paid for by blood sacrifice. Our evil, which results in our death, is taken away by his death so that we may come to know the life of Christ.

Christ for the Church

Delivered by God to the Kingdom of the Son.

For us to whom peace has been made, we are not only forgiven from our sins but delivered from an entire way of living, from a kingdom of darkness which brings its citizens death.

Holy and Blameless in the Hope of the Gospel.

As members of this new Kingdom, we are reconciled to God in the body of Christ given for us so that we may be made holy, blameless, and above reproach; prepared as righteous, holy people for a future sinless world.

In this, each Christian is called to strive and “continue in the faith”. To be justified the moment you first believed is only the first step, a lifetime of endurance by the power of the Spirit into holiness must follow as we are called to take up crosses of our own and follow the blameless lifestyle of Christ.

Conclusion

Christ is our God, worthy of our worship.

Christ is our peace, by his blood we are reconciled to God and given life.

Christ is our King, who brings us into the Kingdom of light and to whom we owe allegiance through growth in the Spirit of Righteousness and Holiness.

To wrap it up, in Christ we have a mighty God, compassionate Saviour, and just King of a world of joy, life, and glorious immortality.

As we remember the cross of Christ today, let us remember the Christ of the cross. Who he is is the key to the hope that the cross brings.