The Hope of the Cross

Hebrews 12:2 , “… Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy (hope) set before Him endured the cross…”

The Spirit of God continues to murmurate the idea of the three crosses on Calvary and the hope they represent. The grace of God in the simplicity of salvation through Christ is such a hope. What a paradox in that something as horrific as a slow death on a cross is also associated with the only hope of this life.

T Austin-Sparks says, “The Cross means suffering; it is the very symbol of suffering – we know that. The cross means travail and anguish – we know that. The cross means despair… But with all that, in God’s desire and God’s intention it is unto joy; it is unto sheer thankfulness; it is unto hope, a new hope; it is unto life – all the things which are exactly the opposite to what the Cross seems to say.”

I received a call yesterday from a friend in some desperate times. He is about to lose his place to stay again. He continues to earn 1/3 of what would be considered normal for him. He continues to spend most of his income on court ordered child support to an adulterous ex-wife, and I can feel his pain when he says, “sure wish God would stop this… I don’t know what I’m going to do or how much longer I can take it.”

This on the surface is sad, but spiritually an awesome place because of the cross.

I told him, “I understand, but you will know God is bringing you out of this when this no longer bothers you.” It will no longer bother him because He will know it is exactly where God wants Him; and if it is where God wants him, it will be where God is. Just as Christ knew the cross was the way to the kingdom and back to the Father. 

You see the pain of the cross is us hanging onto those things that are not God or of Him. The cross represents our total surrender, and it is completely painful when we try to remove ourselves from it. T Austin-Sparks continues in the article above with, “The Cross is not a symbol, the Cross is not an object. The Cross IS a mighty power, a perpetual power; an enaction once in history, but a power running through all the ages… now there is one thing which the Cross stands: namely, a state that is other than that which God intended.”

Jim Spivey today gave an analogy of fears in life being like a tether ball. To me, I see this same analogy as the action of the Cross in the Christians life. In God’s hand we have the peace of the un-played tether ball able to exist in not having our will, or the will of others, but standing in all circumstance against fear and pain. But then we and the world play a game with us (the ball.) We swing round and round always only going so far, and always wrapping up around the center post which is the cross. Jim wrote, “It reminded me of how a tether ball gets when it is hit hard away from the pole, only to find itself wrapping its rope around the pole in ever shrinking circles.  And that brought up an interesting thought about tether ball:  the furthest the ball can ever get from the pole is the pre-determined length of the rope, but the ball surely doesn't know that as it strives to get away, only to find itself drawn nearer and nearer to it, to the point of collapsing into it.  We are like this regarding dangers and fear in this world.  God determines the length of our rope - the maximum distance we can get from danger - but when we try to get further away than that, out of a desperate fear and frantic effort rooted in it, we literally force ourselves closer, through some mysterious law that we clearer don't understand.  Think about this:  if we relax and pay attention to our surroundings, we have a safe distance that can be maintained, based on what God’s given us (the length of our rope), but if we run from our fear of the pole, trying to gain greater distance from it, to be safe, we only draw ourselves closer and into a tightening panic loop.”

When you come to Christ, you join Him on the cross. The pain, the frustration, the hurt is all resistance to the cross, it is being without faith in the power of God to overcome. Oh you can run away, but just at the rope limits how far the tether ball can go, so too the spiritual nails limit how far we can pull against the Cross. The hope is that when we stop pulling, and start accepting and looking for the power of God in it all… this is when we see Him move. This is when the fruit of the Holy Spirit is born, and this is when the kingdom of God begins to become visible. This is not que sera sera. This is consciously choosing to accept God’s will even in going to the cross.