Search almost any version of the Judeo-Christian scriptures and you’ll find mention of satan’s war on God’s people, from his debut as the tempter in Genesis to the unveiling of his dragon persona in Revelation, where his defeat and everlasting retribution are sealed. Then, open the Bible in the middle (not counting reference pages) and you should see one of the Psalms (or “tehillim” – praises). Most of the lyrics of this originally Hebrew song-book, now neatly tucked into the middle of our victory manual, were written by the greatest Biblical warrior – King David. In physical battle, David was victorious against many enemy forces. Spiritually, he bounced back from being laid low in personal encounters with the tempter. Through it all he recorded the secrets of victory in his tehillim, now set in the middle of our spiritual armory as the Psalms. It’s no wonder that the Almighty draws our attention as often as we need battlefield encouragement, to this legacy of David and his divinely inspired musicians. Let us be mentored by the Psalms as we fight the good fight of faith. This morning I prayerfully reached out to God for help with a particular challenge; then I took up my study Bible to see what the Lord might say to me. You can guess where the Bible opened first – by divine design – at the Introduction to the Psalms 🙂

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God challenged me on August 5, 2015 to look more closely at the cross of Christ – as a symbol of something to be taken up and carried in loyalty to Christ, and also as a symbol of His great accomplishments on our behalf – effected in His 33-year journey to the cross, in His ordeal on the cross, in the emptying of the cross and tomb, and in the 40-day demonstration to the disciples of His victory over Roman brutality: being alive and well after having been impaled to “death” on their execution-stake. God’s challenge to me to review these matters came just before a challenge from a human source to deny the legitimacy of the cross as a Christian symbol. That is why my last few posts have examined the significance of the cross/ execution-stake/ post/ wood, all cut from a tree, on which Yeshua paid the price for our sins.

In every debate God has the last word. To those with ears to hear spiritually, it can be instructive for their life ahead. To those with spiritually deafened ears, the “last word” may just be that which foretells their fate. Here are some Biblical “last words” on the matter of the cross (execution-stake) of Yeshua haMashiach (Jesus the Messiah/Christ). Having previously shared about the words rendered “cross” and relating to the “cross”, I will now simply quote from the NIV since that is a very widely used translation.

Matthew 10:37-39 [context: conflict with loved ones, caused by attitudes to Messiah]. “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”

Luke 14:25-27 [context: God’s invitation to the wedding feast, spurned with excuses including financial and family considerations]. “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ^{26 ‘}If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.‘ ”

Luke 9:21-24 [context: Yeshua had just questioned His disciples about whom they and other people thought He really was. The last response, from Peter, was “God’s Messiah.”]  “Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. ²² And he said, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.’ ²³ Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.’ “

Matthew 16:24-25 [Yeshua had just told the disciples of His impending death, Peter had strongly objected, and Yeshua had rebuked the satanic inspiration in Peter for setting his mind on earthly priorities rather than divine priorities.]  “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.’ ”  Mark 8:34-35 says practically the same thing, in the same context.

1 Corinthians 1:17-18 [context: dissension in the kehila (community/congregation) with different leaders drawing disciples after themselves, but Paul rejoicing that he had not baptized any of them in his own name, and asking, did any of these others die for you, or was it Yeshua Who died for you?]  “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.¹⁸ 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.”

Ephesians 2:13-16 [context: explaining the status of Gentile believers and their relationship to Jewish believers]  “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”

Philippians 3:17-19 [context: Paul’s exhortation to Godly living, in pursuit of the “goal” for the “prize for which God has called (us) heavenward in Christ Jesus.”]  “Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. ¹⁸ For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.“

Colossians 1:18-22  [context: general teaching on how to “live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way.”]  “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. ²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”

Colossians 2:13-17  [context: general teaching about new life in Messiah/Christ, and the spiritual circumcision done by Him]  “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

Hebrews 12:1-4 [context: encouragement to persevere in the faith, despite persecution]  “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses (Biblical patriarchs and martyred saints), let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. ⁴ In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

Philippians 2:5-11 [context: encouragement to be humble, esteeming and serving each other]  “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; ⁷ rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place     and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In my four posts dating from September 26 to October 14, 2015, I have shared from other scriptures: John 3:14-15 and Numbers 21:7-9 regarding the cross as a “pole”; Galatians 3:13 and 1 Peter 2:23-24 regarding the cross as a “tree”; and Galatians 6:12-14 examining the cross as an execution-stake.

SUMMARY: Four of the passages quoted above contain the same exhortation, that believers must be prepared to take up their cross and follow Yeshua, in order to be counted as true disciples. In case you hadn’t noticed before, God has no reservations about repeating Himself! He knows that we are often forgetful and that we have selective memories, so He repeats and repeats things that are crucial. Having reviewed all that I have shared in these five posts, I can now make better sense of a personal incident of August 5, 2015. I was wrestling with a decision to take a stand that I knew could bring me into conflict with someone against whom I would not be able to adequatey defend myself, and who might utilize slander against me. I was also resisting a flu attack, so I felt both emotionally and physically drained. Sitting in the car feeling very weary, I was suddenly made to look up, and there across the parking lot was a “big box” store with a very strange “apparition” in an upstairs window. It was dusk, and the horizontal flourescent light fixture in that upstairs room was on. Set behind one vertical side of the window frame, it formed an illuminated cross!  The instant I saw it, I received in my spirit the following comfort and encouragement from God: (1) His cross had gone before me and He was leading me still. (2) Despite my realistic analysis of the possible repercussions of taking the particular stand I was contemplating, Yeshua had gone that way before, and the outcome was unprecedented victory!  (3) I needed to review everything about the cross of Yeshua to see what else there was to be grasped.

The excitement that stirred in my spirit was fortifying and healing. God had supplied in that very instant the resolve to take up this particular “cross” at this particular time and carry it, following in His footsteps.

The title above sounds so simple, you may wonder if I’m insulting your intelligence; but bear with me as I try to tie up some verbal loose ends over which certain people seem to be tripping. Let’s begin with some verses giving the literal translations of the words rendered “cross” in the King James Version.

1 Peter 2:24 says of Yeshua, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the (stake/ wood/ pole) so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness…”  It’s amazing that anyone would want to undervalue or understate the importance of this stake/ wood/ pole, cut from a tree, on which Messiah paid the ultimate price for sin on our behalf. Paul, in Galatians 6:12-14 offered his analysis of the motives of some Judaisers who were apparently guilty of this attitude: “It is those who want to look good outwardly who are trying to get you to be circumcised. The only reason they are doing it is to escape persecution for preaching about the Messiah’s (execution-stake/ upright stake/ post) … But as for me, heaven forbid that I should boast about anything except the (execution-stake/ upright stake/ post) of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah!”

Admittedly, there is great debate 2,000 years later about the original shape of Yeshua’s execution-stake and how he was attached to it, but consider this insight from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_of_Jesus%27_crucifixion#cite_note-52:

“Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who lived at the time of the birth of Jesus, described how those condemned to crucifixion were led to the place of execution:

“A Roman citizen of no obscure station, having ordered one of his slaves to be put to death, delivered him to his fellow-slaves to be led away, and in order that his punishment might be witnessed by all, directed them to drag him through the Forum and every other conspicuous part of the city as they whipped him, and that he should go ahead of the procession which the Romans were at that time conducting in honour of the god. The men ordered to lead the slave to his punishment, having stretched out both his arms and fastened them to a piece of wood which extended across his breast and shoulders as far as his wrists, followed him, tearing his naked body with whips.”^[51] Roman Antiquities, VII, 69:1-2

Dionysius here uses the Greek word xylon for the horizontal crossbeam (the ‘patibulum’) used in Roman crucifixions; he describes how the hands of the condemned man were tied to it … for him to be whipped while being led to the place of execution.”

Many scholars have concluded that this piece of wood to which the arms were fastened as described above, was the crossbeam (Latin – patibulum)  and that this is what Yeshua (and/or Simon of Cyrene) had to carry on the way to Golgotha, as described in the Synoptic Gospels at Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21 and Luke 23:26. This crossbeam would finally have been attached to the pole at Golgotha to become the “execution-stake” that has traditionally been rendered “cross”. (John 19:17 skipped the detail of Simon’s involvement. Since I believe in the inerrancy of scripture I am left to wonder if Yeshua carried one plank and Simon carried another; but that’s a detail we can easily ask God about when we get to heaven.)

In the meantime, suppose we of the above opinion are wrong about the shape of Yeshua’s execution-stake … does that make it any less sacred? Suppose we still call it a “cross” based on our belief that it was indeed an upright piece of wood with a crossbeam attached … does that detract from the essence of those wonderful scriptures explaining the significance of that particular piece (or those particular pieces) of wood cut from a particular tree (or trees) for the purpose of the redemption of mankind? My next post will simply list some of those scriptures and invite you to meditate on them to your heart’s content. Shalom!

In Galatians 3:13 the apostle Paul, under divine unction, taught: “Messiah liberated us from Torah’s curse, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree‘).”

We may ask two questions. First, where had this been written before? This question is answered in few words: Deuteronomy 21:22-23. In Galatians 3 the Holy Spirit drew out the Messianic essence of those verses, a Torah passage which was well known to all Jews including Paul.

The second question would be, what is “Torah’s curse”? This question could also be answered from Deuteronomy, but it takes many more verses to do so, for example Deut. 28:15-68 (53 verses) or Deut. 27:15-26 (11 verses). For these portions the New King James version (NKJV) offers the sub-headings “Curses for Disobedience” and “Curses Pronounced” respectively. Other scriptures such as Leviticus 26:14-39 also describe the “curse” associated with the Torah, and the NKJV sub-heading for that passage is “Results of Disobedience”. I find that the best caption, the whole point being that the Torah (often translated “the Law”) after listing the wonderful benefits of obedience to God’s instructions, also lists the awful results or consequences of disobedience to God’s laws. The fact that God was blunt enough in the Torah to pronounce or articulate these results does not make God responsible for them (in the sense of one being responsible for one’s actions). His going to lengths to expound on these results of sin was actually an act of love, to deter humankind from actions of their own which would lead to dire consequences.

But God’s love didn’t stop there. We know from reading Matthew to Revelation that He found a way to save those who want to be saved from the consequences of their sins – those curses – as well as the ultimate “wages” of sin (Roman 6:23) which was to perish in death. John 3:16 explains, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

This is what Paul was alluding to, as a mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit (or the Spirit of Yeshua – Acts 16:6-7, Philippians 1:19). God wanted us to enrich us with more understanding of what Yeshua achieved by letting his incarnate body be crucified – suspended on that “tree” on Golgotha until He said, “It is finished” (“It has been finished” – John 19:30 Interlinear) and his body was taken down from the “tree”. Mission accomplished!

What was this aspect of Yeshua’s mission that God wanted to reveal by harking back to Deuteronomy 21:22-23?  It was this: in hanging on a tree Yeshua was to fulfil the Law by becoming “a curse for us”, thus saving us from Torah’s curse and bringing us into victory over the wages of sin – over death and the grave!

My next post will examine the words translated “tree” and “cross” in this context, to address the misgivings that some people express, regarding the concept and veneration of the cross of Yeshua haMashiach (The Messiah).

Every theme developed in the Judeo-Christian scriptures began in the Torah. When the Apostles were recording the life and teachings of Messiah and themselves in what would become the New Testament, they referred often to the Torah, which the Jews should have known intimately enough to grasp the revelatory concepts introduced by Messiah in His incarnation and by His Spirit. So the Torah is a good place to start in researching the significance of the cross in God’s plan for our salvation. This post will look at the cross as a “pole”, cut of course from a “tree”. You will soon see why.

In Numbers 21:4-9 we read the story of the “Bronze Serpent on a Pole”, by which God offered escape from the certain death that awaited the Israelites because of their sin against God and His servant Moshe (Moses). Verse 9 says, “So Moshe made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole (as God had instructed him); and so it was that, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.”

Although the serpent and staff have become the symbol for medical restoration of physical health, the greater eternal significance of that story would have been lost to us, had not Yeshua revealed in John 3:14-15, “Just as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the desert, so (I) the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”

Now, how did Moshe lift up the serpent? On a pole … commonly depicted (as in the 2014 Messianic Jewish Family Bible, Tree of Life Version) as a pole with a cross-beam near the top – in other words, a cross. That pole, by Yeshua’s own choice of words, was the implement on which He would pay the price for our sin and purchase for us eternal life!

I guarantee you, that pole was cut from a tree. But these first two scriptures cited above only begin to show some of the significance of the cross of Yeshua HaMashiach /Jesus the Christ. My next post will elaborate on the “tree” references, but already we can see the cross signifying the deliverance from the deathly consequnces of our sins, which Messiah effected for us by allowing Himself to be “lifted up” on that pole on Golgotha – to be crucified on a cross so that we could inherit His eternal life.

“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.

Just for the record, I surrendered my life to Christ / Yeshua the Messiah on one particular Saturday morning in the spring of 1977, at the Sheraton Hotel in New Kingston, Jamaica, under the ministry of Deeper Life Ministries. That’s when I believed the gospel presentd by the preacher, was convicted by God’s Spirit about my past sins, repented with many tears (that’s just me) asked forgiveness and received the full, free salvation offered by God the Father through God the Son. That’s when I was born again by the immediate indwelling of God’s Spirit. All of that happened on that day. As a child enters the world once by natural birth, so I entered God’s family once by being “born again”, spiritually. Being born again is no more an on-going process than is natural birth. Since that spring day in 1977, I have been “working out my salvation” (Philippians 2:12) – exploring all its aspects and benefits; submitting myself to its mind-renewing disciplines; reconciling my behaviour to its distiction; marveling at what the apostle Sha’ul (Paul) called “the depth of the riches, of both of the wisdom and knowledge of God”.  By my count, I have now been “born again” for over 38 years, and at this point I’m loving it! But it has not always been easy to live up to my spiritual “family name”. I have only made it thus far with the indispensable help of the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit, a.k.a. the Spirit of God/ Spirit of Jesus/ Spirit of Yeshua).

Way back when John the Baptist was immersing people in the Jordan, he said to those who came to him to be baptized (Mark 1:8), “After me comes One (Who) will immerse you in the Ruach haKodesh.” Well, Yeshua – the “One” Who came – fulfilled the first part of John’s prophetic promise almost immediately (Mark 1:9). However, He only began to fulfill the last part after He’d laid aside the limiting “Rabbi from Nazareth” costume and returned to glory. Even before that though, He endorsed the second part of John’s prophecy by re-naming it “the Promise of the Father”, by confirming that He would Personally send the Promise down “upon” the disciples, and that as a result they would be “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Furthermore, being clothed with power from on high was so important that Yeshua told them to wait in Jerusalem until they had received this Promise. They were not to venture out from Jerusalem without it. Then, on that particular Feast of Pentecost (Shavuot) which is mentioned in Acts 2, Yeshua began to fulfil this promise and He keeps fulfilling it until today, in the lives of successive generations of disciples.

When I was immersed in the Caribbean Sea by a modern day baptist and came up sputtering, the water ran right off me, having fulfulled its symbolic function. However, when I received the Promise of the Father months later, the “clothing” of power from on high that was showered down on me (immersing me in its other-worldly consistency) did not run off like water. Instead, it seemed to penetrate me, and pour out of me in trickles, squirts and spurts over time, without being depleted at the Source. That ever-living water is the sustainability secret that has kept me over these 38 years, and flowed through me in varying measures to others as well. Praise the Lord! Read more about it in …

TGIF: Thank God It’s Friday by M. Evangeline Anderson

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I have a word for someone out there, which is also a reminder for all of us, myself included. It is this: as Christians we need to avoid all kinds of evil activity, and where possible – even the appearance of doing evil. Otherwise, we risk dangerous accusation against ourselves, we risk leading others astray, and we risk bringing Christianity into disrepute. Sometimes we are so eager to meet the “needs” of someone that we act too hastily, without regard for discretion, propriety and transparency. It is tempting to rationalize that “to the pure all things are pure”, but although that statement (Titus 1:15) is true, it is also true that we neither live among “the pure” nor do we consistently qualify as “the pure”. Since God brought me this reminder this morning, I reviewed the following scriptures that set boundaries for our ACTIONS, however noble our motives may be. Some alternate translations are in parentheses, and you may investigate the translations for yourself 🙂

1 Thessalonians 5:22 – “Keep away (abstain) from every form of evil (all appearance of evil).” Ecclesiastes 7:1 – “Better is a good reputation than precious oil.”  Titus 2:7 – “In all things, show yourself to be an example of good deeds.”  1 Corinthians 8:9 – “Watch out that this freedom of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.”  1 Corinthians 10:32 – “Give no offense either to Jewish or Greeks people or to God’s community.”  2 Corinthians 6:3 – “We give no cause for offense in anything, so that our ministry may not be blamed.”  2 Corinthians 8:21 – “We have regard for what is honorable – not only before the Lord, but also before people.” 

Even Yeshua (Jesus) gave consideration to avoiding the appearance of evil. Matthew 17:24-27 tells the story of Yeshua’s response to the collectors of the Temple tax. Although His knowledge of truth (verse 26) required no payment of this tax, He conceded (verse 27) “But, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw out a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. And when you open its mouth you will find a coin. Take that and give it to them, for me and you.”

Yeshua paused in His busy schedule, exercised His power over organic and inorganic creation, sent His busy disciples on an impromptu errand – and all for what? To avoid the appearance of “evil” – that is, the perception that He was avoiding the Temple tax which according to the Law all Jews should pay! Yeshua was not going to put a stumbling block before these people and all observers if He could avoid doing so. Since they were not privy to all that He knew, and since their eternal life depended on their eventual response to His gospel, He made a well-considered response to their request – their “need”. Let us do likewise, to the best of our ability 🙂