The Cross

The Cross is a neglected subject within most of our Christian Assemblies in America. We’ve primarily reduced the message of the Cross down to the week of Resurrection Sunday. That week still mostly focuses on the Resurrection Life of Jesus rather than the Crucified Life of Jesus. This overall permeates throughout most of our Sunday morning messages. We promote the Resurrection Life and all its benefits. This provides a continual topic that is joyful, peaceful, positive, and full of all the supernatural manifestations of Jesus. Often, mentioning sin and fleshly desires is simply a method to correct behavior that hinders the appearance of Resurrection Life. Resurrection Life provides an overall topic with many roads that one can preach/teach and keep the Assembly on Sunday mornings very content, coming back for more week after week. I am very grateful, thankful, and humbled by the Resurrection Life that Jesus brings into manifestation in my life. My words cannot honestly proclaim well enough my internal reality and emotions that Resurrection Life provides. I made clear in last week’s article about the necessity of resurrection life, which doesn’t come without the way of The Cross. See, the Cross is what makes Resurrection Life powerful. The Cross is what allows for the Resurrection Life and all the benefits. You cannot have access to Resurrection Life without first walking the way of the Cross. I hope to make clear this necessity of the Cross for you in this teaching.Many don’t even understand or know the Cross within our Christian Assemblies in America, and that is indescribably tragic. In America, we are more likely to know the Cross as a fashion statement, a piece of jewelry, some “Bling”, or a symbol to place somewhere on a building to signify it as Christian. The Cross is truly none of the objects just mentioned. The Cross was and still is a tool of death, one of which has no rival. The Cross of crucifixion is undefeated and also provides a slow, torturous death. Unlike the blade, firearm, spear, or hang noose, The Cross is placed up high for all to see, and none survive. My studies date this death practice back to the Persian Empire mentioned in the Old Testament, somewhere in the 6th century BC. I also discovered that it was a practice that began as impaling. Imagine a wooden rod the length of a fence post or taller with a spear like tip. The Persians would literally drop, throw, or toss someone on these pieces of wood, specifically through the stomach area, and leave the man or woman to eventually die. The Romans decided to perfect that method and made a Crucifixion Cross. This would allow the same kind of torture, but draw it out longer. This method would cause slow blood loss, suffocation, bodily exposure, most where crucified naked or in a lion cloth, bodily shock, dehydration, infection, cramps, and exhaustion. Really meditate on the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, could not survive The Cross in this fleshly made human body. Jesus, knowing this, not only still went through with such a death as the only last blood atonement for sin but then demands the same death from us.Luke 9:23-2423 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross [b]daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.Matthew 16:24-2524 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.Mark 8:34-3534 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.It is important to know that 3 Gospels account for this statement from Jesus. Most of the same statements or teachings of Jesus are typically only accounted for in 2 Gospels. 3 Gospel accounts are rare, and here we are finding this statement as one of those. Remember, Jesus claimed himself as the Way in John 14, and no one comes to God the Father except through Jesus. Now, the Gospel of Luke is the only one that speaks of taking up The Cross daily. Keep in mind that a Crucifixion Cross was a tool of death in which one was nailed. One cannot come down or off The Cross without having the nails removed. Therefore, the need to say one must daily take up his cross is simply a reminder, because no one comes down from the Cross until death. Jesus knew the capacity of man to forget where the source of life begins. Now, these nails used for crucifying were the size of railroad spikes driven through the hands and feet. Some debate about the hands because it could not withstand the long hours of holding the upper body, therefore, the wrists or forearms would be a more suitable nailing area. Jesus specifically states in the Word that His hands were nailed to the Cross, and I will specify why that is important. This all relates to the scriptures in the Word that I have cited above. We must deny ourselves, take up our Cross, and then we can follow Jesus. No one truly is a follower, disciple, or son/daughter of Jesus unless they take up their Cross. The Tool of Death is not an option for us, it is a command. Blood had to be shed, spilled, and applied for atonement of sin. The Tool of Death was not an option for Jesus as the Blood Atonement for Sin. Just as Jesus crucified sin on the Cross, we must crucify desire for sin on our Cross. We must deny ourselves, we must crucify our desire to be the god of our life. Again, the only way to become a born again, new creation in the Resurrection Life of Jesus is The Cross.Now, here is why the specification of the hands and feet is important. Jesus was not just giving a command to kill sin on the Cross. He was giving a command that in order to follow, one must kill their personal desires completely. The Hand is the body part that one uses to obtain any earthly need or desire, good or bad. Your hand is used to pick up and put down. Your hand is used to control the direction of an automobile, aircraft, television, smartphone, various tools in a toolbox, and kitchen utensils. The Hand is used to direct tools for planting and reaping, tools for inspection, cleaning the body, writing, and the list could go on. The Feet are needed to walk the journey from one place to another, no matter what the distance. The essence of having a God is to place something in your life worth following after, following requires walking at a fundamental level. Jesus was showing me, and you that one must crucify their hands to be resurrected for use towards the glorification of Him. Jesus was showing me, and you that one must crucify their feet to truly walk the journey that glorifies Him.See, we need to realize that Jesus came into the space of time in which He was born for a specific reason. The practice of Crucifixion was one of the main reasons. This particular tool of death was like none other before and after. This tool of death requires nailing oneself onto the object, the nails are specifically placed in the hands and feet. The hands and feet are the tools of control and direction for the body.The source of control and direction for the body is the heart and mind. We must realize the intentionality and specificality of the one true God. The Word in the Old Testament was very intentional and specific. The Word of Jesus was very intentional and specific, straight from the Father in the Kingdom of God. The Cross is not a desirable death, it is a death of slow torture and humiliation. The Cross is a death in which one uses to make a lasting statement to others. Jesus sits on a throne at the right hand of God, and he sits there having obtained victory over the sinful desires of the flesh. That Victory was won on The Cross, the tool of death to desires for sin. The Cross, the tool of death to one’s desires to be the God of his/her own life. Always remember and frequently remind yourself, there is no Resurrection Life without The Cross. The Cross is The Way!!Thanks for Listening to The Bowdell Podcast. This Podcast is public so feel free to share it with anyone!!!The Bowdell is a Publication supported by You the Reader, Listener, and Viewer. If You want to receive frequent new posts weekly and support my work, consider becoming a Paid subscriber!! Get full access to The Bowdell at robertldbowdell.substack.com/subscribe