The-High-Cost-of-the-Cross by Joe Crews
Copyright © 1984

After his disastrous defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon, so the story goes, met with some of his leading generals to analyze the battle’s flawed strategies. In the course of their discussions, the little general pointed at England on the colored map before them and said bitterly, “Except for that red spot I would be master of the world.” Satan could say the same thing today except he would point to a cross on a hill outside the walls of Old Jerusalem. Aren’t you thankful for that red spot of Calvary that rescued this world from the control of our great enemy?
That was the place, the time, and the con- test that settled the destiny of planet earth. Satan has been a defeated foe ever since. There it was that he met his Waterloo and suffered a decisive defeat from which he will never fully recover.

How few of us understand the real meaning of Christ’s suffering and death on that cross. We have only a dim comprehension of the conflict He passed through and the kind of agonizing death He experienced. Could our eyes be opened to grasp the true significance of His sacrifice, there would be no more miserable collaborating with Satan. Our weakness would be turned into courage and victory.

The Bible writers struggled to explain, in human language, the mysterious incarnation and atoning death of the Son of God. Often we weep under the power of their inspired testimony. We get glimpses that boggle our minds, but still, we are only scratching the surface of a subject which will continue unfolding for all eternity.
Paul wrote, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:5-8. These sublime words describe the condescension of Jesus from the throne to the manger and then to the cross.