The Cross Interpreted by the Ascended Christ

“The gospel, which was preached by me that it is not according to man. For I didn’t receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:11-12.

We have already noticed the teaching of the Apostle Peter that the Spirit of Christ indwelt and controlled the prophets of old when they testified beforehand about the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

This Spirit-testimony not only revealed the Son of God as suffering death on the cross when His hour had come, but, in the broadest sense, set forth Christ as being the theme of prophecy from the beginning of the world. By the Holy Spirit He inspired the preaching of His coming sacrificial death on the cross during the centuries preceding His manifestation to the world. Since this was the case before His suffering, there is no reason to think that after He ascended into heaven, He then committed the interpretation and proclamation of His crucifixion entirely to the wisdom of men.

The apostles were eyewitness of His sufferings; but they were not left to preach what each may have thought to be the meaning of the cross, for we find, in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost, that the Third Person of the Blessed Holy Trinity, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, takes possession of the chosen band of witnesses to equip them for their work.