God Revealed Himself in the Cross of Jesus Christ

Modern philosophers are debating on the topic of the hiddenness of God and the problem of evil.  They argue that even if God exists, it is not clear to most of people that God exists, what God’s nature is, and what God’s will is.  Why does God not reveal himself fully and demonstrate his presence so that anyone can believe him without doubt?  Why does it seem that he is hidden and his ways is not clearly revealed?  The problem of God’s hiddenness is similar to the problem of evil.  If God is loving, all-knowing, and omnipotent, why does he allow evil and sufferings to exist?  Why does he allow his children to go through rejections and sufferings?

If you read the Bible, even the men of God like Isaiah or Habakkuk, who had firmly believed in God, had the similar questions.  Look at Isaiah 40:27:

      Why do you say, O Jacob,
       and complain, O Israel,
       "My way is hidden from the LORD;
       my cause is disregarded by my God"?

 Also Isaiah 49:4:

      But I said, "I have labored to no purpose;
       I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.
       Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand,
       and my reward is with my God."

Habakkuk debates with God: How can a just God ignore injustice?  Why does God allow the wicked to prosper?  If God is in control, why does evil so often win?  Why is he silent while the ungodly world seems to prevail?

I have also been thinking about these things a lot.  If God exists, why does he not actively reveal himself so that people may believe him?  For example, when a travelling preacher comes to the Oval, he is usually surrounded with young students, who hurl insults and derision at him.  Isn't it so wonderful to see if God vindicated his servant through showing some miracles?  Why does God use a seemingly foolish way to reach out sinners?  1 Corinthians 1:21 says: God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached, that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Why was Jesus born not as a Roman emperor but as a baby from a poor country stock?  Why did he powerless die on the cross instead of revealing himself as Son of God with power and glory?

As you know, when children who grew up in Christian home enter college, they realize that being a Christian is not the most attractive or desirable thing among young people.  When they enter the career world, they realize also that the majority of people are not really interested in Christianity.  My question is: Why didn’t God make his ways of reaching people more attractive?  Why does he not use military power or political system or powerful institutions so that people may see that who is in charge in this universe?  Instead, he works in the means of the seeming humble of way of spreading his gospel through nameless and ordinary Christians like you and me.

It is so puzzling.  Recently I have to write my portion of the daily devotion material for CMI from Luke’s Gospel.  I found out that King Herod Antipas was very curious about seeing Jesus.  Finally, he got a chance when Pilate sent Jesus to him.  Pilate tried to evade trying Jesus when the Jewish religious leaders pressured him to do so.  When he knew Jesus was from Galilee, he promptly sent him to Herod who was in Jerusalem at that time because Galilee was under his jurisdiction.  Herod expected something great from Jesus.  He wanted to see Jesus perform some miracle and to hear marvelous things from him.  But Jesus was silent before him.  What he saw from Jesus was just an ordinary Galilee country man who powerlessly stood before him.  He could see no majesty, glory, attraction, fascination, or appeal from him.  Finally he regarded Jesus as a joke.   He ridiculed him.  He, secure in his position as king, strong with the power of his soldiers, concluded that Jesus was nothing but a pitiful person.

When Jesus hung on the cross, the people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”  Even the one of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”  If I borrow modern terms, they might have said to Jesus, “You loser!”

Why does God use the seemingly powerless Savior to save sinners?  As you know, cross is the symbol of Christianity.  If you go to any church, it is located on the most prominent place.  If you look at the top of a church building, cross is located at the steeple of the church.  Now cross is so familiar with us that we don’t view it with any feeling of disgust, revulsion, or aversion. Ladies wear a necklace with a cross-shaped pendant without being conscious of shame or ridicule associated with it.  However, in the first century cross was the first thing you want to avoid at any cost.  It was the symbol of shame and horrible crime and cruel execution. Think this in modern terms.  If a church mounts an electric chair on the wall as the symbol of what they believe, you will definitely avoid such church, saying it believes a very strange thing, and you might immediately conclude that it is a cult.  Or if you wear a necklace with an electric chair shaped pendant, your boyfriend or husband will shudder in disgust, “Please take it away.  It is so unattractive.”

If God is all-powerful, why does he not use more ostentatious and showy ways to reveal himself?  God’s way of revealing himself has been a stumbling block throughout history.  Some rejected God and even denied his existence.  On the other hand, some believed in God but their faith was challenged by what they had seen and experienced.

In Luke’s Gospel Chapter 24, you will find the two disciples who were dejectedly walking toward Emmaus.  They thought God had forsaken them and that their Messiah was dead.  The two disciples had hoped that Jesus was the one who was going to redeem Israel.  But when he died on the cross, their hope was crushed. In their disappointment and dejection, they thought everything was finished and their future was gloomy.  What they did not realize is that Jesus was standing right there beside them when they thought God had forsaken them.  The way through which the risen Jesus helped them was to teach them the Bible and explained to them that Christ had to die to save sinners.  In a sense Jesus was telling them that that was the way God designed to redeem humanity.

²⁵He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" ²⁷And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Like the two disciples, when we hold on to our own view of God’s way, we will be blind to God’s presence and his way of working just because his way seems to be unattractive or even absurd to our own eyes even if he is with us right now.

But God’s seemingly foolish way brought salvation to humanity.  Look at 1 Corinthians 1:18.  It says: “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.”  And God was pleased to work through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Indeed, God’s way is so different from our thought.  Isaiah 55:8-9 say:
 ⁸ "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
       neither are your ways my ways,"
       declares the LORD.

 ⁹ "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
       so are my ways higher than your ways
       and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Not like our thoughts and minds, God revealed himself in the cross of Jesus Christ.  How could the Almighty God, who can create and destroy all things, and who created this universe with his Sovereign power, lower himself even to the point of death on the cross?  Who thought about this kind of God?  Therefore, the Jews in Jesus’ times never accepted him as the Messiah.  They could not accept such a weak Messiah who helplessly died on the cross.  Isaiah 53:1-2 prophesied about this:

¹ Who has believed our message
       and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

 ² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
       and like a root out of dry ground.
       He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
       nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

If God reveals himself in such a humble way as he did in Jesus Christ, could you recognize him?  You may assume that if God appears right now, he will surely appear at least in the St. Peter’s Basilica or the gorgeous churches in Europe, fit for his majesty and glory.  However, if he reveals himself in your ordinary life, could you recognize his presence and his way?  The reason we cannot see God’s presence in our lives is due to our own view about God and his ways.  In a sense, God has never been hidden.  Actually he had revealed himself all the time and did fully in the cross of Jesus Christ.  The only reason we think God is hidden is because we insist on our own view of God.  If everything goes well with me, then God is with me.  Otherwise, I doubt his existence.  That’s our idea about God.

God is not hidden.  He fully revealed himself in the cross of Jesus Christ.  He revealed that how much he loves sinners and that his deepest desire is to save them from sin and death.  If you want to see God’s love toward you, look at God who was revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ.  Your difficult situations may deceive you.  They may make you think God does not care for you.  The disciples who were walking to Emmaus thought God had forsaken them.  But the risen Jesus opened their spiritual eyes so that they might see how much God was looking after them, even to the point of sending his Son to the cross.   When you feel any love from God because of your difficult situations, look at the cross and open your spiritual eyes.  God never deserted you and will not do so.

   "Never will I leave you;
      never will I forsake you." ⁶So we say with confidence,
   "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
      What can man do to me? (Hebrews 13:5, 6)

How can I be sure of this?  It is because God revealed himself as such a God in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Even though I cannot say more in detail, I want you to know that God’s power, glory, and majesty were fully revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ than anything he had done, even the creation.

The prophet Habakkuk had a lot of question with God.  But in the end, he concludes:

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud
       and there are no grapes on the vines,
       though the olive crop fails
       and the fields produce no food,
       though there are no sheep in the pen
       and no cattle in the stalls,

 ¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
       I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The prophet was determined to live not by sight but by faith.

When life deceives you or does not treat well, come to the cross of Jesus Christ.  And listen to what God has done for you and is doing for you with his utmost love.  God is not dead.  Or it is not that he does not exist.  Look at God, who triumphed over evil, through the cross of Jesus Christ.  Our God is not a weak or powerless God.  You may not see his awesome power in your own eyes right now but he revealed his majesty and power in the cross of Jesus Christ.  I pray that the humble way of the cross may not deceive you.  But have a great pride in the cross of Jesus Christ.  Cling to the cross and live by faith.