As Wide as the Cross — By Way of Introduction

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Matthew 7:13-14 (ESV)

It was a cool afternoon when my family and I went to The Tabernacle Experience at Camp Halawasa. There was a lot of hype leading up to it and I was left really humbled by it. To be in The Holy of Holies (replicated), being able to have a moment of prayer and not to be struck down dead really touched my heart. So much so that I shared with my thunder twin, Jak Werz, the need to go and walk through this as well. Which he did with his family and he shared his experience about being in The Holy of Holies with our congregation.

Jak pretty much had the same experience as I did. To be in the presence of the Ark of Covenant, being able to have that moment of reflective prayer and not to be struck down dead impressed on his heart the narrow gate. Jak read the passage of Scripture I am using today and then shared with us how we need to understand that the road to the narrow gate is as wide as the Cross. Hmmm…now the mechanical/theological understanding part of my mind kick’s on. “I wonder if Roman roads are mathematically as wide as the patibulum of the Cross of Christ and that is why the salvation call of Romans is dubbed as “taking the Roman Road”.

Without getting too technical the traditional measurement for a common Roman road was eight foot in width. So what does that make the “patibulum’s” (the horizontal beam of the Cross) measurement? Well from what I understand, the patibulum was about the lightest part of a cross weighing about 100 lbs and would have adequately handled a man’s wing span with room to lift him up onto the vertical beam or what was called the “stipe”.  Hmmm…”And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”— John 3:14-15 (ESV)

So what does Moses lifting up the serpent have to do with all of this? Well it’s off to Numbers 21:4-9 for this one. Between the murmurings going on amongst the children of Israel against YHVH’s servant Moses, the weariness of wilderness wandering, the limited amount of recipes for preparing manna and speaking discontentedly of what YHVH had brought them through the children of Israel got fiery serpents to bite and sting them to death for their troubles. YHVH instructed Moses to construct a bronze serpent and set it on a pole so that when the children of Israel felt the sting of death, all they had to do was look up, as to look up to YHVH, and they were healed.

I am going to stop right there and ask your to consider what you are looking up to. Some of us have spent our life looking up to people and there may have been failure on their part. Some of us have spent our life looking to situations that seemed ideal but those situations came to an end. Some of us have looked up to relationships and now those relationships are severed. The sting of all that can be healed simply by looking up to Him who provides grace and mercy enough for you to continue walking to the narrow gate. Amen? – Chris Hughes blogs weekly for Freedom Fighter and graduated from the Colony of Mercy

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 45-46; John 19:23-24

Quote of the day: “Much of our life contains sufferings and trial, and the shadow of the Cross is also here. Looking upon our trials as unmeaning accidents, the blow of fate, the luck of evil fortune or the cruel wrongs of men or women is so different from taking them from our Father’s hand as the cup of His loving discipline and as fellowship of our Saviors Cross!”—A.B.Simpson

Verse to Memorize:  I will lift my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2