The Dividing Symbol Of History

Excerpted from, Power Of The Cross © 1998 by Tim LaHaye.
Published by Multnomah Publishers, Inc.  Used by permission of Tim LaHaye Ministries.
Excerpt may not be reproduced without prior written consent.

It is impossible to exaggerate the significance of the cross as a symbol of Christianity.  The cross divides human history between B.C. and A.D., before Christ and after Christ.  Such prominence is justified because Calvary is without doubt the most important single event in the history of the world.  The cross symbolizes the one event that offers hope to a hopeless world.  The cross is the single solution to the great human dilemma.  How can fallen man, who is an eternal creature, have his sins forgiven and be restored to the status God gave Adam and Eve?  The cross is the only solution!  Consequently, it deserves its status as the most popular symbol in the world.
     Yet amazingly, the cross is also a symbol of execution.  Crucifixion is usually considered the most cruel and inhumane form of capital punishment ever exercised by nations on their own citizens.  It seems incredible that this emblem of shameful death is now worn by millions of Christians as a symbol of hope.  We never see a gold electric chair or a platinum gas chamber hanging around someone's neck.  Those symbols of painful death represent failure and defeat.  But the cross is a symbol of triumph!  It represents the one place in time when the Son of God, Jesus Christ, met all the requirements of a substitutionary sacrifice for man's sin, taking on Himself the sins of the whole world.  And the symbolism doesn't end there, for He triumphed over that death through the resurrection.  If the cross does not include the resurrection, it is an inadequate symbol.  Christ's death and resurrection supply the true significance of the empty cross.

The Dividing Symbol Of History, excerpted from Power Of The Cross © 1998 by Tim LaHaye.  Published by Multnomah Publishers, Inc.  Used by permission of Tim LaHaye Ministries, PO Box 21796, El Cajon, CA 92021.  Excerpt may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of Tim LaHaye Ministries - http://www.timlahaye.com/

Power Of The Cross (ISBN 1-57673-212-6) Copyright © 1998 by Tim LaHaye, published by Multnomah Books.
Multnomah Publishers, Inc.  P.O. Box 1720, Sisters, Oregon 97759 - http://www.multnomahbooks.com/

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