That Foolish Cross

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing, but to us that are being saved it is the power of God.  (1 Corinthians 1: 18)

This week I had an interesting dream. Not that I am a prophet mind you and the dream did stem from a photo I saw the evening before but it's theme resonates in my heart and so I will share it with you.

Over the Labor Day weekend my family spent a few days with each other at a place called Camp Geneva. Everyone had a wonderful time and there were a lot of activities that keep anyone as busy or as laid back as they wanted. One of my daughters put together a scavenger hunt where we divided the family up into different groups to go through the camp ground and then take selfies of our little group with the items we found.

Some of the more interesting or fun photos were posted on our family group section on FB a day or two after we returned home and one showed our group standing in front of a wooden cross in a little outdoor prayer spot overlooking beautiful Lake Michigan. We had just seen another group getting their picture taken at that spot and not having looked through the whole scavenger list we thought that we might as well do the same. But then someone (maybe me) said that one of the items needed was showing our group with crazy faces. This we did.

It was only when my daughter posted the resulting picture did we humbly realize that, (to use the common exclamation which I always avoid but it works well here, OMG!) we WERE making crazy faces standing IN FRONT OF A CROSS.

So that night I had a dream and in the dream was the same cross. I was in the back of a church sanctuary and sitting there was a single wide bed. A plain wooden cross was lying just above the bed, the top resting on and between the spindles at the head of the bed, the bottom resting on and between the spindles at the base, the arms extending beyond each side.

A priest in vestments approached the cross and bed from the base and he was going to bless the cross. I thought perhaps he was going to use holy water and pour it on the cross but instead he got out a small vial of anointing oil, put a little on his fingers and then squeezed out a few drops upon the cross.

I then put my hand on the oil and began spreading it upon the rest of the cross. Someone from the crowd standing at the other side of the bed/cross did the same and as we were spreading the oil out there was more than enough to cover the entire thing. I remember that I was in tears while doing so. Then the dream ended.

Perhaps this dream was only a reaction of my subconscious from just seeing myself in a picture making a funny face in front of the cross. Perhaps the picture and the dream were a God thing where He puts together for me different things that then have a certain message He wants me to understand. If the later is so, and I believe it is here, then the question is if the message is for me personally, for someone else in particular, or for another reason. My feeling is that it was a word from the Lord and that it was not just for me personally.

To me the symbolism seems pretty clear. I have been writing a bit lately about revival and very recently had a post called The Next Great Awakening and I believe the picture and dream point to what will be the driving focus of the next great revival in our land.

If I could say in one sentence what I think God is saying to me through this it would be:

The next great move of God will focus on the cross.

Here is how I interpret the symbolism. The photo shows how the message of the cross is pretty much being mocked today (Ouch!)

The cross on the bed in the back of the church represents the church and society in general where the message of the cross is asleep. What does that mean? What message is forgotten, glossed over or even mocked in many churches today? I believe it is this -  

At a particular point in time Jesus was beaten, whipped, mocked and then nailed to a wooden beam and the shedding of His blood and His death on that cross was to pay the penalty for our sins that we as sinful men and women could not pay. The message of the cross is that there is no other way for mankind as a whole or for each of us as individuals to be justified before the Father except through what Jesus did for us on that cross. It is just like the refrain from the song that was always sung at the end of a Billy Graham crusade; "Just as I am, without a plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me."

The oil represents the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the anointing will spread as the message of the cross is spread, bringing tears of repentance and many souls into the kingdom of God.

Will the revival somehow start with the Holy Spirit bringing a fresh revelation of the message of the cross to Catholics? That part, as does the rest I guess, remains to be seen.

Here are some verses from the 1st and 2nd chapters of 1 Corinthians. Paul is addressing divisions in the early church concerning both personalities and theology. When Paul ministered he did so in the power of the Holy Spirit with both signs and wonders but he says his message was always very simple and direct. This was because he did not want followers of Paul. He wanted to make followers of Jesus Christ. It is only through Jesus and his death on the cross that man could have eternal life.

Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech so that the cross of Christ would be made void. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For indeed, Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness. But to those that are called, both Jews and Greeks, (the cross is) the power of God and the wisdom of God.

God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong . . . so that no man may boast before God.

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, so that just as it is written, "Let him who boast, boast in the Lord."

When I came to you brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I was determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

The message of the cross is that through death comes life. It is through the death of Jesus on the cross and our desire and confession that Jesus death on the cross provides forgiveness for our sins that He becomes our Savior and we then gain eternal life.

The message of the cross is also that we identify with what Jesus did by denying ourselves the lordship of our lives. On the cross Jesus surrendered to the will of the Father. We surrender to the will of the Father by then surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus. This is on the one hand not easy because we need to trust by faith that He loves us and thus His will, even if goes against our desires or what is taught by the world is truly best for us. Yet on the other hand, when we step out in faith, when we carry the cross of Christ in obedience, there is nothing more freeing.

I think the power of the next great revival will be in the simplicity of the message, the redeeming power of the cross. May all who run toward it be blessed.