The Primacy of the Cross

One of the most rewarding things I get to do as a pastor is study the Bible. On Mondays I’m back in the office, getting resettled for another week, and by Tuesday I’m fully immersing myself in the text that I’ll be preaching the next Sunday. It is a glorious work. And in general, our approach to preaching is that we take a book, and preach through it section by section. That’s called sequential exposition. But from time to time, we get to a subject that grabs my attention and demands my focus, and we linger there for a bit longer.

It’s hard for me to express how studying the cross last week impacted me. I am typically engrossed in the text I’m preaching on, but last week hit me in a different way. My soul was fed, refreshed, and encouraged and my mind was intrigued to continue studying the cross. I felt like I was exploring some deep mine trying to find diamonds and I opened up a massive cavern; I discovered the motherlode. And I also felt that there was no possible way I could bring them up to the surface in an hour long sermon. So last week I decided that I would preach an additional sermon on the cross. And then I began to study it this week. And that one extra sermon turned into four. There’s so much glory in the cross; I want to keep staring at it.

It is a deepening conviction of mine that the cross is the central event of the universe. By “central,” I mean that it’s the climax, the ultimate, the intended focal point. As we study the cross, we see that it’s not an addendum to God’s redemptive story. If history is a film, the cross is not in the background; it’s not a prop. What God did through the cross is the absolute center of the universe, and thus it is at the only foundation for knowing the true God, and it is the defining event for all humanity. And because this is true, if we want to know God, we need to know God as the God of the cross. If we want to worship God, we must come to him by the cross. If we want to obey God, we must come to grips with the cross. There is no understanding of the world apart from the cross.

I wonder where the cross fits in your thinking. Do you ever give your early mornings to reflect upon the cross? Parents, do you children know the meaning of the cross, or is their Christianity essentially a list of rules? Have you, this week, thanked Jesus for the cross?

I think Paul Tripp is right when he says there’s a “gospel gap” in many of our lives. We appreciate the cross at salvation. And we’ll appreciate the cross on our deathbed. But what about the everyday moments of life in between?

Our series will start by demonstrating the centrality of the cross in the heart of God. 1) the predestined cross, 2) the predicted cross, and 3) the preached cross, and 4) the praised cross. This will be a little bit more of a Bible study, jumping around from text to text.

# 1 The Predestined Cross. What I mean by the “predestined” cross, I mean that the cross was predestined by God before the foundation of the world. Turn to 1 Peter 1:17. Peter instructs persecuted Christians how to honor the Lord in their exile. He says that we as believers are “ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.” This is standard gospel. We were slaves to sin, and the blood of Christ set us free. But look at verse 20, “He” - that is Jesus Christ who shed his blood - “was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you.” What is he saying? Why does he mention that Jesus, the lamb of God, was foreknown before the foundation of the world?

That word “foreknown” is the Greek word “proginosko,” - like “prognosis” - which simply means “known beforehand.” Why is Peter saying this? It’s not that Peter is saying that God knew Jesus before the foundation of the world. Obviously. Rather, the context suggests God foreknew that Christ would be the lamb who was slain before the world was created.

Before there was a world, before there were any people, before there were any angels, before there was any sin, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit determined that the Son would offer himself on a cross.

Revelation 13:8 is describing the first beast, and how it’s making war on the saints, and John writes, “and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of Life of the Lamb who was slain.” So before the foundation of the world, there was a book of life with names in it. And God the Father and God the Son determined that those names would be the objects of his grace, and the recipients of his cleansing blood.

There are actually many other texts. In John 17 Jesus speaks of a definitive number of people that the Father has given to the Son before the foundation of the world. We could look at Acts 2:23, when Peter is preaching his first sermon and says, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” - that is, God had predestined that the Son of God would die to redeem a people for himself.

What does this all mean? It means that the cross was in the mind and heart of God before there was a universe. The cross doesn’t exist primarily to save the creation; the creation exists to be a platform on which God can demonstrate the wonders of his cross.

God wanted to display the majesty of his perfections and share them with a people. To do that he devised a plan. He would create a physical world. He would create physical image-bearers, image-bearers who could sin, who could rebel, who could die. And then he planned to enter that world by taking on that physical nature, and in doing so become curs-able, killable. He would taste death. And he planned to take upon himself the sins of his people. And he planned to justly punish those sins in himself, arise from the dead, and gather for himself an assembly of the redeemed who could share in his glory for all eternity, and live in the wonder of his glory.

In eternity past, this was all already determined. As Adam and Eve took their first steps in this infant world, God already knew that there would be sin. He already knew that there would be failure. He already knew that he would curse the ground because of them. He already knew that he would enter the world. He already knew that he himself would bear that curse. He already knew that he would go to that cross. He already planned that he would take upon himself the sins of his people and die for them. It was all predestined.

The cross was not a back-up plan that was introduced when humanity failed. Some think that God was trying some grand experiment with human beings when he made them, like some scientist with a petri dish. And the creatures he made went awry and started destroying everything, and he had to think of some plan to put an end to the destruction, and so he entered the petri dish to get them back on the right track.

The great point of the universe is the glory of God. And the pinnacle of the glory of God is the glory of his grace. And the glory of his grace is displayed in all its magnificence at the cross.

This is why the cross persists as always relevant in every culture despite extreme resistance. Neitzche mocked Christianity for its weakness and contemptuously called Jesus “God on the cross.” Sir Alfred Ayer, Oxford philosopher, said that among all religions of historical importance, Christianity is the worst. Why? Because of the doctrine of “vicarious atonement.” And yet the cross just keeps being loved and cherished and adored. Why?

Because God made the universe as a platform to put his cross. Stott says, “perceiving the cross to be the center of history and theology, [Christians] naturally perceive it also to be the center of reality.” Yes - the cross is the center of reality. The cross is where the character of God is seen most gloriously.

Think of it: We see transcendence and immanence; we see perfect justice and perfect grace; we see glory and humility; we see majesty alongside meekness; we see wrath and mercy; we see horrors of human sin and the glories of divine grace. God created the universe with the intention of entering it; he created hills for the intention of walking on them; he created trees for the purpose of dying on one; he created iron for the purpose of fastening himself to the tree. All so that the universe would behold the wonders of the glories of grace.

# 2 The Predicted Cross It’s predicted because it was the subject of the writers of the Old Testament from the very beginning. Not only was it predestined in eternity past, the whole Old Testament is establishing a foundation for understanding the cross. And we could look at all the passages: Genesis 3:15, the offspring of the woman being crushed as he crushes the head of Satan. We could point to the Passover Lamb as a foreshadowing. We could point to the Day of Atonement, where the sins of the people would be imputed to the lamb and the lamb would die. We could point to the entire sacrificial system which taught that God is holy, the wages of sin is death, and that they needed a substitute. We could look at Isaiah 53 and learn about the suffering servant who is the sin-bearer who dies in the place of God’s people. We could look at Zechariah 9 which describes the shepherd being stricken.

Not only has God in eternity past been planning for the cross; but all of human history, and the history of Israel, God has been predicting the cross and preparing humanity for the cross.

Turn over to Luke 24. Verse 13, two men are headed to Emmaus when Jesus draws near to them, but they don’t know it’s Jesus. The two men are sad because Jesus has just died and they say in verse 21 “We had hope that he was the one to redeem Israel.” Verse 22, “Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive…” They didn’t know what to think!

But look at what Jesus says, verse 25, “And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 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.”

In other words, he’s saying, “Listen, if you would have believed the prophets, you would have known that the Christ would suffer! The whole Old Testament is pointing to it!

Look at verse 45, where he begins to talk to the disciples, “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures [Old Testament], and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.’” If they had read the Old Testament rightly, they would have understood that the Messiah would die. That was the point!

Now back to Mark 14. Jesus predicted his death in Mark 8:31, 9:9, 9:31, 10:34, 12:8. But in Mark 14, we learn how Jesus knew that he would die. It wasn’t merely that he was God and knew everything. Verse 21, speaking of his betrayal, he says, “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him.” Look at verse 27 “And Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away, for it is written, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” Jesus knew that Zechariah 9 was about him being stricken. Verse 49, just as the soldiers come to arrest him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.”

He knew that the cross before him was predicted by the Scriptures. In eternity past, God determined that he would demonstrate the wonders of his glory by becoming a man and dying on a cross. And as he inspired the prophets to write the Scriptures, the central subject of the Old Testament was the cross. It was pointing to the reality that the Divine Messiah would taste death, that he would suffer in the place of sinners, and that he would conquer death.

The writers of the Old Testament are like carpenters building a grand stage on which to place the cross of Christ. Now, what about the New Testament? I won’t spend as much time here, because much of the rest of our series will be spent meditating on this, but I want to invite you to turn to 1 Corinthians.

# 3 The Preached Cross. We saw that the cross was God’s plan before the foundation of the world. We saw that the OT was all about helping us understand the cross. And then Jesus comes, he goes to the cross, and all the gospels focus on the death of Christ. The majority of the events described in the four gospels are the last week of Christ’s life, leading to the cross.

And now, you’re in 1 Corinthians 1, and the apostle Paul is describing the heart of his ministry. The Corinthians church was divided, and he was trying to reintroduce proper priorities. Verse 17, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” In other words, Paul understood that the message of the cross was brimming with power, and that if he tried to layer it with added human wisdom, all he would do is dim its glories.

Verse 23: “but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.” Now look at chapter 2:1-2 “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech of wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

That’s it. The content of the Christian message for the world is the message of the cross. Think of it this way: How has God determined to demonstrate the wonders of his glory? The cross. What then, was the purpose of the Scriptures given to Israel? The cross. What then, is main focus of the life of Christ? His journey to the cross. What then, is the content of the Christian message? It is the cross.

Turn to 2 Corinthians 5:20. “Therefore, we are God’s ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” God has a message for the world, and he has enlisted ambassadors to proclaim his message, and when we speak God’s message, God is making an appeal to fallen humanity, he is calling out to them. “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” What is the message that God is spreading to the world through the apostle’s message? Verse 21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

That’s the cross. The message that God has for the world is the message of his cross. God makes his appeal to the world, and his appeal is the message of the cross.

The message of the church is the message of the cross. One author said it this way: “A church has no right to act like a community bulletin board down at the local grocery store, covered over with business cards, ads for apartments to rent, notices about lost pets, and other agendas that compete for people’s attention. A church exists to be a pillar that holds up the truth of Jesus so obviously that everyone can see it.”

We hold up the cross. That’s our purpose, to spread the message of the cross. God is shouting to the world: “Look at my cross! You what to know what kind of God I am? Look at the cross?”

That’s where we learn what God is like. He is righteously angry with sin, but he will take upon himself the punishment sin deserves. He will uphold justice upon the wicked, but the repentant he will grant mercy. He is holy, holy, holy, and cannot look upon evil; and he is gracious, and will provide a way for evil people to be forgiven. If you’re not a Christian, God invites you to come to him by faith, believing that his cross is the payment for your sin. Turn from your sin; repent. Trust in Jesus who died for sinners, rose again, and lives forever.

This is the message that melts the heart. One Muslim man was brought up reading the Qu’ran, saying his prayers to Allah, and trying his best to please him. When a Christian friend gave him a Bible and he discovered the cross, the word he used to describe Jesus on the cross was “Irresistible.” He said, “For me the offer was irresistible and heaven-sent…” The cross showed him that God was a loving Father, that God was kind and merciful, willing to forgive sins and grant assurance of salvation. He said, “The burden of my past life was lifted. I felt as if a huge weight…had gone. With the relief and sense of lightness came incredible joy. At last it had happened. I was free of my past. I knew that God had forgiven me, and I felt clean. I wanted to shout, and tell everybody.” That’s what the cross does. That’s what we preach.

# 4 The Praised Cross. Now it doesn’t end there. Turn to Revelation 5. We sometimes sing the song, “Is He Worthy” which is based on Revelation 5. John is having a vision, in which a scroll, which represents the title deed of the earth; the right to rule and judge - and no one is able to open the scroll - except Jesus. And because he’s worthy, all around him begin to worship him, verse 9, “And they sang a new song, saying ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,” why is he worthy? Why are they singing? Why is he the only one in the universe? Look: “for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

Down in verse 11 we meet an innumerable number of God’s creation, angels numbers in the thousands upon thousands, angels who have never had a body, who are spirit - they are in awe that God himself took on flesh, became a man, and died, ‘Worthy is the lamb who was slain!”

This is about this: these are angels rejoicing. They were never sinners. They were never redeemed. The blood of Christ didn’t get applied to them. They’re onlookers. They’re spectators. They fans in the crowd watching the hero Jesus - and when it is revealed to them that the Son of God they’ve worshiped has not only become a man, but that he died, they erupt in praises - “Can you believe it? He is the lamb who was slain!”

Heaven is filled with worship toward Jesus - not because he was born, not because he did miracles, not because he fed the hungry, not because he healed the sick, not because he taught the crowds - but because he died. That is the staggering center of the heavenly song. That is what the angels are stunned by.

But it’s not just the angels. Flip over to 7:9, there’s a multitude of people being redeemed from the tribulation. “From every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” All the redeemed from all the globe are worshiping the lamb. Why?

Verse 13: “Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Have you ever been to a huge concert? Or seen those huge European soccer stadiums swaying with the chants and songs of adoring fans? You look around and everyone is lost in wonder; they have smiles on their lips, a song on their tongue. They’re enchanted; absorbed in the glory of the moment. Imagine this in heaven - thousands upon thousands of redeemed. Africans, Asians, North Americans, South Americans, Europeans, Middle-Easterners, Jews, Gentiles - those who were rich, those who were poor, those who were popular, those who were obscure, those who were high class, those who were no class - all transfixed on one glorious thing - the Lamb - but not just the Lamb. The Lamb who was slain.

And in verse 15 it’s poetic: “Therefore” what’s the therefore there for? Because they’ve been cleansed by the blood of the lamb, because of the cross, “they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Jesus is the lamb who is worshiped for all of eternity precisely because he is the lamb who died for our sins, he is the lamb who redeemed us from our sins by the blood of his cross.

In eternity past, God devised the cross to be the display of his infinite glory. And here, in Revelation, God is glorified forever because of the cross.

In other words, the goal of the universe is not you. The goal of redemption is not you. The goal of the cross is not you. The goal of the universe, the goal of redemption, the goal of the cross is not ultimately about us. The goal is that God’s glory would be put on display. The goal is that we the redeemed would fall to our faces and say, “Why me? Praise God for mercy!” The goal is that the church would collectively say, “Look at our loving, merciful God - the God who came for us!” The goal is that the watching universe would be stunned and say, “What kind of God is this, that he would love his enemies to such a degree?” The goal of the cross is that God’s glory would be put on display for the entire universe to behold. If the universe is God’s giant canvas on which he is painting the wonders of his majesty, the blazing, riveting, eye-grabbing center is the cross.

All of eternity past was looking forward to the cross, all of eternity future will be looking back at the cross, and that means all of our lives in the present must be consumed by it.

If God so values the cross, I propose we, God’s people, should value the cross. If we see the cross as irrelevant, we are against the grain of the entire universe, the Scriptures, the gospel, and eternity. As the simple old hymn says, “I will cling to the old, rugged cross.” Let’s do that. May we learn to say with Paul, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”