The Cross to Bear...

the cross to bear

He did not carry his cross...he carried the cross of Christ...he carried Jesus’

cross. We know of our indebtedness to Christ, but what of our spiritual

obligation and responsibility to Simon of Cyrene? We are to weigh his

inspiration. Simon saw our Lord physically broken down under the suffering

weight of the burden of sin. Now, let’s pause purposedly to reason.

Central to our reasoning must always be the suffering servant of God. His

suffering, his death is the sufficient sacrifice for all mankind. There should

be no debate as to the bearing of the wooden cross while there exists a much

more severe bearing of all the sins of all the sinners of the whole of the world!!

Study Matthew 27:26-35

What happened when the soldiers came out of the hall?

Study Mark 15:15-25

The soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium. He was scourged, and crowned

with thorns and contumeliously used. There they mocked him, dressed him.

Then what occurred?

Study Luke 23:20-31

Did they do something to prevent the further instances of malice? Reason

the word “after”. Was Simon following Jesus or did he relieve Jesus of the

cross?

Study John 19:13-17 and Isaiah 53:4

Let’s reason precept upon precept...

What was the weighty burden carried by Jesus? What cross was he bearing

when he went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in

the Hebrew Golgotha? Was his cross wooden or spiritual? There is no

conflict. Jesus admonishes us to take up our cross. He denied himself and

he was ready and willing to suffer, he shows us that we must suffer too, and

must be ready and willing. Here, the law of faith is laid down. The terms are

fixed, upon which we may have the honor and benefit the awesome sacrifice

made for us. It is by this that we are examined. It is a deliberate choice.

Psalms 110:3

Jesus says we are to be steadfastly minded to come to him, and if we are

that, we in like manner are to adhere to him. It is upon these terms, these

and no other; we must follow him in sufferings as well as in other things, and

therefore when we sit down to count the cost, we reckon upon it. We must

come after Christ in a continued act of self-denial, of self-emptying. We must

deny ourselves absolutely, we must not admire our own shadow, nor gratify

our own accommodation; we must not lean to our own understanding, nor

seek our own things, nor be our own end. We must deny ourselves

comparatively; we must deny ourselves for Christ, and his will and glory, and

the service of his interest in the world; we must deny ourselves for our

brethren, and for their good; and we must deny ourselves for ourselves, deny

the appetites of the body for the benefit of the soul. The cross is here put for

all sufferings, as people of faith; providential afflictions, persecutions for

righteousness' sake, every trouble that may befall us, either for doing well or

for not doing ill. The troubles of believers are fitly called crosses, in allusion

to the death of the cross, which Christ was obedient to; and it should

reconcile us to troubles, and take off the terror of them, that they are what

we bear in common with Christ, and such as he has borne before us. Every

true follower of Christ has his cross, and must count upon it; as each have

his special duty to be done, so each has his special trouble to be borne, and

every one feels most from his own burden. Crosses are the common lot of

God's children, but of this common lot each has his purposed share. That is

our cross which Infinite Wisdom has appointed for us, and a Sovereign

Providence has laid on us, as fittest for us. It is good for us to call the cross

we are under our own, and give consideration to it accordingly. Every faithful

follower of Christ must take up that which the wise God has made his

cross. Simon carried Christ's cross after him, this phrase was illustrated. The

cross is prepared for us. We must not make crosses to ourselves, but must

accommodate ourselves to those which God has made for us. Our guide is,

not to go a step out of the way of duty, either to meet a cross, or to miss one.

We must not by our rashness and indiscretion pull crosses down upon our

own heads, but must take them up when they are laid in our way. We must

so manage every affliction, that it may not be a stumbling-block or hindrance

to us in any service we have to do for God. We must take it up out of our

way, by getting over the offence of the cross; none of these things move

us; and we must then go on with it in our way, though it lie heavy upon

us. That which we have to do, is, not only to bear the cross, not only to be

silent under it, but we must take up the cross, must improve it to some good

advantage. When we rejoice in our afflictions, and glory in them, then we

take up the cross. This fitly follows upon denying ourselves; for he that will

not deny himself the pleasures of sin, and the advantages of this world for

Christ, when it comes to the push, will never have the heart to take up his

cross.

The cross is the focal point of the sanctuary and is clearly visible in the

arrangement set forth for revelation of who God is. It is the reality of the love

of God. Simon was in full obedience to God. Christ says, “follow me”, and

scripture records the act of Simon bearing the cross as he followed Jesus.

In this particular of taking up the cross. Suffering believers must look unto

Jesus, and take from him both direction and encouragement in suffering. Do

we bear the cross? We therein follow Christ, who bears it before us, bears

it for us, and so bears it from us. He bore the heaviness of the cross, that

which had the curse upon it, and so made the other light and easy for us. Or,

we may take it in general, we must follow Christ in all instances of holiness

and obedience. To do well and to suffer ill, is to follow Christ. We are to

follow Jesus in truth. We are to follow him in beginnings and continuing

to with all perseverance.

The cross Jesus bore was composed of our sins and our transgressions.

What was laid on him was the iniquity of us all. He took all the things that

were against us; the transgressions, the sins, the bondage, the sickness,

and the pain. There was a wooden cross borne by Simon of Cyrene, the

spiritual cross, by Jesus. How does this purpose God’s last day people? It

is not only accepting the difficulties of life. It is above all bearing the salvation

of the world, the load of all souls, the fight between Heaven and hell, sin and

grace. To bear one’s cross is to co-operate in the salvation of souls. We

embrace the wood of the cross in our humanity. It was our iniquities that

Christ bore. It was Jesus’ humanity that hung and died on that wooden cross.

It was his divinity that understood that He would take upon Himself the

disobedience and rebellion of humanity, thus providing an atonement for sin.

This was foreordained by God. And as we are becoming like Christ, we come

to a certain kind of death whereby the promising perfection of humbly

lowering ourselves grant us to be sharers of His own divinity as recorded in

the gospels. This cross of affliction that we are to bear brings us to Christ as

one with him whereby the faith of Jesus is shown to be the pursuit of

atonement. At stake is nothing less than life eternal. Atonement takes us

beyond faith. It puts us back in a perfection of relationship with God. Simon

carrying the cross of Christ, following Christ, represents the nature of

atonement for all who accept the sacrifice of God. Redemption, substitution,

propitiation, and reconciliation illuminate the nature of Christ’s atonement.

God is sovereign, and therefore this was not an accident or a random detail

added into the story. What’s the significance of Simon carrying Jesus’s

cross? What does God want us to see here? We don’t always choose the

moment of our cross bearing. We don’t always choose the moment of our

suffering. They come upon us in unexpected ways, frightening ways, heavy

ways, painful ways, seemingly random ways. It is our carrying on the

mission of Christ. Jesus couldn’t carry his cross, he was too weakened.

Somebody had to because the soldiers are charged, crucify him. The plan

of redemption had to be completed. Christ could not die on the street.

Simon recognized that death loomed in front of Jesus. Yet this did not deter

him from obedience...he took up the cross and followed him, bearing the

cross to the place of execution where our Jesus was crucified. What a grace

in Simon’s life. It's one thing to prepare oneself and schedule time to help

our brothers and sisters in need, but it can be quite another when that need

comes up unexpectedly. This was a perfect moment as the humanly weak

Jesus - now on the road to the cross - needed help to finish his mission. Our

redemption was made sure. We who were sold under sin choose to accept

the provision Christ made for deliverance – carrying the cross and following

him. Christ was our substitution on the cross – we can serve as his

substitution in carrying whatever cross is placed upon us willing to sacrifice

all. He is the propitiatory sacrifice for us that averts punishment for sin. We

can be propitiatory “saviors” to others according to the mercies of God.

Nehemiah 9:27

We are called to see Christ suffering all around us in the poor, in the

powerless, in the misunderstood. When a suffering person is thrust on us

unexpectedly, we may hesitate to come to their aid - His aid. We sometimes

find an excuse. We sometimes remain aloof. We must overcome and find

the wisdom and courage to help, and see the least of our brothers and sisters

just as that, and through them to serve Christ by carrying his cross. Some

have a cross that is too heavy to bear. We need not have soldiers require

us to carry the cross. Ours is to be a response to grace.

If we can love the persons in our paths so as to desire their salvation and

take responsibility for the purpose assigned us by God, humbly and

prayerfully, serving as ambassadors for Christ, fulfill our vital role in

reconciling people to God, who has given us both the service and message

of reconciliation. This is the ministry of the cross – to serve mankind.

As the election purposefully called, we have the wonderful privilege of telling

unsaved people about the bountiful blessings of salvation through Christ.

Call it “witnessing,” call it “sharing our faith,” the point is that we open a

discussion about Jesus Christ with people who may not know him or do not

believe in him. And we must understand that doing so is a genuine

expression of godly love toward another person. The enemies of God are

doing a good job of deceiving many people into believing that it is not “loving”

to share your faith with someone, as if that somehow invalidates what the

other person believes and belittles him as a human. A well-meaning person

might say, “You can’t tell another person his belief is not true. That’s not

loving!” God’s people are never fooled by such erroneous reasoning. Helping

someone have everlasting life is perhaps the most loving thing we could do

for another. It is absolutely not loving to stay quiet while people around us

get closer and closer to their death and everlasting destruction.

The true message of the cross destroys the kingdom of Satan and

accomplishes salvation for God’s people. It is a message filled with the

awesome power and wisdom of Almighty God. It is a message of pain,

suffering and death. The message of the cross is that our strength comes

out of His utter weakness. Our endurance out of His faintness, our healing

out of His wounds, our life out of His death. We see the message of the

cross as this - that out of His shame and nakedness comes His glory and

crown. This is how the Word is above the name. Wherefore God also hath

highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.

Please know and understand this...God turned the lights out on the cross. It

is as if God was saying, “You have mocked Him enough!” But, it was during

those hours of darkness where the bearing of the cross Jesus suffered the

worst of His torments. For, it was during those dark hours that your sins and

especially mine were transferred to Him. All the pain of hell and the undiluted

wrath of Almighty God were unleashed on the person of the Lord Jesus

Christ. He literally took our place on that cross. He died our death; He

suffered our hell; He paid our price! It was the darkness of death in the cross

for Christ, but for Simon, for us, it was the light of his life received in our

hearts. The bearing of our cross is our identifying with Christ. It is our casting

off sin. It is our suffering yet choosing to be faithful. The bearing of our cross

is reasonably living life for others, surrendering to God no matter where He

leads us. Let us bear one another’s burden...fulfilling the law of Christ!

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⛰ Go Deeper

This reflection is part of a larger Bible-based study on faith and transformation.

👉 Read more at OnlineBibleCourse.com

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