1 Corinthians 1:18-19
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."
God entered into His chain bound creation to die and set it free; the King of all the universe humbled Himself to the lowest depth of humility to purchase the greatest height of glory for His people; this is the word of the cross. It is the greatest joy for those who are being saved by its power, it is the greatest pleasure that we could possibly imagine, that God would love me so much that He would be willing to trade His own life to buy mine! But however joyous this statement might be, it's easy to see how doubts would rise form this skeptic world.
"You're trying to tell me that there is a triumphant king, capable of doing whatever he wants, and he died for you when you were still his enemy? That's just ridiculous" Indeed, the word of the cross does seem ridiculous and irregular, and it's not hard to see why: There is no earthly king who would ever willingly give up his life for one of his servants, it's totally contrary to our human nature, so when we see this kind of sacrifice coming from the ultimate King of all creation, it's easy to begin to doubt the likelihood of such an event.
I believe that this reaction of doubt was not only foreseen by God, but was the very reason He chose it in the first place. You see, Jesus was incredibly notorious for taking the norm and turning it around 180 degrees, He took beliefs that people had firmly held for hundreds of years and shattered them in a single moment, and no less can be said of him here. The Bible says that God chose such a strange way to have victory to destroy the wisdom of the wise and thwart the discernment of the discerning. So let us abandon our worldly "wisdom" and what we would think we know about God and hold fast to what He tells us about Himself, "For to those who are being saved it is the power of God."
A strange way to save the world For a song related to this topic:
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."
God entered into His chain bound creation to die and set it free; the King of all the universe humbled Himself to the lowest depth of humility to purchase the greatest height of glory for His people; this is the word of the cross. It is the greatest joy for those who are being saved by its power, it is the greatest pleasure that we could possibly imagine, that God would love me so much that He would be willing to trade His own life to buy mine! But however joyous this statement might be, it's easy to see how doubts would rise form this skeptic world.
"You're trying to tell me that there is a triumphant king, capable of doing whatever he wants, and he died for you when you were still his enemy? That's just ridiculous" Indeed, the word of the cross does seem ridiculous and irregular, and it's not hard to see why: There is no earthly king who would ever willingly give up his life for one of his servants, it's totally contrary to our human nature, so when we see this kind of sacrifice coming from the ultimate King of all creation, it's easy to begin to doubt the likelihood of such an event.
I believe that this reaction of doubt was not only foreseen by God, but was the very reason He chose it in the first place. You see, Jesus was incredibly notorious for taking the norm and turning it around 180 degrees, He took beliefs that people had firmly held for hundreds of years and shattered them in a single moment, and no less can be said of him here. The Bible says that God chose such a strange way to have victory to destroy the wisdom of the wise and thwart the discernment of the discerning. So let us abandon our worldly "wisdom" and what we would think we know about God and hold fast to what He tells us about Himself, "For to those who are being saved it is the power of God."
A strange way to save the world For a song related to this topic: