Cross of Christ
(Introduction to The Law)
The cross of Christ is a physical symbol
intended to speak to the physical, carnally minded, sense ruled
man. The individual who only sees from a physical
perspective cannot truly see God and he cannot see himself in any
other way except from a fleshly standpoint. He judges his
actions, circumstances, thoughts, attitudes, yes and his whole
life in light of what he can understand from an earthly or
physical perspective. He not only judges himself but
he judges others not from a standpoint of enlightened spiritual
understanding, but from the darkness wherein he is trapped.
He judges fleshly actions and motivations while being basically
motivated from a fleshly standpoint himself and yet he
doesn’t realize it. Because of his physical perception
and viewpoint, he has placed himself, as well as all of mankind,
under the law.
The law was and is of the flesh.
It was designed to deal with the flesh on a fleshly level, or at
least, on a level that a person of fleshly perspective could
understand. Yet God intended it to be spiritual. As
The Apostle Paul said, “The law is spiritual, but I am
carnal sold under sin” (Romans 7:14). The reason
mankind, as a whole, has not embraced the law as a true spiritual
code but continues to try to enforce it on a physical level
and after the flesh is because his mind and perspective is still
fleshly (physically oriented) and hasn’t truly been
regenerated or “born again” to reflect a truly
spiritual point of view.
The Cross of Christ, on one level, is a
purely fleshly (or physical) symbol given to a carnally minded
world which, for the most part, has a very limited spiritual
perspective. Before a carnal mind can be raised (or
resurrected) to a spiritual perspective, it must deal with the
guilt that it attributes not only to itself but to others as a
result of living under a physical law or physical code (i.e. The
10 Commandments and other physical laws) that it has not been
able to perfectly keep. This guilt must be transferred or
lifted or somehow erased so that the individual can rise up from
the weight of it in order to enter in to a
The Cross is a physical symbol that portrays
a vertical plane or relationship penetrating a horizontal plane.
It symbolizes the spirit realm penetrating the physical plane.
It is also symbolic of a tree. Paul wrote in the book of
Galations concerning Christ and the cross when he said,
“Cursed is every one that hangs from the tree”
(Galatians 3:10-13). The tree that the cross is symbolizing
is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (spoken of in the
Book of Genesis). It refers to that tree in the midst of
the garden that God told Adam (Adam symbolizes you and me or
mankind in general) not to partake of (Genesis 2:17).
(Note: The original Hebrew translation
in Genesis for the “tree of the knowledge of good and
evil” meant literally “knowing” or
“judging” good and evil. Also note that the first
thing Adam and Eve did after partaking of the fruit of the tree
was to judge their physical fleshly bodies as being
naked and somehow shameful, perhaps connoting evil and needing to
be covered. Remember when Adam and Eve hid from God because
they were naked, He asked them, “Who told you that you were
naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I told you not
to eat?” As soon as they partook of the tree, their
perspective changed and they began to focus in on the condition
of and acts of the flesh. (Note: The tree that causes
you to judge the flesh and to focus in on the acts of and
condition of the flesh man is the law.) Adam and Eve
thought their flesh needed a covering so they made themselves a
covering out of leaves! How ridiculous! The first
strong wind that came along would blow that covering away and it
certainly would not endure long with any kind of exposure to the
elements. Those leaves they used, I’m convinced, were
fig leaves and the fig tree represents the law, but that’s
another article.
So, man tried to use the law to cover his
flesh, his fleshly thoughts, actions, desires, etc. But God
saw that leaves obviously wasn’t going to work, so He made
Adam and Eve a covering out of animal skins. Guess what
animal He used….why, a lamb of course! God allowed a
precious innocent lamb to give its life to provide a covering for
man’s flesh! Because leaves, or the law, simply
wouldn’t work and the very thought that it might was
ridiculous! The law can only govern physical fleshly
actions but has no power to change the heart; at least not as
long as it is viewed from a physical perspective. But, as
we have already seen, the law was actually intended to be a
spiritual thing, but unborn again man with his fleshly
perspective could only see it as a physical fleshly thing with a
lot of physical do’s and don’ts.)
So, the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil is the tree of judgment and judging everything from a
physical perspective instead of a spiritual one. It is what
got Adam and Eve removed from the “Garden of Eden” (the
Garden symbolizes the Kingdom of God or the realm of the spirit
or spiritual understanding and perspective). It is what
ultimately introduced death into man’s being. (Note:
God told Adam and Eve that the day you eat of the fruit of this
tree you shall surely die! They didn’t die physically,
but they did die spiritually. Their perspective
“fell” from being spiritual to being physical.)
Think about it, every day we are Adam and
Eve in the Garden of Eden and we constantly choose whether to eat
of the fruit of the tree of judging after the flesh, or to eat of
the fruit of the tree of life (which is hearing the revelation of
the Word and walking after the spirit and seeing from a spiritual
perspective as God views things). As God said, “Behold
I have set before you this day, life and death, blessing and
cursing, therefore, choose life!”
Yes, the cross symbolized the intersection
of the spirit realm with the physical realm. It is no
accident that the symbol for a man or a male is a cross. The
symbol for woman or female is a cross with a circle at the top.
Through out the Bible, the spirit is represented as a male or
masculine force. God is portrayed as male. Does God
really have gender? Of course not. But it was
given for man’s sake because of his limited mind and
perspective to see God as a masculine or male force. Likewise,
the soul is portrayed or personified in the female gender (Psalms
34:2). The symbol of PEACE for the hippies in
the ‘60’s was a cross (the cross of Christ)
intersecting the circle (representing the female soul). The
Cross of Christ when combined with the feminine characteristics
of the soul (emotional and preoccupied by fleshly things and
circumstances) will produce PEACE and spiritual maturity
in that soul. In fact, it is one of the most effective ways
to help the soul become aware of the spiritual realm and the
Kingdom of God and to start to grow and mature to the point where
the individual truly begins to take on the mind of Christ. “Christ”
means the anointed one that came out from God. That is all
of us. The scripture tells us that we are all a part of
“The Body of Christ” with Jesus being the head of the
body. But we are all part of the body and so we are all
entitled to the title of Christ because that which is Christ
dwells in us and is part of us.
We all must take up the cross of Christ and
die to our physical perceptions of ourselves, of God, of Jesus,
and of our brothers and sisters here in this earthly realm.
The “old man” with his fleshly point of view and
perspective must be crucified and a new “born again”,
resurrected man must take his place. The second Adam (I
Corinthians 15:45-49) supplants the first Adam just as Jacob
supplanted Esau and David supplanted Saul. The same
spiritual picture (the “new man” or spiritual man
replacing the “old man” or carnally minded man) is
portrayed time and time again through out the scriptures and it
is time for us to open our spiritual eyes and see it and
understand it. This supplanting or new birth is not
something that takes place instantaneously but we must travail in
birth to bring forth the Christ child (Revelation 12:2,5 and
Romans 8:22) .
So, the “Old Man” with his carnal
fleshly perspective must be crucified on the cross of Christ and
die so that the “New Man”, the BORN AGAIN man
with a spiritual perspective and the mind of Christ, can
resurrect and come forth from the tomb! It is time for
Easter Sunday to occur in each of our lives!
The Cross of Christ must be born by each and
every one of us or we will not see a manifestation of the
return to the