01.09. Christ Crucified

Christ Crucified So God’s wisdom came to us in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has not only preached the wisdom of God to us, but He is God’s Wisdom. Nor did He only reveal the Word of God to us, but He is the Word of God. This is a very important point indeed. In Him, God’s wisdom took shape: in the One who became Man, who was crucified, raised and exalted at the right hand of God. In Him God’s wisdom was revealed, in the One who descended into the deepest depths and who was subsequently exalted by God to the highest heights. So Christ is the wisdom of God. That is how the apostle Paul presents Him in 1 Corinthians 1:1-31 : first as the crucified One, then as the risen and glorified Lord. Paul did not speak only about the cross of Christ. He preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So he spoke about the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, but because of the spiritual state of the Corinthians he had to emphasize the meaning of His cross. The Corinthians boasted in the first man and in man’s wisdom. But the cross of Christ has judged and removed the first man, and his wisdom too. It proclaims this world and its wisdom to be dead. It has rendered this wisdom foolishness, so there is no reason whatsoever to boast in worldly wisdom. A new kind of wisdom has been brought to light, not man’s wisdom but God’s. God has revealed this wisdom in the Second Man, who descended from heaven and ascended into heaven again. Thus Christ, in His great accomplished work, is the revelation of the wisdom of God. He is the personal manifestation of this wisdom.

Now how can we become partakers of this wisdom? We are partakers of it because we are linked with Christ, the wisdom of God. We know God’s wisdom because we know Him. To us Christ is "the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24). God purposed to link us with this Person in whom divine wisdom is manifested: "But of Him (i.e. God) you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God" (1 Corinthians 1:30). In accordance with God’s purpose we are now in Christ Jesus, the One who was crucified by the world, but then exalted to the right hand of God in heaven. What does this mean, being in Him? It means that we are united with Christ. Rather than viewing us as natural people, as sinful descendants of the first Adam, God now sees us in Christ. God has established us "in Christ" (2 Corinthians 1:21). He has united us with Him who is the Head of a new generation. The position of Christ is our position, and the life of Christ is our life. The place where Christ is now before God indicates what our place is. With Him we died, and with Him we were buried, raised and placed in the heavenlies. Thus God has linked us with the One who is Himself the wisdom of God, so that we are now partakers of this wisdom, as revealed in Him. We are in Christ, who became for us wisdom from God. Between Christ, the wisdom of God, and His people unbreakable ties have been established. While we are His, we may also call Him ours.

Therefore the wisdom of God can be seen in the saints as well. For the manifold wisdom of God is made known by the Church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (Ephesians 3:10). The angels are amazed at the Church and its wonderful union with its Head in heaven. To them this proves the riches of God’s wisdom. They saw the wisdom of God already, as expressed in Christ. They watched His incarnation, His humiliation to the death of the cross and His exaltation at the right hand of God. But now they are amazed at the fact that the Church, a company of children of men, is linked with this glorified Man. This offers them surprisingly new aspects of God’s wisdom. The manifold wisdom of God is revealed in this new creation, which is the fruit of Christ’s finished work.