Wierwille, V.P.-Simon of Cyrene
Simon Of Cyrene and The Cross Christ Bore
Another Study in Abundant Living by VICTOR PAUL WIERWILLE This book is in the public domain. For more teachings by V. P. Wierwille, E. W. Bullinger and others, go to: www.eternallyblessed.org The Scripture used throughout this study is quoted from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Any explanatory insertions by the author within a Scripture verse are enclosed in brackets [ ].
I want to acknowledge my indebtedness to my good friend Jack Hunt for bringing to my attention the accuracy of The Word regarding the subject of the cross Christ bore. May his inspiration and mine be yours to enjoy.
You are acquainted with the generally accepted teaching of how Jesus appeared before Pilate, who scourged Him . After that the soldiers put the heavy cross on Him to carry it to Calvary. Then, as they approached Calvary, Jesus broke down under the burden of the cross. So the soldiers grabbed Simon of Cyrene out of the crowd and they said, "You must carry the cross." So Simon carried the cross the rest of the way to Calvary, where they crucified Jesus. This makes a beautiful word picture, beautiful colored pictures in the churches, beautiful story, beautiful this and beautiful that, but it is not true.
Let’s find the truth. If I were in The Way Teaching Center and I said that I was going to my residence and if I said to you, in telling this story that I met my brother Harry as I came out of the Bible Center, where would you say that I met Harry? What do you understand that I meant when I say that as I came out of the Bible Center I met Harry? To discover the accuracy of The Word regarding the cross Christ bore, let us consider each record in the gospels separately, beginning of course with the gospel of Matthew. "Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked him, saying Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him and his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him." Matthew 27:27ff. Where were they? They were in the Praetorium, Pilate’s Judgment Hall. "And as they came out" of the hall "they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross." As they came out of the hall, they found a man at the entrance, and "...him they compelled to bear his cross."
There is nothing in the gospel of Matthew teaching that Christ even touched the wooden cross. In Matthew we are informed that; at the entrance at the doorway, within a few feet of the door there was a man, Simon of Cyrene, and they compelled him to bear the cross all the way to Calvary.
"And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head. And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by,...to bear his cross." Mark 15:16 ff. Passed by where? Passed by the hall. There is no record in the Gospel of Mark about Jesus ever touching a piece of wood, a tree or anything like it, is there? The Word is explicit, plain and simple.
"Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them. But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will. And as they led him away" (note carefully) "as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus." Luke 23:20ff. As they led Jesus away, right there at the hall; at the door, was Simon a Cyrenian. On him (not on Jesus) they laid the cross. Note the word AFTER. Some say that word means he carried it after Jesus had carried it. No, Jesus went ahead and Simon followed after him.
"When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was in the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour:" (twelve midnight) "and he said unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha." John 19:13ff.
"And he, (Jesus,) bearing his cross..." is the phrase from which has been inferred that Jesus bore the wooden cross. This does not agree with the clear record in the other three Gospels. The first three Gospels stipulate very plainly that Simon bore the cross from the door of the Judgment Hall. But, the Gospel of John states, "And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull,..." "HIS CROSS" was not wooden but spiritual. The cross Jesus bore was composed of our sins and our transgressions. If it had been a wooden cross, what good would that have accomplished? He did not bear apiece of wood or a tree, He bore our sins. If the penalty for sin was paid by the cross of Jesus, the price is not only right, but paid. We do not need to pay that which Jesus already paid.
Note that Colossians 2:14 gives us in part, at least, the cross Jesus bore. "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to HIS CROSS."
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:6.
He took all the things that were against us; the transgressions, the sins, the bondage, the sickness, and the pain and made it apart of His cross. "His cross" is a figure of speech, an orientalism.
"For he" (God) "hath made him" (Jesus) "to be sin for us,...that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." That we might be made as righteous as God. II Corinthians 5:21. Isn’t that wonderful!! You say, "me"? Yes, you. The cross of bondage is what Jesus bore. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,..." Hath is in the past. How hath he made us free? By him bearing that cross, the cross of bondage, which He bore for us. "...and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1. He bore that cross of bondage, the law, just for you and for me, that we wouldn’t need to live under bondage, "which neither your fathers, or we were able to bear." Acts 15:10.
"And when even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:" Jesus did this with His Word. "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Matthew 8: 16,17. He bore our sicknesses. Not only was His cross composed of our transgressions and sins, plus the bondage of the law, but of our sicknesses. He became sickness just like He became sin. The very last clause of Isaiah 53:5 says "...and with his stripes we are healed." In Isaiah 53:3, 4, we read "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows (pains), and acquainted with grief (sickness): and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne (carried or put on Him) our griefs (sicknesses), and carried our sorrows (pains)..." The cross of Jesus — what was it? "They led him away and he bearing HIS CROSS —," the cross of Jesus was, of sin, bondage, sickness and pain. The "natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God," and these are the things of the Spirit of God. The natural man has made the cross of Jesus a wooden cross. The Word and the spiritual man know it was the cross of sin, bondage, sickness and pain. You can see why a wooden cross could not do anything, but the cross of Jesus did.
"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel; not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross" (The wooden cross? No, the cross of Christ) "is to them that perish foolishness;... " I Corinthians 1:17, 18.
Why does a millionaire act like a millionaire? Because he BELIEVES he is a millionaire. Does he have a million dollars laying in front of him? No! All he has is the broker’s report that says he has so much in bonds and stocks. He has his banker’s report and balance sheet indicating he has so much money in the bank, so much in this and so much in that. He has his attorney’s record. ALL WRITING — but he BELIEVES it. And when he wants something what does he do? He buys it. Why? Because he believes what is written. He believes the legal documents set before him indicating that he is a millionaire. The Bible is the legal document for you. This is your broker’s report, your bank account, your attorney’s record. If a man of the world can walk by WORDS we as sons of God can walk by HIS WORD. We must walk like it, talk like it, act like it. I don’t care what you say, or anybody says, I am and have what The Word says. Anything others say won’t change what The Word says I am and I have. I believe what God says.
We must claim the promises of God like a business man can claim the promises of what he has accomplished. Why not? "God is not a man that He should lie." The Word is God Himself. The Word of God is the Will of God. It means what it says and says what it means. The natural man, Satan and all his corps of workers do not want you to understand that this cross of Christ took care of all your needs. No, he wants you to believe it is a wooden cross — something you get splintered up on, beat down with, hung up on, by condemnation, sin, judgment, frustration, fear and defeat. God says you are free because Christ bore everything contrary to you, nailing it to HIS CROSS. The enemies of the cross of Christ are those who do not believe or accept what Jesus did.
Stand fast, therefore, in the Lord. Jesus bore His cross — not of wood, but of sin and all its consequences, so that you could live the more abundant life. The wooden cross was borne by Simon of Cyrene, the spiritual cross by, Jesus.
Simon Of Cyrene When we consider the galaxies of personalities about the cross, we uncover a variety of men. The soldiers were there to see that the law was properly enforced and that the crucifixion went off according to schedule. The Jewish priests and rabbis, plus the majority of the members of the Jewish court of law, the Sanhedrin were there to see that the Roman soldiers did their work properly and that this Jesus of Nazareth be put out of the way this time. A few of the disciples and close friends of Jesus were intermingled with the crowd to see their favorite star of hope wain into death; they loved Him as the redeemer of Israel, but they had come to stand at a distance to see their last ray of hope pass on.
Yet, the majority of people gathered at the cross were merely curiosity seekers. They had perhaps never heard of the condemned man before, but because so many went, they too followed. You know how we flock to see a train wreck or an automobile accident — likewise these hordes of people followed the crowd. And yet, there was one man at the foot of the cross who did not want to be there. He had no more desire to beat the crucifixion than you or I have to be present at the electrocution of a criminal, and yet he was there. If you had told this man yesterday that today he would be an important character in the crucifixion of a criminal, he would have laughed, but he was there.
Yes, among the personalities gathered about the crucifixion there are many prominent men like, Pilate, Caiaphas, the Centurion, and others. They were broadway lights in the contemporary setting of the time; they were key men. But I should like to have you forget about those big and important men around the cross and think with me about a little fellow, a man who was just an average man. He wasn’t a big ruler, he wasn’t an important man at all. He was just a common man like most of us; as a matter of fact, he did not want to be at the crucifixion, but he was there.
Matthew, Mark and Luke each give us just one verse about this man which is all the information we have concerning him.
Matthew 27:32, "And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear His cross." Mark 15:21, "And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear His cross." Luke 23:26, "And as they led Him away, they laid hold upon one Simon a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus."
Yes, the man who didn’t want to be there, ended up being one of the chief personalities around the cross, Simon from the city of Cyrene. All he wanted was to be left alone. To be allowed to go his way. He was coming out of the country from the region beyond the gates and evidently he was on his way to Jerusalem to attend the big temple celebration, the Passover, when all at once his plans were changed, as a matter of fact his whole life took on a different tenor. To this man it must have been an extreme annoyance and indignity. He had business of his own to take care of. His family or his friends might be waiting for him, but he was turned the opposite way. To touch the instrument of death, the cross, was as revolting to him as it would be for us to handle the hangman’s rope, or press the button in the electrocution chamber; perhaps more so, because it was Passover time and this act would make him ceremonially unclean. All he wanted was to be left alone, and yet, had Simon entered the city one hour sooner or one hour later, his later history might have been entirely different. Sometimes when we want to be alone, when we want no one to interfere with us, it is just then that the interference may make all the difference in the world. The greatest results may hinge on the smallest circumstances. Doubtless to Simon this encounter seemed at the moment the most unfortunate incident that could have befallen him — an interruption, an annoyance, and humiliation; yet it turned out to be the gateway of life. Are you spiritually in the condition that you just want to be alone? The interruption of Christ into your life right now will make all the difference in the world for you, for your children and children’s children. It made a great difference for Simon.
We are apt to speak of trouble as a kind of cross, but properly speaking, the cross of Christ is that which he bore on our behalf. The scorn, loss and censure, is the cross of Christ, that we might have joy in speaking to another in Christ’s name. The time we give in Christian work, the giving of our means that the cause of Christ may spread at home and abroad, and that we manifest the power of God in our lives, yes, this is the living, joyous cross we bear. "He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me."
"...Simon a Cyrenian..., the father of Alexander and Rufus." Evidently the two sons of Simon were well known to those to whom Mark was writing The compelling of Simon to bear the cross issued in his salvation and issued in the salvation of his house. Let me ask you this question and then be honest with yourself — Are you the kind of parent that your children can be proud of? Will they, 25 years from now, remember you because of the heritage you extended to them? Are you setting a good example for your children? Are you leading your children to Christ or away from Him? Listen, the Bible says, "so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." Some day you and I as parents must give an account of our lives. Did we live so that our children were influenced for good? Did we instruct them in what we would like to have them do and then we continued to live any old way? Look at your child this moment, are you a real parent to him? Are you a Christian?