“And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.” (Luke 23:33)

All through the Old Testament the cross of Calvary is but dimly seen. Though a hundred historical characters and a hundred more Levitical sacrifices and rituals were “typical” of Christ and His finished work, not once does the Old Testament state this. The silence is profound. The clearest Old Testament prophecy of Christ’s death, Isaiah 53, does not even specify who the Sufferer would be.

“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? ² 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.

³ 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. ⁴ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

⁵ 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. ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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.

 ⁸ 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 (Isaiah’s people, Israel) was he stricken. ⁹ 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.

¹⁰ Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. ¹¹ He (the Father) shall see of the travail of his (Jesus’) soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:1-12)

It was the same during our Lord’s stay on earth, for only toward the close of His ministry do we read: “From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must go unto Jerusalem and suffer… and be killed…” (Matt. 16:21). And what was their response? “Then Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him” (Ver. 22). Luke 18:34 states three times that they did not have the slightest idea that He would even die, much less did they understand all that His death would accomplish. Even at Pentecost Peter blamed his hearers for the death of Christ and said to them: “repent and be baptized every one of you… for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). The twelve were preaching “the gospel of the kingdom” and knew little about the cross and its real meaning and purpose.

Not until the Apostle Paul, that other apostle… “to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13) do we have what is properly called “the preaching of the cross,” i.e., as good news. And in Paul’s great message our Lord is no longer seen as the Victim, but as the Victor, not merely after death, or over death, but in death. His death itself is seen as His greatest triumph. In Heb. 10:12,14 we read:

“…after He had offered one sacrifice for sins [He] sat down… for by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.”

And in Col. 2:14,15 Paul describes Christ at Calvary nailing the Law to the cross and utterly defeating Satan and his hosts, “triumphing over them in it (i.e., in the cross).” Little wonder the Apostle exclaimed:

“God forbid that I should boast, save (except) in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Gal. 6:14).