Axis Mundi
Axis Mundi
The Christian hermit, Thomas Merton (1915-1968), wrote in his diary during May of 1965, describing the Cross as "the axis mundi"...the axle of the cosmos!
His "vision" reminded me of the motto of the Carthusians...a community of Christian hermits planted in the French Alps during the 11th Century (and continuing to thrive there today) : "Stat Crux dum volvitur orbis"..."The Cross is steady, while the world is turning". It seems to me that this statement might be taken in two complementary ways:
* That the Cross of Christ remains, while all else is subject to change and decay.
* That everything that has any kind of real existence, is actually dependent for that existence upon the Cross and the Blood shed there by Jesus the Lamb of God..."slain from the foundation of the world". (Revelation 13.8)
The Carthusians' dictum in turn put me in mind of the 19th Century, Presbyterian hymn 113. The first verse runs:
"In the Cross of Christ I glory
Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime."
Such was the Apostle Paul's core, articulated when he no doubt stunned the intellectually superior and super-spiritual and hyper-critical Corinthians, by asserting, "For I determined (judged) not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2.2)
The long-awaited and longed for universal awakening of God's Jewish People (Romans 11.26) immediately prior to the Second Coming, will be by "Jesus Christ, and Him crucified". As the prophet Zechariah so starkly foresaw, "And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness (grieves) for his firstborn." (12.10)
In 1889, the Free Church of Scotland was exhorted by a Messianic Jew to "unceasingly hold up the Cross and its atoning sacrifice, for the Holy Spirit makes Israel 'mourn' when they look on the pierced One."
"My God, my God why have You forsaken me?...They pierced my hands and feet...And for my clothing they cast lots." (Psalm 22.1,16,18)
"But He was pierced through for our transgressions." (Isaiah 53.5)
Today there is much huffing and puffing and passing of gas surrounds speculation about Last Days' revival. Much of it is obsessed with discovering the right man, or message, or method, or movement! It's all a load of asinine, fatuous, lunacy. (And that's putting it politely!)
But as revival will go for the Jews at the End, so shall it transpire for the Gentiles. It will be a revival by the Holy Spirit, bearing witness to "Jesus Christ, and Him crucified".
Perhaps one of the greatest revivals of religion ever, occurred in the days of Elijah the Prophet. Israel was in a pitiful condition spiritually, and an utterly disastrous position politically and economically (years of drought and a witch on the throne)! But in a matter of hours, the nation was restored to Biblical faith and obedience unto God their Maker. (1 Kings 18)
According to the sacred Witness' account of that day, "When all the people saw (the fire of the Lord fell), they fell on their faces: And they said, The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God." (vs 38-39)
Now where did "the fire of the Lord" fall? On the prophet? On the prophet's prayer?
No! "The fire of the Lord fell" on "the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones (of the altar of the Lord)." (v38)
The Holy Spirit descends upon the Cross, and the Lamb of God, and His precious, shed Blood. Whatever might descend elsewhere, is something else. I know not what...most likely "strange" (adulterous, estranged) fire. (Leviticus 10.1)
What we see plainly in this report of revival is the importance, not of assembling an immense crowd, nor the eloquence or the theology of the prophet. The key moment and the crucial event, is when the seer humbles himself to the sweaty and solitary labour of repairing "the altar of the Lord that was broken down". (v30)
Now take note here, that the altar had not been subject to decay and merely fallen to pieces. It was "broken down"... deliberately and determinedly demolished and thus "in ruins".
Is it possible that modern evangelicalism, charismaticism, and pentecostalism...along with liberal Christianity...have all in fact "broken down" the Cross of Christ, and sought to replace it with a more "credible" and agreeable agency for the grace of God? Might it be that evangelicalism has preferred learning and social respectability; charismaticism has opted for worship and formulaic ministry; and pentecostalism has adopted shouting and yelling and the man of faith and power for the hour...over the Blood of the Cross?
When was the last time your church worshipped God with such words as, "Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy Cross I cling." Or "Just as I am, without one plea, but that they Blood was shed for me."?
I believe that this has in fact happened. It is time for faithful preachers to "repair" ("heal" according to our text!) the Cross, by holding it forth to a backslidden Church and a perishing world, with the unequivocal and unabashed declaration, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1.29)
This is the testimony of the "greatest" prophet. "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven," John the Baptist said, "like a dove, and it abode and remained upon Him." (John 1.32)
Upon whom? Upon the Lamb of God, and His Cross, and His shed Blood.
"Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come."
(Hymn 411)
"Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy Cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die."
(Hymn 413)
