THE TWO SIDES OF THE CROSS (INTRODUCTION)

“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” 

Mark 8:34 (KJV)

Dela comes from a royal family whose empire extends beyond Africa to even the new world. His father was the most powerful emperor, he had the most powerful army and an infinite economic might. But Dela’s father had one unfulfilled heart desire- that was to have someone go as a ransom to redeem some slaves who were being held in captivity in a very dark and evil province. Although, he had all the power and authority to rescue the slaves without necessarily paying a ransom, the principle and the law he had enacted blocks Him from doing that. 

Being a beloved son, Dela decided to go and become the ransom so as to bring joy to his father. Before he embarks on this important journey to rescue the slaves, he was briefed on the nature of the journey. He was made to understand that the first part of the journey is very rough, rugged and uncomfortable, whereas the last part of the journey is very smooth, glorious and full of rewards.

In the similitude of Dela, Jesus Christ had to come down from heaven to rescue the human race from bondage. The human race had been held in bondage by Satan over 4000 years and Jesus Christ decided to come down from heaven as a ransom so us to redeem us. 

He was also briefed of the paths he has to embark on and was made to understand that the first would be rough, rugged, full of pain and very uncomfortable. The details of the 1^st part of the journey were prophesied to him as follows- Isaiah 53: 2-9 (KJV) “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 

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 everyone 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. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.”

And the second part of the journey was also prophesied as follows – Isaiah 61: 1 -11 (KJV) “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, 

the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, 

and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed. 

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.”

When Jesus Christ came to the earth to save the human race he had to go through a difficult path of carrying his own cross and eventually dyeing on it as stated in  Phillippians_2:8 (KJV) “ And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” This process which represent the first part of the journey is classified as THE ROUGH SIDE OF THE CROSS; it represents the troubles, trials, persecutions and all that he had to go through so as to carve a way of rescue for the human race. 

And the voyage on the second path which represented the smooth part of the cross was only predicated on him finishing the first Journey; avoiding the first path was non-negotiable and Jesus was fully aware of that and that was why he made this statement in Mathew_26:39 (KJV) “ And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

The second path represents the SMOOTH SIDE OF THE CROSS, it is the place of Glory, pleasure, dominion, power, joy unspeakable etc as stated in Mathew_26:64 (KJV) “Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” That is the part of the cross that attracts the crowd, the crowd wants the power and its accompanying glory but is not ready to walk the path that leads to the smooth side of the cross. 

A woman once laid a request to Jesus regarding the smooth part of the cross and the dialogue accentuated the heftiness of the price to be paid for that part in Mathew 20:20 - 22 (KJV) “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.” 

The price we have to pay so as to experience the power and the Glory of God is daunting but it is achievable, as long as we make up our minds and rely on the Holy Spirit. We must be ready to defy the odds and stand our ground in paying this price as Jesus Christ did in Hebrew_12:2(KJV) “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

It is not possible to carry one part of the cross (the smooth part-Glory) and refuse to carry the other side (rough part). Just as Jesus Christ carried his cross that had the smooth side and the rough side so as to please God, we must also carry our cross so as to be His disciples and please God as the scriptures enjoins us in Mark_8:34 (KJV) “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Every true cross has two sides, the rough side and the smooth side, so we must embrace THE TWO SIDES OF THE CROSS.

       

“Until we embrace both sides of the cross we cannot bring true deliverance to the world”

          TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK WITH THE SUB TOPIC -“What Is The Cross?”

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