The Cross Forever Empty

Finished

"ὅτε οὖν ἔλαβεν τὸ ὄξος Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν,

Τετέλεσται, καὶ κλίνας τὴν κεφαλὴν

παρέδωκεν τὸ πνεῦμα."

                                                                                          (John 19:30)

There stood the lone Cross, empty and horribly used.

There stood the mystified throng, silent and confused.

There stood the disciples, quiet in lonely despair –

"Where's my wonderful Jesus?  For He's no longer there!"

The Cross – It is so graceful.  The Cross – It is so crude!

On the Cross hung my Savior.  In my place He stood.

He is no longer there.  His task is completely done.

The Cross is now empty.  For my sin He did atone.

Dread marks remind me where viciously His hands and feet

Had painfully been nailed in supposed defeat.

Blood-stained holes in the Cross, nails three upon the ground,

Earth soaked by His blood, leave a message so profound.

The Cross, standing empty, reminds me of what's been done.

At history's apex, God sacrificed His Son.

Once for all, He paid the required penalty –

Jesus took upon Himself the wrath of God due me.

With Christians through the ages, I love His final word,

– The rescue of sinners, all the creation has heard.

Saved from the hell to which I was justly banished.

The Cross forever empty!  –  Said He . . . "It is finished!"

                                                                                                                                                                   J. Alton Davis

                                                                                                                                                                            © 2012

Take up Your Cross O Disciple

Luke 14:27

A large and varied crowd of people were walking along with Jesus one day, and He was talking to them about what it means to be a real disciple of His.  

Then Jesus pointedly said, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."

Consider this critical condition of true discipleship a-fresh - from a slightly different, and perhaps more personal perspective.  

"If you want to be able to be a true disciple of Jesus, you must carry your own hanging rope with you all of the time, and be ready and willing to let the enemies of Christ hang you with it if following Christ in full obedience to Him were to lead to that."

Luke 14:27

This statement of Jesus's really is something to mull over - and consider seriously.

In the mid 2nd century (about A.D. 155) Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, was martyred in Rome by being burned at the stake.  He had been challenged several times to swear allegiance to Caesar and deny Christ.  He stood firm in his allegiance to his Savior, Christ Jesus.  After his martyrdom, his Christian friends in Asia Minor asked witnesses of Polycarp's death to send them an account.  That account is documented in a letter known today as "The Encyclical Epistle of the Church at Smyrna Concerning The Martyrdom of The Holy Polycarp".*  This letter includes the following description of a conversation between the proconsul, before whom Polycarp had been brought for trial, and Polycarp just before he died as a witness for His Lord:

Polycarp (AD 69-155)

     "'Swear, and I will set thee at liberty, reproach Christ;' [demanded the proconsul.]  Polycarp declared, 'Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury:  How then can I blaspheme my King and Savior?'"

     "And when the proconsul yet again pressed him, and said 'Swear by the fortune of Caesar,' he answered, 'since thou art vainly urgent that I swear by the fortune of Caesar, and pretendest not to know who and what I am, hear me declare with boldness, I am a Christian.  And if you wish to learn what the doctrines of Christianity are, appoint me a day, and thou shalt hear them.'"

     "The proconsul then said to him, 'I have wild beasts at hand; to these will I cast thee except thou repent.'  But he answered, 'Call them then, for we are not accustomed to repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil....'  But again the proconsul said to him, 'I will cause thee to be consumed by fire, seeing thou dispisest the wild beasts, if thou wilt not repent.'  But Polycarp said, 'Thou threatenest me with fire which burneth for an hour, and after a little is extinguished, but art ignorant of the fire of the coming judgement and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly.  But why tarriest thou?  Bring forth what thou wilt.'"

* "The Ante-Nicene Fathers"; Vol. I' Ed. Rev. Alexander Roberts, et al; 1885; COSIMOSCLASSICS, 2007; p.41.  (Italics have been added for clarity.)