The Cross

SUN., OCT. 23, 1983, 6:12 AM
FARM, STUDY

You look to your right, and you can see a cross, with its shadow projected behind on the wall. As you came into this room the shadow was clear, and the theme announced itself… and yet you wonder whether I shall have enough to say about the reality and symbolism of this wooden structure. You are here, o son, and you have commenced, so We shall see.

The time and place in which I lived in the earth, as Jesus, was one of “high standards” and a strong sense of justice. It was not so much that life was cheap as it was that criminals were to be punished, and society was to be protected with executions. The cross was a cruel and painful way of execution. When it was used it meant that the criminal not only paid with his life but did so in a slow, torturing way. Watching men die in agony, however they showed it, was meant to dissuade other men from committing the crimes for which this was the payment. Executions were public and lasted the span of time necessary for the one hanging to give up his life.

The Scriptures tell that I committed no such heinous crime, but that it was represented that I posed a threat to Roman rule of the land. My Kingdom, which came with My life and ministry, was established and would grow, but, of course, was a Kingdom of Spirit, with power in that realm but no design for political, economic, and military powers.

However, My Kingdom of Spirit seemed to be in opposition to the religion of My people, the Jews. Their prophets spoke of a Messiah to come, and in a way that was exciting and hopeful, but to those in charge and in power the messiah in the flesh seemed to be a threat. I criticized the Pharisees… yes, I did. But I did not hate them, and the Biblical record comes out making Me more harsh than I truly felt in My heart and spirit. Still, I was not easy on them and their hypocritical practice of My religion, and they came to see Me, more and more, as deserving of the cross.

You know that the attitudes of your time and culture are different from those of Palestine, Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem in My time. There is no cross looming to deter the religious zealot. Yet if you loudly and persistently proclaimed to your denomination and to your local church that you received direct and important Teachings from the Holy Spirit, Who, in your theology, is One with Almighty God and Jesus, the Christ, you would be seen as a threat rather than an asset. Your cross would be more subtle and less physically painful, but the chances are high you would be nailed to a symbolic cross, in order that high and consistent religious standards might prevail. I do not ask you to do this now, but I want you to realize that in this symbolic way I am leading you into the shadow of The Cross.

If I had come initially in glory, power, and majesty I would have been accepted, and My government would have supplanted those in place. But then would come day-to-day ruling, and My Kingdom is of spirit, not of laws, currency, bureaucracy, and employment. How shall I come again? How shall I avoid The Cross, in some present day “form”, as I come again? Obviously, this is not for you to know, if it has been decided.