By: Scott Armstrong
*The following is an excerpt from a recording of the radio ministry Showers of Blessing. These words from Jarrette Aycock were aired on that show in 1945 and come from his sermon, “The Triumph of the Cross.” Freed from alcohol addiction, Aycock served as an evangelist for 30 years. He also was the Kansas City District Superintendent and in 1950 founded the Kansas City Rescue Mission.
What is the cross as we know it today?
The cross is the crisis of man. The cross is the crisis of the world.
The cross is the crisis of Satan. The cross is the crisis of Christ.
The cross is the central theme of Christianity. The cross is the central fact of Christian revelation.
The cross is the climax of all sin offering and sacrifice.
The cross is the highest peak in God’s mountain range of grace.
The cross is the fulfillment of God’s greatest promise to man.
The cross is a bridge spanning the hitherto impossible gulf of which man may reach God and dwell in the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
The cross is God’s pulpit from which He calls to the world, “Come unto me, all ye that labor or are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
The glory of the cross was first proclaimed by a few persecuted, lonely Christians amid jeers and mockers. Soon it was seen by others and began to spread in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword. Today, after nineteen hundred years, the inspired words about the cross have been translated into a thousand languages and dialects, and are being spoken, preached, and sung by people of every kindred and tongue. And millions gladly sing: “In the cross of Christ I glory, towering over the wrecks of time.”
The cross is amazing in its paradoxes.
It illuminates, yet it darkens.
It interprets, yet it confounds.
It raises questions yet refuses to answer all that it has raised.
It solves difficulties, yet it also creates them.
It locks, yet it unlocks.
It closes some doors, yet it opens others.
It is wisdom, yet it is foolishness.
It is pardon and condemnation.
It is joy and sorrow.
It is antidote and poison.
It is hope and despair.
It is law, yet it’s the only deliverance from the law.
It was the humiliation of Christ, yet, at the same time, it was his exaltation.
It was Satan’s greatest victory yet his most woeful defeat.
It is sin doing its worst. It is love at its best.
It is the door to heaven, yet it is the gate to hell.
Take the right attitude toward the cross, and you’ll live forever. Take the wrong attitude toward the cross, and you’ll be forever lost…
With all of its wonder and glory, the Incarnation is not the whole of the gospel, nor the half of it. It is at Calvary, not in Creation, not on Sinai, not at Bethlehem, that we get our first full revelation of God.
The cross is a revelation of God’s character.
The cross is a revelation of God’s love.
The cross is a revelation of His heart.
The cross is a revelation of the distance God would traverse for the sinner.
The cross is a revelation of love being put to the extreme test.
Even the angels who had been with Him from the beginning had never seen so much of God.
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