A Cross to Carry
There are many people today who do not want to be called an enemy of God, but they do not want to serve Him either. Unlike Switzerland that claimed neutrality during World War II, it is impossible to be neutral to the Christian religion.
In some places in the world today it is popular to call yourself a Christian. In New Testament times during the first century, the Christian religion was not popular at all; in fact, it was very unpopular to be called a Christian. One would wonder why the Christian religion was so unpopular and shunned by the masses when Jesus did so much good, healing all manner of sickness and diseases and this often in public places.
Jesus explained it this way in the Sermon on the Mount: “Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13, 14.
Notice, He said that most people would take the easy way and go down the broad road. There would be only a few who would tackle the narrow way, which seems more difficult and restricted. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’ ” Matthew 16:24, 25. He went on to ask, “What do you really gain and what are you profited if you should gain the whole world, and lose your own soul” (verse 26)?
The statement Jesus made was unpopular and still today is not desired by the masses. Self-denial is not popular. But Jesus said that not only are you to deny yourself, but also you are to take up your cross and follow Him. The cross was an instrument of torture and cruelty and ignominy. Paul explained what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus: “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24.
Paul further explains what it means in Galatians 5:19–21. He said, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness [licentiousness], idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Those who practice the works of the flesh, as they are outlined here, he says will not inherit the kingdom of God, but those that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh. They have crucified those evil passions and desires of the flesh—their sinful nature. To take up your cross means to crucify the sinful nature, or the flesh.
There is something else that is involved in taking up your cross, and Jesus talked about it in Matthew 10:34–39. He said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies [foes] will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Notice what Jesus was saying here. He is talking about the conflict that will occur in people’s families because of the Christian religion “a man’s foes will be those of his own household.”
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” I Corinthians 3:16, 17 KJV. If a drug that is destroying his body enslaves a person, then he must crucify that craving and stop using the harmful substance if he would be a Christian. It would also be a cross to bear for a man or woman whose spouse is angry and threatening divorce because he or she has chosen to follow the Lord and to be obedient to all His commandments.
There are many promises for those who choose to deny themselves, lift up their cross and follow Jesus. Listed are a few things the Christian receives in return. Notice, first, John 15:11. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”
He promises peace. He said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27. “The hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:32, 33.
Love and joy and peace are promised to all of Jesus’ followers right now in the present life. However, in addition to the promises relating to this present life, He has also made promises for the future life. Concerning those who have taken up their cross and followed Him, He said, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal [everlasting] life.” Matthew 19:29. Jesus Christ has made wonderful promises to those who follow Him, and His word is truth on which we can depend.
Now there is something, however, that is very important to understand, since we have been talking about the cross and about the need for the Christian to take up his cross and follow Jesus if he would receive salvation. It is important to understand that God does not make the crosses. God has never made the cross, and it was never something that He intended that any human being should ever have to bear. The Bible is very clear that God does not tempt anyone. Notice what James said, in James 1:13 and 17: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. … Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
The crosses that we bear in this world are the result of sin, inherited and cultivated sin. Consider the drunken person, for example, or the addict; it is not God’s desire for him to be this way, but because of the subtle influence of the world and the devil and his own sinful nature, he has fallen into an evil habit, which has become an addiction. Neither is there anything burdensome or grievous about God’s commandments. John tells us, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” I John 5:3.
The cross in the family occurs when a Christian has a desire to keep all of God’s commandments and because the other members of the family do not have the same conviction, they are inspired by Satan to oppose him or her because they love the world and not God. There is no cross in the commandments themselves; we read that they are not burdensome.
The world has chosen to make God’s rest day a common workday. This is something that has happened because the world at present is being ruled mainly by the devil. When a person chooses to follow God and obey Him and follow Him in obedience to all of His commandments, that person will be opposed by the world and by the devil.
The question might be asked, Is it possible to be saved without opposition? The Bible very clearly answers this—No! It is not possible to be saved without opposition. Notice what Paul said: “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” II Timothy 3:12. So, although God doesn’t create any of our crosses and it is not His will for us to have any, the devil will always oppose anyone who chooses to follow the Lord making it impossible to follow Him without opposition. If you are not willing to endure opposition, then you cannot be saved. “Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” Matthew 18:7.
In God’s mercy He prepares us for the offenses that have to come and gives many promises to those who suffer persecution or trouble or trial because they have chosen to follow Him. Notice what the apostle Paul said about this: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” I Corinthians 10:13.
Because the cross involves following Jesus up the narrow way, do not ever get the idea that there are no hardships for those who choose the wide easy road of the world. In fact, there is no easy way. There is pain and suffering for the worldly person too, and he will be forced to endure it but without the promise of Jesus when He said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age [world].” Matthew 28:20. Those who choose not to follow Jesus will not avoid pain and suffering. The Bible says, in Proverbs 13:15, that “the way of the unfaithful is hard.” And in Isaiah 57:21, the Lord says, “There is no peace … for the wicked.”
Remember that Jesus said, in Matthew 7:13 and 14, there are two ways: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” There is a narrow way and a broad way. Only a few people will choose the narrow way for it is restricted. Most people will go down the broad road because that way seems easier and does not require any self-denial. On that road everyone does what is right in his own eyes disregarding the Lord’s instruction, but there are consequences! In Psalm 37:37 and 38, David said, “Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.”
There are two paths. One is a narrow path where you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. There you will have joy and peace and the comfort of His presence on your journey and experience, at the end of the path, everlasting life. The other path, the one that Jesus said most people would choose, is the broad path. It begins with ease and pleasure with no self-denial. But Satan is a cruel, hard, taskmaster and just around the corner, out of sight, the path gets harder and harder as you go along, and the farther you travel on that road makes it more difficult to make a U-turn. It involves sickness, heartache, despair and, in the end eternal death.
Concerning the future for those who choose to go up the narrow way, this is what the apostle Paul said: “As it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” I Corinthians 2:9, 10.
In the book of Isaiah, the prophet outlines the future reward of the righteous. In chapters 11, 35 and again in chapter 65, he outlines the wonderful future for God’s children, a place where there is no sickness, or death, or trouble of any kind. John also describes the future. He said, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’ ” Revelation 21:1–4.
That is the wonderful, exciting and glorious future that is in store for those who choose to go up the narrow way, take up their cross and follow Jesus. Unfortunately, most of the people in the world today are comfortable traveling on the broad road. The Bible clearly predicts over and over that the majority of people in the world will be on Satan’s side of the question at the end. Revelation 13:3 says, “I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.”
In the next verse it says that they worshiped it. That, of course, is contrary to the law of God, the second commandment, but that is what most of the world will be doing. It says, all the world was astonished and they followed the beast—that is, the antichrist—and worshiped it. Then, in verse 14, concerning the beast that comes from the land, it says, “He deceives those who dwell on the earth, by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who is wounded by the sword and lived.”
Again, in Revelation 16, and this is so important that the prophet emphasizes it over and over again, in the last half of the book of Revelation, that most of the world will be deceived and will go down the broad road at the end. Notice what it says: “I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Verses 13, 14.
The whole world will be deceived. This is incredible and is repeated in Revelation 12, 13, 16, 17, 18 and again in chapter 19. Over and over again, in the last half of the book of Revelation, it says that in the last days the whole world will choose to go down the broad road, except for very few people that the Bible calls “the remnant.” It is hard to imagine that the whole world will be deceived, and they will persecute and oppose God’s people. The remnant will be denied the ability to buy and sell because of an effort to force them to receive the mark of antichrist, the mark that will mark them for destruction, for eternal destruction.
The sign that distinguishes God’s children in the last days, those who chose to be on God’s side of the question, is found in Revelation 14:12. After describing the mark of the beast, the image to the beast, those worshiping it, and the warning not to do that, it identifies who God’s children are during this time. The Bible says, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12.
The sign that you are God’s child has always been the same since the beginning of time. It is the sign of obedience, a determination to obey God and follow Him doing His will. Hebrews 8:10 tells what God promises His followers, His children, through the new covenant. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
Revelation is a symbolic book. It talks about everybody in the world in the last days receiving a symbolic mark or seal in their forehead. You can read about it in Revelation 14. Satan opposes this because he wants people to receive the mark of antichrist, which is the mark of rebellion that will cause those who receive it to meet with eternal destruction. It is Satan’s plan, first, to deceive the great majority and then to coerce, or force, the rest into submission, thus sweeping the whole world into his net. The Bible predicts that the majority will be deceived and almost the whole world will array itself against God and His people in the last days (Revelation 13:13–17). God gives a warning to those who are about to do this (Revelation 14:9–12). It is a message of warning to help anybody that is willing to listen to be prepared and to not receive the mark of destruction. In the last days, everyone in the world will receive a symbolic mark. Some will receive what is called the seal of God (Revelation 7), and others will receive what is called the mark of the beast (Revelation 13) or the mark of antichrist or the mark of destruction.
The world today is in the process of rejecting God’s last warning message, and people are preparing to receive the mark of rebellion. The second coming of Christ will be completely different than the first coming of Christ. At His first advent, Jesus came as a sin bearer, to bear the sins of the world. But at His second coming, this is not His mission; He is coming as king of kings and Lord of Lords. He is coming to judge the world. When He comes, the whole world will be divided into two camps, those who have the seal of loyalty—the seal of God spoken of in Revelation 7, and those who have the mark of rebellion, the mark of the beast—the mark of antichrist, spoken of in Revelation 13 and 14. Those who have the seal of God will be those who keep His commandments and have the faith of Jesus.
The whole world will be divided into just two groups, two camps. One camp will all be saved and the other will all be lost. In which camp will you be?
(Unless otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)
Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.