The Cruciform Beacon

“a cross-shaped beacon in the darkness”, Midjourney

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12:32 ESV

Our Lord’s cross was, in some sense, the thickest and most oppressive darkness the cosmos ever bore within it.

Jesus knew who he was from an early age (Lk 2:49) and, I suspect, grasped what the “definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23) would be for him. He knew who his Father was, and he knew what the Father had tasked him with accomplishing. Could we even begin to imagine the noble, inward realizations of our Savior that he would, indeed, be “lifted up”?

As we read the Word, it seems that Jesus framed his time on earth around “the hour.” This hour is, in a sense, the beginning of his ministry. It is also the period of time when he is betrayed, and it is also the moment when the most precious One declared, “it is finished” and yielded his soul to the Father. This hour of being lifted up, unto ministry and unto death, was dark and darker, still.

However, like an explosion of glory in the darkest pits, the Resurrection broke forth. Stones were rolled away, angels walked the sands of Israel, and the dead were raised to life. This hour had come, and it was the hour that would destroy the barriers between God’s salvation and the entire world.

“Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” John 12:31 ESV

Our Lord’s cross, in a different sense, is the brightest and most refulgent beacon of light in the darkness of this fallen world.

Jesus knew that to drink this cup of wrath would not be his end, but would be the beginning of the new family he would create in himself.

“Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” Isaiah 53:11

Jesus knew that his hour had come, was coming, and would begin afresh on the other side of his work. Now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2), and this salvation is found in the finished work of Jesus — the work that was finished on the Cross. Jesus ascended; he was taken up into heaven — his final lifting — and seated at the right hand of God the Father. From there he shall come, here, to judge the living and dead.

And now, until then, he is drawing all people to himself. Hallelujah! What a Savior.