The Controversy of the Cross Part 2

I Corinthians 1:18-25 NKJV

So what did the cross mean for Jesus? For Jesus, the cross was both prophetic and personal. Jesus, the Son of God, who was bound together in Holy Trinity with Father and Holy Spirit in eternity past, spoke prophetically after the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15).

Jesus was present in Holy Trinity, slaughtering the first animals to provide a sacrifice to cover Adam and Eve, protecting them from the shame of their sin.

“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”  Blood of animals was shed to provide a covering for the sinful couple” (Genesis 3:21).

Jesus was present in Holy Trinity, as Abraham trod the steeps of Mount Moriah to heed the call of God and offer his only son Isaac on the altar of sacrifice. He was listening as Abraham spoke in faith.

“And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together…” (Genesis 22:8).

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were inspiring Isaiah as he prophesied the hope of the Gospel in the Messiah of God who was to come.

“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken” (Isaiah 53:4-8).

Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, prophesied that Jesus would be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world from the time of Jesus’ baptism at the beginning of His earthly ministry.

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Luke records Jesus’ resolve to go to Jerusalem, although it would eventually become the place of his execution on the cross.

“He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9: 51 NKJV).

Jesus knew that the cross was His destiny. Jesus revealed this truth to the Apostle John, and He recorded it in the Revelation when John referred to Jesus as

“... the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).