The Message of the Cross
The sin of idolatry brought down God’s awful wrath on his own people. It angered him more than any other sin in the Old Testament, so much that he declared, “The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger” (Jeremiah 7:18, NKJV).
This is God’s declaration against idolatry in the Old Testament, and he hates idolatry just as much today. It brings down his wrath on any generation, including this modern one.
A new idolatry is sweeping across our world right now. No, we don’t see people kneeling down before carved images anymore; instead, this modern idolatry seduces multitudes with its subtlety and cleverness, yet it angers God more than any Old Testament idolatry.
“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:6-8).
This “other gospel” that Paul mentions is a message of salvation without the cross. The great idolatry of our day is the casting aside of the message of the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross, including its demands and hopes, is the very heart of the gospel. Any worship, any fellowship, anything calling itself a church is blatant idolatry if the cross is not at its center. Such worship is of another spirit entirely and God will have nothing to do with it.
Without the cross, all that is left is chaff, a perverted gospel, something from the pit of hell. It is more insulting to the Lord than the idolatry of Israel.
Christ said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself” (John 12:32). This “lifting up from the earth” that Jesus mentions is his crucifixion. He was lifted up before the whole world on the cross, an image of his great sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, let’s set our hearts on the cross of Jesus Christ, the true and living gospel.
