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The Witness of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18 – 19 - “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. 

            The cross is not an empty memorial, but a living message today that Jesus Christ is alive and well.  He identifies Himself to the Apostle John in Revelation 1:18 as “He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.” The cross testifies, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

The cross stands today as a living testimony.  It testifies that Christ is the Savior of lost humanity. Hebrews 7:25, “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” “The life Christ lived qualified Him for the death He died—and the death He died qualifies us for the life we live.”[i] 

The cross witnesses that Jesus alone delivers from the bondage of sin.  Psalms 18:7 reads, “He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.” The cross testifies of His healing power.  The Apostle Peter pens these words concerning the death of our Savior on the cross in 1 Peter 2:24, “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”

God took an instrument of death and turned it into an instrument of victory.  Calvary became a place of victory.  The cross stands as a witness to the world today.  It speaks of the love of God for His creation.  Billy Graham is quoted saying, “God proved His love on the cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’” John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

The cross witnesses of Satan’s defeat.  The Apostle Paul writes about this defeat in Colossians 2:15, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”  Dr. Frank Damazio writes, “Satan held the power of sin, sickness, disease and death, as well as control over his own kingdom of principalities, powers and wicked spirits of this world system.  At Christ’s death, He disarmed the princes and powers of Satan, stripping Satan of the keys of death and hell.  He turned what seemed to be the greatest defeat into the greatest victory.  He spoiled principalities and powers, making a show of them openly, and triumphed over all in the cross.  The death of Christ was the conquest of the whole of Satan’s realm.”[ii]

We can enter into the victory of the cross today.  The cross continues to be God’s love statement to the world.


[i] Author Unknown.
[ii] Damazio, Frank, Saving Power of the Cross, Sermon Series, http://www.frankdamazio.com. 

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