Christ, God’s Power and God’s Wisdom

Christ, God’s Power and God’s Wisdom

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Cor. 1:18. “But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Vs. 23-24.

Christ was a man. 1 Tim. 2:5; 1 Cor. 15:21. He had to be crucified so that God’s power and God’s wisdom could be revealed through Him. This also applies to us. Our man [human nature—Ed.] has to be crucified. Therefore Jesus spoke about the cross long before He was on Calvary. If we want to follow Him, we have to take up our cross and deny ourselves. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. This is the effect it has on them; but for us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

When we proclaim Christ crucified, it affects the majority who come and listen as if we only spoke about the cross, death, and self-denial. “You always speak about this cross and this death,” they say. But for those who are called, it has a totally different effect. They hear about God’s power and God’s wisdom.

We can see that when people live according to their human reasoning and their desires, the result is grief, anxieties, need, hatred, and divorce. Jesus came to do God’s will and not His own; therefore we can have God’s wisdom revealed to us through Jesus. We can see the results of His self-denial—keeping His human nature crucified. The result was the virtues of Christ and the resurrection from the dead. What a glorious result, which has given hope to all of mankind.

That same wisdom is at our disposal. What is God’s wisdom? It is God’s commandments. Jesus was perfected through obedience. Heb. 5:8-9. He gave these commandments to His disciples before He ascended. Acts 1:2. These are the commandments which Paul so seriously and powerfully urges Timothy to keep without spot and blameless until Jesus Christ’s appearing. All those who follow Jesus on this way of the cross—death to their human nature—and learn obedience, become Jesus’ brethren. They will be along in the rapture. Death cannot keep them, and while they are alive, they live a peaceful, joyful, and blessed life. This is God’s wisdom with man, the wisdom that was revealed through Christ.

Many people say, “Well, this sounds wonderful, but how can we possibly live it?” Jesus did not just reveal God’s wisdom but also God’s power. He had a body like ours. Heb. 2:14. He lived under the same conditions as we do. Heb. 4:15. He was found [in fashion] as a man. Phil. 2:8. It is this power that God demonstrated in Christ’s life and which is available to us. Eph. 1:19-20.

As we can see, we are to live this resurrection life with our corruptible body. This is the work that God revealed through His Son by letting Him be born into mankind. By bearing in our body the dying of Christ, the life of Christ is manifested in our mortal flesh. 2 Cor. 4:10-11.

When those who are in the flesh come and hear the word of the cross and hear Christ crucified preached, it is an aroma of death to death for them. They hear nothing but cross and death. But the elect, who hate their own life, hear about God’s power and God’s wisdom.

Now the church, the body of Christ, is to be built. When the commandments that Jesus gave to His disciples become part of our life, we are built up to be a habitation of God in the Spirit. 1 Pet. 2:4-5. Then we can also understand why it was so much on Paul’s heart that the commandments be kept without spot and blameless. If we are built up by commandments that are adapted to our times or defiled by our times, we will not fit onto the Chief Cornerstone, Christ. Christ’s fellow workers and builders need to be faithful on this point. The person who is defiled by the age in which he lives builds at a slant and will be put to shame at Jesus’ return.