Mediations on the Cross on Good Friday
Patrick Edwards
Acts 26:18
Introduction: As we gather here this Good Friday evening in the dark, reflecting upon and contemplating this scene of death, this display of the wrath of an almighty, holy God against evil, I think it's only human to ask how it is that we can refer to the cross as the victory of God. Right? I mean just in this last song and in our responsive reading we've declared that Jesus' death was not defeat but triumph. For note, we're talking phrasing the cross as a victory because Jesus would rise from the dead; the empty tomb doesn't make the cross victorious. Rather the empty tomb signals that the cross was victorious. The cross itself is the triumph of Christ.
Seems kind of silly, right? A little illogical, maybe? It just doesn't register with human reason; the cross doesn't look like victory. That's why Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians describes the cross as ''folly'' to the world, (1 Corinthians 1:18). Putting all one's hopes in it seems like foolishness. 'These Christians must be delusional and crazy,' the world concludes. But, through the eyes of God, through the lens of His revelation to us, we see the cross not as folly but as the very power of God, as His victory.
Near the end of the book of Acts, Paul stands before a king to give a defense of the message of the Gospel which he has been proclaiming. And he appeals to his own testimony, to how he came to faith in Jesus, to illustrate just who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. Paul explains to this king and his court exactly what the cross of Christ has done, and it's in these brief words that we see exactly how through the cross Jesus has triumphed.
In Acts 26:18, we read, ''... to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me,'' (Acts 26:18). Paul shows us, thus, four thin ...
Patrick Edwards
Acts 26:18
Introduction: As we gather here this Good Friday evening in the dark, reflecting upon and contemplating this scene of death, this display of the wrath of an almighty, holy God against evil, I think it's only human to ask how it is that we can refer to the cross as the victory of God. Right? I mean just in this last song and in our responsive reading we've declared that Jesus' death was not defeat but triumph. For note, we're talking phrasing the cross as a victory because Jesus would rise from the dead; the empty tomb doesn't make the cross victorious. Rather the empty tomb signals that the cross was victorious. The cross itself is the triumph of Christ.
Seems kind of silly, right? A little illogical, maybe? It just doesn't register with human reason; the cross doesn't look like victory. That's why Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians describes the cross as ''folly'' to the world, (1 Corinthians 1:18). Putting all one's hopes in it seems like foolishness. 'These Christians must be delusional and crazy,' the world concludes. But, through the eyes of God, through the lens of His revelation to us, we see the cross not as folly but as the very power of God, as His victory.
Near the end of the book of Acts, Paul stands before a king to give a defense of the message of the Gospel which he has been proclaiming. And he appeals to his own testimony, to how he came to faith in Jesus, to illustrate just who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. Paul explains to this king and his court exactly what the cross of Christ has done, and it's in these brief words that we see exactly how through the cross Jesus has triumphed.
In Acts 26:18, we read, ''... to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me,'' (Acts 26:18). Paul shows us, thus, four thin ...
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