1. The Cross of the
Disciples that Jesus told them to take up.
Jesus told his disciples to pick up their crosses to follow him. It is in "Matthew 16:24
... Jesus said unto his disciples, If any man will
come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
Jesus came to his own, that is, he came as a Jew. His disciples were Jews. What
was the cross meant to the Jews. If someone is found to be an outlaw, Jews will
kill him by stoning, but they will not crucify him. But the Romans will crucify
their outlaws. Then why Jesus told his disciples to take up his cross to follow
him. This is his way of telling them that he will be killed and will be killed
by Romans on their cross. It was prophetic, and his disciples did not understand
at that time. The cross to the disciples was a figure of speech, but it was not
their calling to become Martyrs, and Jesus always
wanted them to escape. But if someone is killed, as Stephen was stoned to death,
he was a martyr. But nobody is called to die except Jesus; and he was the only
one who was appointed to die for the sins of the world, but nobody else. As a man,
Jesus kept his disciples safe until the end of his life, it is in John 18:7-9.
The soldiers surrounded Jesus to take him to the chief priest. "7 Then
asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
8
Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if
therefore ye seek me, let these go their way: 9
That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake,
Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none." Jesus demanded the
soldiers to let his disciples go free, and he lost none of them. So, no disciple
was killed under his watch. So, the mention of the cross to his disciples
was not a call for martyrdom. It was just a prophetic statements only to his
disciples. It was never a command to his believers.
Further, the Master-disciples relationship lasted only for three
years, and it was ended when Jesus went up to heaven. Now Jesus Christ is God in
the Omnipotent Spirit, so, there is no more the Master-disciples relationship, but it is
God-human relationship. We get near to him by repentance and by obedience. But
we are called to walk in the steps of Man Jesus as in 1
Peter 2:21. "21 For even hereunto were ye
called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye
should follow his steps:" So, follow his steps, but there is no cross.
2. Jesus Christ gives an example of His Cross from the
Old.
In
"John 3:14 Jesus says,
... as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of man be lifted up:" The Son of man was Jesus.
He must be lifted up, that is he must be crucified in the same way Moses lifted
up the serpent. We see two references
pertained to this
in the old testament. The first one is Numbers 21:5-9. Verse 5 says that
the people grumbled against Moses and God. Verse 6 says, that "the
LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much
people of Israel died." Then the people came to Moses and cried out.
In verse 8, "the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a
fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and ... every one
that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." So, those who got
bitten, if they looked upon the serpent on the cross, they will live. It was the
shadow of the crucified Jesus, who is the "the author
of eternal salvation." Now let us see what happened to the cross and the crucifix in the old
testament.
2 Kings 18:4 says, "He
removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and
brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn
incense to it:" That is, they began to worship the crucifix and the
cross of the brazen serpent, which was the shadow of the cross and crucifix of
Jesus in the new testament. And so, God sent King Hosea to destroy the idols,
and King Hosea destroyed the entire groves, and broke the brazed serpent in
pieces. Please note that Christians are doing the same thing now. Most Catholic,
orthodox, and such kinds of churches, burn incents to the cross and to the
crucifix of Jesus. Others may not burn incents, yet they have put up the cross
in their churches, and a cross on the steeple of their churches. The same shadow
symbol of cross that Moses made for people to believe in Jesus Christ, when it
was used as an idol to worship, king Hosea destroyed the with the groves, that
is equivalent to destroy the cross with the churches. "2
Kings 18:3 says that ... he did that which was right in
the sight of the LORD," Christians of today, in all
denominations, adore and even worship the cross that killed Jesus, and some
Christians worship the crucifix also, and they are idol worship.
In the old testament, King Hosea was praised for destroying the cross and the
brazen serpent with it. Verse 5 says, "He trusted in the LORD God of Israel;
so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that
were before him." The one who destroyed the cross and the crucifix in the old
testament was endorsed
and praised, by God himself. Now, the cross the killed Jesus,
and the crucifix have become idols. Is there a King Hosea, who will destroy the idols? We cannot change
the entire Christian
world. But we can stop adoring the cross that killed Jesus.
3. Why do Christians love & worship the Cross that killed
Jesus?
Preachers say that Jesus loved us so much and so he went to the cross
with overwhelming love for us. It is a lie. Please read
Matthew 26:36-44. It was just before his
crucifixion. "37 says,
he began to be sorrowful and very heavy. In 38
Jesus says, My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death: 39 says that Jesus fell on his face,
and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:
...
42 He went away again the second time, and
prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I
drink it, thy will be done. ... 44
And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the
third time, saying the same words." Jesus was scared and was afraid of the cross, and he tried
his best to escape the cross, he begged God the Father to remove the cross from
him three times repeatedly, and then he submitted, the cross killed him
mercilessly. This cross was the murder weapon of the Romans, the Jews, and of
Satan. God the Father allowed it; it was his plan of
salvation. But why do Christians love, adore, and
worship the cross that killed our Lord. It is ridiculous. We wear cross of gold as ornaments.
Christians kneel before wooden crosses. It is insanity. It may be idol worship;
and, why do Christians love the Cross, that killed Jesus? It does not make any sense.
I like to mention an example. Recently, a bullet missed President Trump, but it hit
another man and killed him. People rose to the occasion, not only they sent
condolence messages, but also raised money for the victim's
wife, and they were able to raise a good sum. The wife who
received the money thanked the people and said I would rather have him living
than receiving the money. We consider her statement
decent and graceful. Let us assume a different scenario. If in such a situation,
if the woman who received the money, out of joy, thanked her husband for
dying and the bullet that killed him, since they made it possible for her to
receive the big money, what will you think of her? I assume that you would say
that she is
disgusting. But Christians do the same as that woman. We thank
Jesus for dying for us, and we are also grateful to the cross that killed him, since
both helped us go to heaven. This is also disgusting and it is insanity. May God
forgive us.
