The Cross

1. The Devil wanted Jesus to Avoid the Cross
The crowd cried for Jesus to come down from the cross.
Matthew 27:40
Matthew 27:42
Mark 15:30
Mark 15:32 "Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!" Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.

The Devil and thus the world and world system didn’t want Jesus to go to the cross.
They wanted him to come down.
I believe the human side of Jesus wanted to come down also.
Listen to the heart of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22

Why would the Devil Want Jesus to avoid the Cross?
Colossians 2:13-15
13 And you who were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (your sensuality, your sinful carnal nature), [God] brought to life together with [Christ], having [freely] forgiven us all our transgressions,
14Having cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This [note with its regulations, decrees, and demands] He set aside and cleared completely out of our way by nailing it to [His] cross.
15[God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross].

2. Pilate made an Announcement on the Cross
Pilate has a sign made for the cross.
John 19:19-22 19Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews."22Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

Why did Pilate stick to his Guns?
•Pilate had revelation knowledge that Jesus was the King of the Jews!
•He didn’t have the courage to release him but he did have a knowing that this man was the King of the Jews.
•Matthew 16:18 Revelation knowledge is the rock that the church is built upon.
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

3. Who's at Fault for the Cross?
•Who’s Responsible for Putting Jesus on the Cross?
–Is the Romans leadership to blame?
–Is the Jewish religious leadership at fault?
–Are the people at fault?
–Is Judas to blame?

All these are natural components that were used to carry out the crucifixion event but the real reason Jesus went to the cross was because he wanted to pay for your sin debt so he could have a relationship with you.

His love desires a relationship and his justice demands payment for sin. The solution is the cross!
He went to the cross because of love.

4. Jesus' Adoration of the Cross
•Jesus Adored the cross because that meant he could have you!
–John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
–Romans 5:7,8 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

5. Jesus went to the Cross on his own Accord
•John 10:17-18 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

•Matthew 26:52-54 52"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"

A suffering Messiah
•The most vivid and detailed prediction about the sufferings of the Messiah is the prophecy of Isaiah, which occupies one and a half chapters of his book (the end of the 52nd and all of the 53rd). This prophecy contains such details of the sufferings of Christ, that the reader gets the impression that the prophet Isaiah wrote it at the foot of Golgotha, even though, as we know, the prophet Isaiah lived over seven centuries BC.

The “military might” of One Angel
•2 Kings 19:35 That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!

How many people could 12 legions of Angels handle?
•12 Legions X’s 6000 angels per legion = 72,000 + angels.
•72,000 x 185,000 deaths per Angel = 13,320,000,000 or 13.3 Billion

6. Jesus went to the cross because he had authority from above
•John 19:8-12 8When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9and he went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10"Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" 11Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." 12From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar."

•Pilate in an effort to save his own skin passes the buck of responsibility over to the Jewish leaders for the crucifixion of Jesus. But as we just read the authority behind the crucifixion was “from above”.

7. The Cross has a dual meaning depending on your spiritual life.
1 Corinthians 1:17,18 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 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.

•Something empties the cross of Christ of Power, it’s human wisdom or worldly wisdom.
1 Corinthians 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

2 Corinthians 1:12
Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace.

James 3
•Two Kinds of Wisdom

–13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

Humility characterizes Godly wisdom.

Same Message
•Different Interpretation
–To the perishing the cross is foolishness
–To the saved the cross is the power of God

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