The Crux

 

Photo by AntonO 2014

Patterns of three in Scripture reflect God’s Triune nature, as exemplified in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It surprised me, however, to discover that the root word for crucifixion, namely “crux,” from the Latin word for cross or torture, also has three definitions.

According to Merriam-Webster, these are:

        1. A puzzling or difficult problem:  an unsolved question

2.   An essential point requiring resolution or resolving an outcome 
3.   A main or central feature (as of an argument).
 

How appropriate these three definitions are when we consider the role of the cross in Christianity!  The paradox of the cross is in fact one of the most puzzling or difficult problems of all time. How could God lower Himself to leave Heaven’s throne, wrap Himself in human flesh (John 1:2), and subject Himself (Luke 9:51) to the cruelest punishment man has ever devised?

Why would He come to earth not to be revered as King of Kings, obeyed as Lord of Lords (1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14; 19:16), and worshipped as our Holy High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-15), but to be despised, betrayed, and rejected? (Isaiah 53:3)

Why would Holy God the Son, Who knew no sin, take on all of mankind’s sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), allowing Himself momentarily to be separated from God the Father (Mark 15:33-34) to pay our sin debt in full (Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2; 4:10) while we were still His enemies? (Romans 5:10)

Which brings us to the second definition: the cross is the essential point demanding resolution. How each of us responds to the puzzling problem of the cross determines our relationship to God, the resolution of our sin problem, and our eternal destiny.

We can deny the importance of what Christ did for us on the cross, trusting wrongly in our good deeds to outweigh our sin and to earn our way to Heaven (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:8-9). We can ignore the cross, but sadly, ignorance is not bliss, and a wrong belief system does not free anyone from the consequences of the truth. Those who deny or ignore the cross are condemned to the same fate – eternal punishment in hell (John 3:18).

Only by trusting in Christ’s completed work on the cross (John 19:30; Hebrews 10:10-14) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6) can we receive eternal life (John 3:16, 5:24). Faith in this changes us from God’s enemies to God’s children (Romans 8:16); from guilty to forgiven (Ephesians 1:7; 4:32; Acts 13:38; 26:18); and from condemned to eternal death in hell to redeemed to eternal life with Christ in Heaven (Romans 8:1; Galatians 3:13; Revelation 5:9).

Therefore, the cross is the main or central feature of Christian doctrine – the first and essential condition of the triad of His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). This is the heart of the Gospel, or Good News. Without believing it in our heart we cannot be saved from the penalty of our sin (Romans 10:9), born again (John 3:3-8) into the family of God, and destined for eternity with Christ and our loved ones in Him.

On Calvary’s hill that fateful day were three crosses: that of Jesus between those of two thieves (Matthew.27:38; Luke 23:33). These three represent the entire relationship of God with man: Jesus Christ the Savior; those who accept Him and His completed work on the cross; and those who reject Him (Luke 23:39-43).

The thief who recognized Christ as Lord was promised that he would be in Paradise with Jesus that very day, but the unrepentant thief who angrily denied His power is still suffering in hell. Sadly, many indifferent passersby in the crowd were jaded by the crucifixions that were commonplace in that time, and ignored the suffering of our Lord on the cross (Matthew 27:40). Unless they came to believe in Him later, like the centurion and others who experienced the earthquake after His death and then realized that He was the Son of God (Matthew 27:54), they too would be condemned.

On the cross, Christ tasted death for us (Hebrews 2:9) so that we would not need to face that consequence of our sin (Romans 6:23). He paid in full the debt He did not owe and that we could not pay, to reconcile sinful man to Holy God (Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20; Ephesians 2:16; Colossians 1:20-21; Hebrews 2:17).

The cross bridged the great gulf between our sin and God’s perfection, purity and holiness. From before the foundation of the world, Triune God knew that Adam would disobey, bringing the curse of sin, separation from God, and eternal death upon all mankind (Genesis 3). But God had an amazing plan of salvation (Hebrews 4:3; 9:26; 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8).

The Son would become flesh (John 1:2), suffer and die on the cross to pay our sin debt, and rise again to prove His divinity and give eternal life to all who trust Him. He laid down His life willingly so that He could take it up again (John 10:15,17; 15:13; 1 John 3:16), giving us victory (1 Corinthians 15:54-57) over Satan, sin and death!

Because of the cross, Christ’s followers have the blessed hope of eternal life and of His glorious reappearing (Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 1:3). One day we will have glorified bodies like His (1 Corinthians 15:49-54) that will never die, sin, or experience the corruption of pain, sickness or aging!

If you haven’t already, I implore you to consider the puzzling problem of Christ’s cross, to resolve once and for all in your mind and heart what He did for you there, and to make it the crux of your daily life, your relationship to God, and your eternal destiny!   May we all take up His cross and follow Him!  

© 2016 Laurie Collett
Reposted from the archives

The Just Ruler Has Wisdom, Empathy, and Discernment

 

King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived (1 Kings 3:7-14; 4.29-32) epitomized the wise ruler who serves his family, people, and Lord. In addition to being king, and overseer of the Lord’s house who built His temple, Solomon also had to be judge over his people, deciding various disputes.

Scripture shows us one of his just decisions (1 Kings 3:16-28), demonstrating his wisdom, empathy, and discernment. Wisdom indicates not only book knowledge, but an emotional response to that knowledge leading to proper action.  There are three characters described in the courtroom scene : Solomon as judge, a harlot as plaintiff, and a second harlot as defendant.

The first harlot to plead her case says that she lives in the same house with the second harlot, that she recently gave birth to a son, and that the second harlot also gave birth to a son three days later. She accuses the second woman of rolling over on top of her newborn so that the infant died, taking the plaintiff’s live infant, and placing her own dead baby in the plaintiff’s arms while she was asleep. 

Essentially, she claims the defendant is guilty of negligence, kidnapping, and deception. She says she realized what had happened when she tried to nurse the child, found that he was dead, and did not recognize him as the son she had delivered.  But the defendant not only denies these charges, but says that the reverse is true, implying that the first woman is the one who is guilty of these three crimes.

The first harlot says that the living child is her son; the second harlot argues that the living child is instead her son; and Solomon summarizes the case by repeating that they each claim to be the mother of the surviving infant. What is Solomon to do with this classic case of “she said, she said?”

Knowledge of the facts is of limited help in this case, for there were no witnesses, no evidence (presumably the women were not of different race or distinguishing features that would indicate one to be the biological mother of the living child, and this was way before the days of DNA testing!), and contradictory testimony. Instead, Solomon must rely on discernment, accurately judging the character, veracity, and motivation of each woman. To do this, he must use empathy, placing himself in the sandals of the true mother, and how she would react to protect her child.

So he performs an acid test, seemingly resorting to extreme measures. He commands that a sword be given him and threatens to cut the child in two, to give half to each woman. In so doing he discerned the true motivation of each woman, for the biological mother would not allow her child to be harmed, as his welfare was far more important than her desire to raise him. But the other woman, motivated by grief for her dead son, envy of the woman whose child survived, and bitterness against the whole situation, was willing to have the child slain rather than let the true mother have him.

The true mother, whose emotions yearned to save her son, begged Solomon not to kill the infant, but to give him to the lying woman. In contrast, the liar said “Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.” (v. 26). Solomon rightfully discerned that the woman who begged to save the child’s life was his true mother, commanded that the child not be harmed, and ordered that she be given the living child.

Interestingly, Scripture does not reveal whether it was the plaintiff or the defendant who was the true mother, perhaps because how or if we go about seeking conflict resolution is less important than the truth of the situation and our heart regarding it. In response to Solomon’s wise decision, Israel spread the news throughout the nation, realized that God had granted him true wisdom, and feared his judgment.

Solomon is therefore not only a wise ruler, but a just judge, and as we see in other chapters, the architect of God’s house. In some ways this foreshadows Jesus Christ’s multiple roles as King of Kings (Revelation 17:14; 19:16) and Righteous Judge (Psalm 9:8; 58:11; 67:4) in His second coming, and Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14) Who sits at the right hand of God the Father (Mark 16:19; Luke 22:69).

As Solomon built God’s temple according to His instructions (1 Kings 5), even now Jesus is designing mansions in His Father’s house (John 14:2) for each of His children! Unlike Solomon, however, who was subject to the curse of sin common to every man since Adam’s fall (Genesis 3:17-19), Jesus is without sin, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent!

Praise God that all who have trusted in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6) need not fear His second coming as King and Judge, for the Priest is also the Perfect Sacrifice (Hebrews 9:9-14) Who has reconciled sinful man (2 Corinthians 5:18) and Holy God! In the meantime, may we be blessed with His wisdom, knowledge and understanding! (Proverbs 2:6; 9:10; Isaiah 11:2)

© 2016 Laurie Collett

Edited and reposted from the archives

In the Beginning: The Word

 

 

Photo by Esther Monzo-Nebot 2021

No matter how often I read through the Bible, I always find myself especially drawn to the opening verse of the Book of John:

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Greek for “Word” is “logos,” meaning the Word of God, or principle of divine reason and creative order. In John’s Gospel, the Word is Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, incarnate. We know that Jesus is the Word, for that is revealed as His Name when He appears in Revelation 19:13 as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In simplest terms, Jesus Christ was present since before the beginning of time, in the company of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and He Himself is equally God.

To me, John 1:1 is the most deeply profound sentence ever written. It refers to our Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, and also to His spoken word communicated through the Bible. It is reminiscent of the very first verse in the Bible:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

These two verses together identify the Word as being God Who created everything (Psalm 90:2). God is eternal, self-existent, not created, present in eternity past since before the beginning of time. The Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:1 is Elohim, which is a plural noun referring to the Trinity. From John 1:1, we know that Jesus, God the Son, was present in the beginning, with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. The Word was God, because Jesus the Son is equally God with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

It is fascinating to consider why Jesus Christ is called the Word. In the beginning of creation, “God said, Let there be light: and there was light (Genesis 1:3). “God said” repeats throughout the account of creation of heaven, earth, and all its inhabitants. God, Jesus Christ the Word, spoke everything into existence.

As we are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), the spoken word is also of crucial importance to our existence. Thought involves words. What we think governs our speech, and what we say determines our actions and their outcomes.

God has in these last days spoken to us through His Word, and has directed us to hear Him, as God the Father’s voice commanded during the Transfiguration of His Son (Matthew 17:5). Jesus is the Word speaking from God the Father to us, first through the prophets (Hebrews 1:1), then through Himself during His earthly ministry (Hebrews 1:2), and now through His written Word. Jesus Christ the Word also speaks to God the Father for us as He sits at His right hand, interceding for us in prayer (Hebrews 1:3; Romans 8:34).

The very instructions for each of our lives, and the instructions from which God will create our heavenly bodies, are composed of words. King David referred poetically to the directions for how our body parts are formed being recorded in God’s book long before we are even born (Psalm 139:16).

Millennia after this was written, scientists discovered that our genetic code is composed of 4 “letters,” or base pairs in our DNA, making up “words,” or genes, on our chromosomes, that control all our biological characteristics.

Words are not only essential for thought, communication with God through prayer, and even our very biology, but also for our salvation. Being saved requires hearing or reading the words of the Gospel (Romans 10:14), then calling on the Name of the Lord (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13) and confessing that He is God and rose from the dead:

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Once we are saved by believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), proving His divinity, and we speak these words in our heart and aloud, Jesus will use His words to tell God the Father that we are His own, granting us eternal life. Alternatively, if anyone uses words to deny Jesus, He will deny that person before His Father, leading to condemnation (Matthew 10:32).

Having confessed verbally that Jesus is Son of God, our Lord and Savior, we become His ambassadors, representing Heaven (2 Corinthians 5:20). Like any earthly diplomat, we represent our Leader through our words as well as our behavior. Jesus Himself warned us not to speak any idle words (Matthew 12:36), for life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). James warned us to control our tongue, for our words have the power to build others up or to tear them down (James 3: 1-13).

In the beginning was the Word! His words created all that exists. His Word saves us! May we allow His Word to govern our heart, thoughts and actions, and share it with others so they too can be saved!

© 2022 Laurie Collett 

Reposted from the archives

Unexpected Answer

Have you ever been praying about a particular matter, or asked God a direct question, and then been stunned when the answer He gives seems to be way out in left field?

Of course, not all voices we hear come from God, and sometimes we can erroneously convince ourselves that the desires of our flesh or the temptings of the devil are divine in origin. Any prompting we hear that does not align with God’s Word cannot be from Him (Psalm 119:105).

But if we have prepared our heart to communicate with Him (Proverbs 2:2), asked for Holy Spirit guidance to discern His true voice, and allowed time in our prayer room to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10) rather than just rattling off our shopping list of requests, we can look forward to hearing His true will (John 10:4,27; Isaiah 30:21).

Shortly after I was saved in the year 2000, my husband Richard and I took a flight to another city for a dance competition. Shortly before landing, the pilot announced that we were honored to be transporting a young soldier deployed to Afghanistan, on the first leg of his long journey. I silently prayed for his safety, when I was shocked to hear God telling me to give him the Bible I had in my carry-on bag.

But he was seated toward the front of the plane and we were at the back, so he disembarked long before we did. However, once we were in the terminal, I spotted him a considerable distance away, and without so much as a word to Richard, I took off running until I caught up with him. He looked as surprised as I was when I offered him the Bible, told him I was praying for him, and hoped that the Bible would be a blessing to him and those he met overseas.

He took the Bible, thanked me, and we went our separate ways. I had a lot of explaining to do when I finally met up with Richard, but he seemed to understand even though he was not yet saved by trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6). Now I look forward to meeting the soldier in Heaven and hearing what transpired from my gift, for God’s Word will not return to Him empty! (Isaiah 55:11)

Very recently, I had a similar, quite unexpected, answer to prayer. A ministry that Richard and I had undertaken several months previously had been unfruitful and confronted by spiritual warfare. My question to God was, “Why did You bring us here for things to turn out like this?”

“To prepare you for something else,” was His answer. My natural response was, “For what?” To which He replied, “To start a new church!”

This was not at all what I had expected, and when I told Richard about it, he seemed skeptical, given our age and lack of formal training in ministry. But God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33), which came when we had multiple confirmations from reading His Word, hearing it taught and preached, and from Godly counsel.

Our daily Scripture reading, devotionals, and Bible studies all pointed us in the direction of following what initially seemed to be a surprising request from God. When cleaning out an old file drawer, I found a devotional I had printed out 25 years ago, shortly after being saved. It was an encouragement to follow God’s will for your life without fear (1 John 4:18), even when it takes you in an unexpected direction and requires stepping out of your comfort zone. 

In our own strength we can do nothing (John 15:5), but with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26), for His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

We then had lunch with a dear, Godly friend who is a missionary. After catching up a bit, but not mentioning our new direction, we were shocked to hear him say, “You two need to open a new church!”

In a Thanksgiving sermon we heard shortly thereafter, the preacher suddenly went off script and started talking about how God can lead people to start a church. Even if that church is small and meets in someone’s home, he said, it’s still a church, for where two or three are gathered in His Name, He is in the midst (Matthew 18:20).

Praise God that He makes His will known (Numbers 12:6; Ephesians 1:9), speaking to His children through His Word, Godly counsel, and other ways! Faced with so many confirmations, it was clear that we needed to follow His directive or suffer the consequences of disobedience.

Several months have passed since I first received this unexpected answer from God. Despite many challenges, setbacks, and obstacles, He has blessed us by providing an interim pastor, giving us a space to meet rent-free, and getting the paperwork approved for nonprofit incorporation!

Our first service at New Life Bible Church Tampa is scheduled for March 22! We truly covet your prayers for God’s continued guidance and leadership, that this ministry would be fruitful in reaching souls for Him. If any of you are in the Tampa area and looking for a church home, we would be honored and blessed by your visit. May we honor Jesus Christ in all that is said and done and work together in unity and harmony to share His Word and His love with one another, in the local community, and globally through missions!

Copyright 2026 Laurie Collett