Was the Crucifixion a Disappointment?

I recently read a comment on a family member's Myspace blog. It was posted by an agnostic, who recommended for her to tell Christians that they are "the biggest disappointment since the Crucifixion". At first, I was insulted! I even felt tempted to lash out and respond in anger (and that was the intended effect the agnostic desired), but I decided it best to turn the other cheek and think about why he made such a horrible statement.

Obviously his remark was brought forth from his sinful, God hating, heart. It is only natural for fallen humans to hate their Creator, as well as those who remind them of their sinful condition.

Despite all that, I couldn't help thinking that perhaps maybe Christians have actually helped him formulate the idea that Jesus' death on the cross was a failure. Honestly, the way I hear Jesus' sacrifice presented by some modern Evangelicals, it does make it seem like the death of Jesus was a terrible disappointment!

Today's gospel message is not that of the Lord Jesus. It's not that of the Apostles and Prophets of the Bible. It's not even the Gospel of the great Reformers of church history. Their preaching was along the lines of "repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!", not "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!". They weren't ashamed of the Cross. They weren't ashamed of the Blood. No, they preached and taught that Jesus' death on Calvary's Cross was the full payment for an infinite sin debt that no sinner could ever pay.

They preached a Sovereign God, who's hand was mighty to save, not an impotent old man in the clouds, who has good intentions, but who's hand was ultimately bound by the perverted "freewill" of man. The Cross they preached was a cross that actually redeemed the sheep, and purchased the Church, not some hypothetical, theoretical, sacrifice that was powerless to redeem anyone. It wasn't a "let go and let God" gospel that they preached! The God they preached ruled and reigned. The plan of Salvation was God's plan from the foundation of the world, not some afterthought that God devised after Adam surprised Him by sinning in the garden.

The modern "easy believe-ism", seeker friendly non-gospel and it's "cross" is a disappointment. Taken to its logical conclusion, the modern gospel will lead the agnostic (and everyone else) to actually believe is that God is not sovereign at all. I suspect the modern gospel is a stench to the nostrils of God. I say we should do away with preaching "please accept Jesus". That's putting the shoe on the wrong foot! We ought to be warning the sinners that their biggest concern is that they will never be accepted by God unless they repent and trust in Christ!

After previewing the first draft of this Rant, my pastor pointed out something I overlooked: the fact that the idea of Jesus' crucifixion being a failure is not a new idea. That line of thinking been around since Jesus walked the Earth. Crucifixion was a shameful death. The one who suffered such a death would be considered "accursed of God" by the Jews (Deuteronomy 21:23). The Scripture itself even tells us that the preaching of the Cross to the Jews is a stumblingblock, and to the Greek and those who perish it is foolishness (cf. 1 Corinthians 1 :18-28). Indeed, His death on the Cross must have been seen as a disappointing failure to all the Jewish zealots who looked for a Messiah to lead Israel in battle against the Romans.

Though agnostics and skeptics still consider Jesus' death on the Cross to be a failure, and while the modern semi-Pelagian gospel may only add fuel to the skeptic's fire; Christians ought to realize that His death was actually a triumph! Because He died, we will live! It was an actual payment for our sins and it purchased our redemption! Through Christ we shall be victorious! Please consider the following quotes that deal with the Cross, the Atonement, Election, God's sovereignty and salvation. Take note how what I've quoted differs with the messages some are preaching today:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;" - Paul the Apostle (Ephesians 1:3-8 )

"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby" -Paul the Apostle (Ephesians 2: 13-16)

"And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;" -Heavenly vision of John the Apostle (Revelation 5:9-11)

"Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." -Isaiah the Prophet (Isa 53:10-12)

"Some preachers and professors affect to believe in a redemption which I must candidly confess I do not understand; it is so indistinct and indefinite—a redemption which does not redeem anybody in particular, though it is alleged to redeem everybody in general; a redemption insufficient to exempt thousands of unhappy souls from hell after they have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus; a redemption, indeed, which does not actually save anybody, because it is dependent for its efficacy upon the will of the creature; a redemption that lacks intrinsic virtue and inherent power to redeem anybody, but is entirely dependent upon an extraneous contingency to render it effectual". - C. H. Spurgeon (3532.476)

"The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. His government is exercised over inanimate matter, over the brute beasts, over the children of men, over angels good and evil, and over Satan himself. No revolving world, so shining star, no storm, no creature moves, no actions of men, no errands of angels, no deeds of Devil -- nothing in all the vast universe can come to pass otherwise than God has eternally purposed. -A.W. Pink (from his book The Sovereignty of God)

"and unto the Greeks foolishness; as that the Son of God should be crucified; that riches should come through his poverty, and men be brought to a kingdom and glory through one so mean and abject; that there should be life for men in his death, and salvation through his crucifixion, or the shameful death of the cross; that blessings should come through his being made a curse; and that his death should be an expiatory sacrifice for the sins of men; and that justification should be by one that was condemned; and peace and pardon should be by his blood; and that he should be raised again from the dead." -John Gill

"God's justice stands forever against the sinner in utter severity. The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions. It hushes their fears and allows them to practice all pleasant forms of iniquity while death draws ever nearer and the command to repent goes unregarded. As responsible moral beings, we dare not so trifle with our eternal future." -A. W. Tozer (The Knowledge of the Holy)

"Christ's sacrifice has purchased and provided for the effectual calling of the elect, with all the graces which insure their faith, repentance, justification, perseverance, and glorification." -R.L. Dabney (Theologian, Southern Presbyterian, and chaplain, chief of staff, and biographer to General "Stonewall" Jackson).