The
Bible - when we stand back and view it as a whole - gives
us two views of the universe. Firstly there is the
standpoint of eternity and of God's eternal purpose. From
this the universe is Christo-centric. Secondly there is
the standpoint of the incursion of sin, with all its
effects. From this point of view the universe is
Redempto-centric. The former represents the tremendous
significance of Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man.
The latter sets forth the terrible and glorious meaning
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified; in other words, the
Cross. It is with this second, as with the wheel within
the greater wheel, that we are now occupied. The greater
has become wholly dependent upon the other, and so the
Cross becomes adorned with all the significance of the
universal purpose of God from eternity to eternity.
In order
to meet any misconception as to unbalanced emphasis, let
us once and for all say that, according to the revelation
of the entire Word of God, both in the Old and New
Testaments, the Cross is now basic to everything, and the
diagram which is before you [click here] represents a wheel with all its
spokes and its rim, and its wheels within wheels, but the
hub of everything is the Cross of the Lord Jesus. It is
not one of the spokes; it is not one of the lines of
teaching; but it gathers up in itself everything, and it
makes possible everything. If you fail to recognize God's
place and God's meaning for and in the Cross of the Lord
Jesus, it is then that you become unbalanced; you become
departmental, your perspective is thrown out and your
vision is distorted. For the right adjustment and
regulation and balancing of all truth you must place the
Cross right at the center and see the relationship of
everything else to it, and of it to everything else.
We
venture to say that there is not a theme in all the Word
of God relative to the eternal purpose of God which is
not governed by the Cross of the Lord Jesus. In the
smallest matters of practical everyday life, the Cross is
to have its place, and from commonplace things the
application is to be made to ever widening circles.
Of
course, it is understood that the phrase "the
Cross" does not merely mean the crucifixion of
Christ, but the death, the burial, the resurrection and
ascension to the throne, and the sovereign relationship
vested now in Christ there for us; all is by way of the
Cross. We never see the throne apart from the Lamb in the
midst thereof "as though it had been slain."
Everything is gathered up in the phrase: "Jesus
Christ and Him crucified," and when "the
Cross" is mentioned, "Christ crucified"
with all that that implies is meant.
So then,
let us recognize once and for all, that the Cross is not
a specific line of teaching, not a department of truth,
not an isolated message in an unbalanced emphasis, but
the all-comprehending, all-explaining center of the
universe. It is the hub of the wheel. To it and from it
all the spokes move through clearly defined circles of
Divine instrumentality and activity unto the farthest
bound of the universe; in the superheavenlies, the
heavenlies "Far above all": there the Cross is
still. You never get outside of the range of the Cross.
Having
said that the Cross is not a phase of truth, but is now
the center or hub of all the truth - the basis, the
issue, and the explanation of everything - we shall now
proceed to see how that is so in relation to the four
major lines of revelation as to Christ. These four
'spokes' moving out from the hub and ever coming back to
it are:
1. The Person of Christ.
2. The Holy Spirit.
3. The So Great Salvation.
4. The Coming Again of the Lord.