--THE BEAUTY OF THE CROSS ~~

---"I was in East Africa once to assist at the opening of a Kenyan library in the town of Butere. It was to be a notable occasion. Even the vice president of Kenya arrived—in a helicopter. One of the features that pleased the attending thousands was the addition of a sparkling fountain!

A fountain … What more beautiful emblem to attract us than a great fountain, like the fountains of Kansas City, or the Trevi Fountains of Rome.

Twenty-five centuries ago, it was the fountain of coming salvation as announced by the prophet Zechariah during the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s ruined temple. The terrible ordeal of Jewish exile in far-away Babylon was over. Now was the time to speak of future restoration and the coming momentous Day of the people’s Messiah and Savior!

“On that day,” predicted Zechariah, “a fountain will be opened …” (Zechariah 13:1).

This evidently refers to Christ’s first coming—an event that would completely eclipse every previous landmark of history. However, the joyous “opening” of this fountain was linked to a stark reference only a few sentences earlier, when Zechariah adopted the stance of the Lord in his prophetic words: “They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child” (Zechariah 12:10).

Hundreds of years passed before the Apostle John was to quote these words in direct fulfillment of the death of Jesus (John 19:34). And further still—beyond Judaism itself— the Cross was to exhibit a universal embrace! For “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him” (Revelation 1:7).

What a day that was going to be for those who had shouted for Christ’s death, only to learn later that he was indeed their rightful Messiah! (Acts 2:36-37). And yet by God’s grace, such sorrow would be turned into joy for thousands—and then millions—of new believers. “The house of David” was to be widened to the spiritual seed of Christ worldwide, just as “the inhabitants of Jerusalem” would become the New Jerusalem of the international Christian church.

A fountain for all was to be opened at the Cross. Its beauty, yet solemnity, coalesces in songs that tear at the heart, yet heal the soul:

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins …

The testimonies to the cleansing power of Jesus Christ cascade across our human story. Sometimes they take the form of correspondence:

“Words cannot convey the inspiration and effect upon me; it has happened like a thunderclap! (From a 63-year-old).

“I felt great weights were being lifted off me. It seems as if all my reading of other religions has been preparing me for our Lord to come” (From an Indian Brahmin).

“Then one day you find the strength to admit that you were wrong, and, most strangely, it does not hurt. Rather it seems like the most natural thing in the world, as if you were coming home” (From a student at Cambridge University).
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“With you is the fountain of life,” sang David in Psalm 36:9. It is a transforming realization that the fountain of Salvation is none other than a Person—the Lord Himself. It is He who directed these words to Jeremiah: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13, NKJV).

The “cisterns” of thirsty human devising have been many—ranging from the appeasing of remote deities, exhaustive pilgrimages, intricate religious ceremonies, sociopolitical activism, or annual bathing in the river Ganges. Yet the guilt remains—for the attempts at cleansing are repeated again and again.

But Christ’s offer in John chapter 7—spoken at the Jewish feast of Tabernacles—drew on the age-old custom originating from the grateful joy of drawing water from Jerusalem’s Pool of Siloam after the Israelites returned from the Babylonian exile (Isaiah 12:3). The offer of Jesus is beautiful in its appeal:

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:37-38).

The clear implication was that—first, at Calvary’s Cross—the guilt of sin would be dealt with, and then—through Pentecost’s gift of the indwelling Spirit—the power for a new life would be bestowed. And this for the thirsty—“whoever”… “anyone”—who was to come to Christ in faith, across the full span of time. In the words of Jesus, “drinking” meant believing.

And even in Heaven today Christ is ever present as the divine fountain, from whose throne flows the river of water, as clear as crystal (Revelation 22:1).

The fountain—from Calvary’s cross onward—has remained open, and it is all of love. When George Whitefield was once preaching in London, he said of Jesus: “The Jews, when He only shed a tear at poor Lazarus’ funeral, said, ‘Behold how He loved him.’ How much more justly then may we cry out, ‘Behold how He loved us!’ When He … did not spare to shed His own most precious blood for us.”

There lies the beauty of “The Wondrous Cross.” ©2016 Richard Bewes
[Jesus is calling you today. If you have not received Him as your Lord and Savior, please don't hesitate another day. "Let He who is thirsty, Come to the Water of Life." No one knows what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future....Jesus Christ!
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