“On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.”  You may know that timeless 1913 hymn by George Bennard; and you may share his sentiment as I do, “But I love that old cross where the Deaest and Best for a world of lost sinners (including me) was slain.”

Recently I was challenged to defend the positive symbolism of the cross – that it is no longer just a reminder of the suffering and shame  inflicted on countless persons by the Romans in the time of Messiah’s incarnation. On the contrary, I maintain that the cross on which Messiah Yeshua was crucified stands apart from all other crosses, and the replicas of that empty cross can be legitimately used to symbolize the atonement, redemption, salvation and victory over death which Messiah purchased by His sacrifice, for “whosoever will” avail himself/herself of that blood-bought victory.

To back up this claim for my own assurance, I had to refresh my memory of many scriptures which have impressed Christians over the centuries with the positive symbolism of an empty cross. In the next few posts I will share on the scriptures I reviewed, noting that a “cross” consists of a stake or pole, derived from a tree, on which has been fixed a cross-bar.  All of those words crop up in different translations and expositions of these scriptures.