The Silent Voice of the Cross: How Christ Crucified Speaks to All Things

A must-read for theologians and scientists from the pen of a philosopher of science who knows Jesus. Very, very inspiring! Mike Anderson convincingly shows from Scripture how central the cross stands and speaks silently since words can never adequately describe this act of God’s love for mankind and His cosmos. As this silent voice of God speaks so loudly, the evil one cleverly tries to off-centre the cross. The latter is brilliantly exposed in creative themes. And how freeing is the illustration of the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the cross in grasping the relationship between science and theology!

Dr Jacob Pretorius (Pastor, Gereformeerde Kerk, Linden)

Each of us who seek to follow Jesus does not want to be idolatrous in our thoughts, words or actions. Idols are subtle, otherwise we would recognise them and they would lose their power. The silent voice of the cross calls us to look into our blind spots, to re-examine our thinking and to keep the main thing the main thing. It is a reminder to us of the centrality of the cross. I recommend this book unreservedly.

Revd Dr Susan van Niekerk (Chaplain, St Anne’s Diocesan College)

The Silent Voice of the Cross:

How Christ Crucified Speaks to all Things

Mike L Anderson

Published by Smashwords

Copyright 2019 Mike L Anderson

Revised 2023

ISBN 9780463555743

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Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. This ebook is freeware and may not be sold. If you have paid for it, you have been scammed.

Unless otherwise stated, quotations from the Bible are taken from Holy Bible: New International Version, Copyright © 1978 by the International Bible Society, New York.

Cover design credit: Nathan T. Anderson

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to all my prayer and financial supporters.

Acknowledgements

I am spiritually and intellectually indebted to many people, but want to especially mention Dr George Murphy for teaching me the centrality of the cross, Dr Jacob Pretorius and Revd Dr Susan Niekerk for their reviews and my meticulous editor Dr Andrew Potts. I also wish to thank my son, Nathan T Anderson, for the exquisite cover design.

Table of Contents

The Sermon on Golgotha

The Affliction of Autolatry

The Ravages of Religiolatry

The Blight of Bibliolatry

The Thorn of Thaumatolatry

The Nemesis of Naturolatry

The Scourge of Scientolatry

The Epidemic of Epistemolatry

The Cruciality of the Cross

About Mike L Anderson

Other titles by Mike L Anderson

Notes

The Sermon on Golgotha

The Sermon on the Mount is perhaps the most famous and well-loved of Christ’s sermons. It was not, however, his greatest. According to Jesus, that designation must go to the silent Sermon on Golgotha. When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount he spoke with a Galilean accent,¹ but it was not nearly as strong as his accent on Golgotha. He placed the accent most of all on the cross. His country-bumpkin accent was surely inconsequential except to raise whether it would not have been a stumbling block to the intellectually pretentious with their sophisticated city-slicker accent? But the cross was a greater stumbling block and of far more consequence. For Jesus, that final podium upon which he died was the most significant and the gallows his most influential platform.

The voice of Jesus

He, himself, said so. For it was on the eve of his execution that he said, Now the Son of Man is seen for who he is, and God seen for who he is in him (John 13:31 The Message). The same evening he prays Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you (John 17:1) and says, And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself’ (John 12:32). What does he mean by this lifted up?

Could he be referring to his resurrection when he rose out of the tomb (Mark 16:6) or his ascension when he was taken up before the disciples eyes (Acts 1:9) or the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of Christ came from heaven (Acts 2:2, Romans 8:9) or his Second Coming on the clouds of heaven (Matthew 24:30)? As vitally important as these all are, it is none of them. He is talking about his death on the cross (see accompanying painting by Jan van Noordt (1644–1676)). The Apostle John, as if anticipating that Jesus might be misconstrued, clarifies what he meant in the very next verse, saying, He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die (John 12:33).

In case this all wasn’t clear enough, Jesus only ever instituted one memorial. It wasn't whenever you get up from bed, remember my resurrection. It wasn't whenever you take a bath, remember my baptism. It wasn't whenever you get dressed for an occasion, remember my transfiguration. It wasn't whenever you walk up a set of stairs, remember my ascension. No, the memorial Jesus instituted was, And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me (Luke 22: 19).

The Apostle John says, Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written (John 21:25). Of all these things, Jesus places the greatest emphasis on his death.

The very last word uttered by Jesus testifies to the preeminence he gave to his death. New Testament scholar David Rensberger says, "Jesus’ final utterance on the cross is a single Greek word, tetelestai (John 19:30). The traditional translation It is finished barely touches what it means. Jesus is not saying, Well, that’s that. I’m done for. The verb teleō has to do with reaching a goal, completing a task or course. Jesus’ cry is positive, not negative—something more like, It’s completed! It is accomplished! The goal is achieved! What Jesus came to do has been done"² (emphasis his).

Surely, someone could say, the resurrection is up there with the crucifixion in significance. Didn’t Paul say, if Christ was not raised our faith is worthless (1 Corinthians 15:14). Now the crucifixion and the resurrection are inextricably coupled. Indeed soon afterwards Jesus says to his disciples, This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things (Luke 24:46-47). If Jesus did not rise, his death would be just like any other death. But, and this is crucial, the resurrection does not nullify the cross, it vindicates it. In the words of theologian Robert Moberly, The Resurrection is not so much a mere sequel to the Cross; or a reversal of the Cross; or a subsequent reward because of the endurance of the Cross. Rather, it is a revealing of what the Cross already was.³ Theologian Fleming Rutledge nails the point when she says, The resurrection is not a set piece. It is not an isolated demonstration of divine dazzlement. It is not to be detached from its abhorrent first act. The resurrection is, precisely, the vindication of a man who was crucified.⁴ For New Testament scholar N.T. Wright, it was not the resurrection, but the crucifixion that was the revolution in the entire story of God and the world. … The resurrection was the first visible sign that the revolution was already under way.⁵

You might think that Jesus would change the emphasis after his resurrection. He doesn’t. You might think that the risen Jesus would change the emphasis for those whose faith is faltering. He doesn’t. Two of his disciples are travelling on the road to Emmaus (see accompanying painting by Roelant Roghman (1627–1692)). It is soon after the crucifixion and their faces are described as downcast. Surely, the quickest, most effective way to bolster their faith would be for Jesus to appear before them, risen from the dead and saying, Voila, here I am. He doesn’t. Instead, they are prevented from recognising him and he rebukes them saying, How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27). Later we will look at some of the passages that Jesus may well have used. And it worked. They asked each other, Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scripture to us? (Luke 24:32). It is noteworthy that their faith response occurred before Jesus opened their eyes to recognize him and before they realised he had risen from the dead. Scripture is clear. Christ crucified is the most significant event in all of history. Those who place it elsewhere have missed the plot.⁶ And note that the Scripture opened up here is the Old Testament. The New had not yet been written.

So it is on the cross that we see God’s greatest self-revelation. The theme of the Gospel of John could well be encapsulated by And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (John 12: 32). How thick is the accent of Jesus? It is as broad as the beam upon which he died. Any other emphasis is off-beam. Those who place the accent elsewhere have just not heard him properly. And listening to him has been commanded by the highest authority - God the Father himself. At the transfiguration he said, This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him (Luke 9:35). If the Father says listen to the Son, what does the Son say? It is that we are to listen to the silent voice of the cross. If actions speak louder than words then, as we will see, the cross has spoken the loudest of all.

The voice of babes

Our eldest daughter, Rachel, is grownup and married now, but when she was six, she said something that has stuck with me. Little did she realise how true it was. We had just had supper and she had informed me that she would tell me how many dishes she would clear away.

No, I replied, "I will tell you how many dishes to clear away. "

She responded, Are you the boss around here?

As a matter of fact, I am, I said.

No you not, she replied. Jesus is.

As a matter of fact it was Rachel that was right. At least, Jesus should be the boss. More precisely Christ crucified is the boss. He couldn't look less like a boss while dying on the cross. He is the most winsome of bosses. For his is not an authoritarian bellow of a command, but rather a plaintive whimper of an invitation to discover what Love is prepared to do for you.

The voice of the Apostles

The emphasis Jesus gave to the crucifixion is shared by the Gospel writers and reflected in the space that they devote to the events in Christ’s life. The influential New Testament scholar Martin Kähler went so far as to say that the Gospel of Mark, is a passion narrative with an extended introduction.⁷ Billy Graham says, One-third of Matthew is given to a description of the death of Christ. One-third of Mark, one- fourth of Luke, and one-half of John are given to His death. All these pages are devoted to the last 24 hours of His life . . . Jesus came for the express purpose of dying for sinners. When He left heaven, He knew He was going to the cross.⁸ Philip Yancey echoes the same point, Only two of the Gospels mention the events of his birth, and all four offer only a few pages on his resurrection, but each chronicler gives a detailed account of the events leading to Jesus’ death.⁹ Fleming Rutledge says that Mark and John, in particular, have arranged their Gospels to leave no doubt that the passion is the main event. For this reason the climactic christological statement in Mark’s Gospel (Truly this man was the Son of God — 15:39) is not uttered until the moment of Jesus’ death on the cross.¹⁰

The emphasis Jesus gave to the crucifixion is also shared by the Apostle Paul. He says to the church in Corinth, For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). For Paul, Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24).¹¹ N. T. Wright says, As every serious reader of Paul has long recognized, though not so many have explored to the full, the cross of Jesus the Messiah stands at the heart of Paul's vision of the one true God.¹²

The voice of the cross

Jesus audibly declared it, but the foreordained circumstances around Calvary silently also underscore the primacy of the crucifixion. For instance, it is striking that between the crucifixion and the resurrection it was the former that was far more public than the latter. Surely the Sovereign Father could have arranged it the other way around. Christ’s death could have been a very private matter (say in a Roman prison or on his deathbed) and his appearance, after he had risen, very public (say at a political rally). Why didn’t he? Would it not be the human inclination to have it the other way around? Is God, in his sovereign hand over the Passion Week, not stressing that Christ’s silent sermon on Golgotha is his greatest?

It is also striking that there is almost no theological reflection upon the meaning of the crucifixion in the Gospel accounts. There is no recorded, post-resurrection sermon by Jesus in which he expounds on the significance of the cross. Instead, reflection upon the event is left to the Apostles. Again, why is this? Would it not be the human inclination to have Jesus give one final grand sermon just before the ascension? And then, for dramatic effect, have him give his clinching argument on his way up into heaven? Philosopher Dallas Willard drew attention to the low-profile way God goes about things saying, Remarkably, even after his resurrection Jesus continued his low-profiled ways. The human mode would have been to pay a post-resurrection visit to Pilate, perhaps, and to say something like, Now could we have that discussion about power and truth once again¹³ Is the