Why? Why is the Crucifix the most Holy of all Christian symbols? That which is spoken from the pulpit will be different in nearly every persuasion, but the one constant, which is always present, is that huge cross somewhere at the front of the Church. It's also on the pews, on the Bibles, on the priestly robes, on the doors, even towering above all at the top of the steeple. We hang them on our walls, from our rear view mirrors, around our necks and in the end we plant them above our graves.

The crucifix to most Christians is as holy as the Bible itself. So Holy that it by itself can cast out demons and even ward off a vampire if need be. The only other symbol that even comes close to the cross in prestige is that fish like thing we see so often on trunk lids. Then occasionally one can find a dove painted on a license plate but the cross is by far the most common. Seems we must have our symbols. Perhaps it would be wise to consider this symbolism of the Cross more closely.

The first question that should be asked is "Why the Cross?" Most will say that it acknowledges the tremendous sacrifice our Lord made for our salvation. It reminds them how much He suffered, acknowledging that whatever our sacrifice, it is little to pay in comparison. That is not a bad reason, which is why it is so often given. But let us digress for a moment and go to our Bibles and see what Yeshua (Jesus) thought of the Cross.

Shortly before His capture in the Garden of Gethsemane, Scripture tells us in MATTHEW 26:37-38 that Yeshua told Peter and the two sons of Zebedee that He was "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death". I believe there has never lived a man that can comprehend the tremendous torment Yeshua was struggling with. The approaching hours were so intense for Him, Luke writes that "being in agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground".

It is written that He prayed "more" earnestly, because He had already prayed once that He would not be required to endure what GOD was now showing Him the next forty hours held. He knew what the Devil wanted to do to Him, and as committed as He was, more committed then any man who had ever lived, He didn't want to go through with it.

MARK 14:35-36  And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

I agree that this is a pretty horrible subject, which saddens all who truly love their Lord. Yet if GOD thought it was important enough to include in the three synoptic gospels, HE must desire us to understand it. There is actually more written in GOD's Word about these few hours, then any other in the history of mankind.

The "cup" Yeshua was referring to, was all that was shortly to befall Him. He had some idea of what that cup held for Him because much of it was written in the Old Testament, but none more vivid then the record of the prophet Isaiah.

ISAIAH 50:6  I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

Most have seen a portrayal of this on the silver screen, so they know He was whipped and spit upon, but few realize that the hair from His face was literally ripped out. He was beaten so mercilessly, that it was hard to even recognize Him as a man.

ISAIAH 52:14  As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

Throughout the times of the Old Testament GOD energized certain men in various ways so that each had his own particular "long suit" or strong point. As Abraham was faithful and Solomon was wise, so also was Yeshua faithful and wise. He possessed all of the traits combined that each of these Old Testament principle witnesses displayed. At this hour though, to endure this cup, Yeshua would require the strength of Samson, for without that strength He would have died long before He ever reached the Cross. His appearance or visage was marred more then any man! How do you suppose it got so marred? The enemy's seed had forty hours to work on Him, which is how it got so marred.

ISAIAH 53:1-4  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

He did not endure this abuse solely for His own gain. He did it also for others; some of who were the very ones that hid their face from Him. Those sneering, "He saved others, but Himself He can not save". No one would want to go through this, not even the author and finisher of faith, not even the "man of sorrows". But He did it because there was no other way to accomplish GOD's plan of redemption for mankind, "for the transgression of my people, was he stricken".

ISAIAH 53:5-9  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

What man is there who doesn't shudder at this reading? The idea that the greatest lover, would be so hated. That He who healed so many would be hurt so horribly. That He who was life, would be cut off from the living. That is what the holy cross meant to Yeshua. You think He liked it? You think He enjoys remembering what it was like to hang there being guiltless, yet being scorned by the unbelievers and ignored by His executioners? You think that when we meet Him face to face He will delight in seeing a symbol of that horrible instrument of torture hanging around our necks? I think not!

It probably wasn't even a Cross He was nailed to. It was a straight pole with a notch cut out for His feet. They would nail His hands above His battered head and then nail His ankles to the notch. They had a hole bored in the ground for the pole to slip into and as they raised it with ropes, when it found its hole it would drop several feet before becoming secure. This jolt would of course have a ripping effect wherever the flesh had been nailed to the tree.

Despite all this, He still had the presence of mind to minister to the thief on His one side and then just before His death to ask forgiveness from GOD for all those which had handled Him so ruthlessly, so violently during His beatings. They had literally ripped the flesh from His back.

PSALM 129:2-3  Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.

It baffles me how an individual can say that they love Yeshua so much yet decorate themselves, their houses or their automobiles with the instrument of His torture. That is nothing short of sick!

Consider this. Picture you and your loved one seated in your living room when in burst some gang members. As they threaten your loved one, you plead for them to take you instead. You don't want to go with them, but if it will save your loved one you will make the sacrifice. So you they take and beat and abuse you beyond description, leaving you to die in a pool of your own blood, stripped to your underwear and perhaps nothing else. The police arrive and take their usual crime scene photos. How would you then feel if someday you came back and saw those photos framed and hanging all around your loved ones house? How would you feel if your loved one said that they did it to remind them of the sacrifice you made for them that awful night? Would you feel loved by that one or would you think they had a screw loose?

I believe that the crucifix is the biggest joke the Devil could play on Christianity. The crucifixion is not what Yeshua did but what He didn't want to do. Nor is it what GOD did but rather what the Devil did.

The Roman Catholics amaze me most, for they are not content with an empty Cross. They have to take our Lord and show every detail of His tortured body. From the thorns in His scalp and the nail in His limbs to the blood dripping from His side.

I doubt very much that there is even one person today who dreamed up this idea on his own, that they should somewhere display the symbol of the Cross. I just can't imagine that a Believer was reading those records of Yeshua's capture, torture and death and all of the sudden said to himself, "Gee, I ought to get me one of those Crosses and start hanging it around my neck".

No, we do it because that is the way we were led. Somewhere along the way we accepted this awful symbol as a thing to be desired. Somewhere, somehow the enemy got us to wander along with the herd, where sadly most remain their entire lives.

1 CORINTHIANS 12:2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.