“The Joy of the Cross…” (March 2024 Update)
What makes you really happy? All of us have a variety of things that bring us real joy. But for most of us, it is the feeling that we have accomplished something that we really care about. Hebrews 12:1 tells us that we are to look to Jesus “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Crucifixion was one of the most painful and shameful deaths devised by man. It was sort of a long, terrible torture that ended in a terrible death. Yet when Jesus went to the cross, he endured all its pain and shame because of the “joy that was set before him.”
This is not to minimize the pain and suffering of the cross. Crucifixion probably originated with the Persians. Alexander the Great copied this form of execution and the Romans learned this method from him. The Romans perfected crucifixion as a punishment designed to maximize pain and suffering. It wasn’t about killing somebody — it was about killing somebody with the greatest amount of suffering and pain. Crucifixion was also considered one of the most disgraceful forms of execution, reserved only for slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries, and extremely vile criminals. The only time a Roman citizen could be crucified was for desertion from the army.
When the Romans crucified someone, they made it as painful as possible. Even before a person was crucified, they subjected him to flogging or scourging to beat and weaken the victim. Then the person carried his own cross (often the crossbar) through the streets to the place of execution. The victim was then either tied to the cross (the most common method) or nailed to it. Most of those crucified suffocated to death because the person’s weight on their stretched arms would eventually suffocate them. Most of the time, victims used their legs to hold themselves up so they could breathe some. Many crosses even included a pedestal for their feet so that they would be able to live longer and suffer longer. Most died in 3-4 days. When they needed to hurry up the death, the legs were broken so the person would suffocate more quickly. It was truly a terrible way to die.
One of the most amazing things about the cross is that Jesus could have avoided it – but he did not. In John 10:17-18, Jesus says, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” In Matthew 26:53, Jesus even reminded his disciples “Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now?” All of this tells us 3 amazing things about the cross of Jesus.
First, the cross and all its sufferings were totally voluntary. Jesus endured the cross and its sufferings. He did not have to – he chose to. He allowed himself to be captured, tortured, beaten and nailed to the cross. At any point, he could have called 12 legions of angels to rescue him. But he did not. He endured the cross because he wanted to. No one forced him to do so. In Matthew, Mark and John, Jesus reminded his disciples that, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He came with a purpose – to die as a ransom for many. His death was not accidental, it was not an unfortunate series of events, it was completely voluntary. He didn’t have to die for us – he chose to!
Second, the cross and all of its sufferings were completely foreseen. Jesus knew everything that would happen to him before it ever happened. He knew Peter would deny him and he even knew when he would do it and how many times. He knew that he would be handed over by the chief priests and the scribes and be put to death by the Romans. He even told his disciples that they would all desert him when this happened. He knew that Mary was anointing him for his death. And he knew that Judas would betray him. Nothing that happened in the crucifixion came as a surprise to him. He knew it all before it ever happened. He knew about the thorns and the scourging and the nails in his hands and feet. And yet – he willingly went to the cross even though he knew about everything he would have to suffer: “I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” His suffering and death was totally voluntary and it was completely foreseen. That makes the cross amazing.
But that’s not all. Third, the cross and all of its sufferings were absolutely necessary. After the resurrection (notice Jesus said, “I lay down my life—only to take it up again”), he asked the disciples, “Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to experience all these sufferings and afterward to enter into his glory?” Jesus’ suffering and death was voluntary, and completely foreseen, but it was also absolutely necessary. We see this most clearly in the Garden of Gethsemane. Three times Jesus prayed, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” In verse 42, he is more specific: “if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
What was the “cup” that Jesus was wanting to avoid drinking? Most likely, it refers to the cup of God’s wrath against sin. We see this often in the Old Testament when God tells nations that they will drink the cup of His wrath for their wickedness and their sins. As Jesus faced the cross, he knew about the sufferings and the pain, but he also knew that the cross meant something far worse for him than physical sufferings. Jesus understood that the sins of the world, our sins, would be placed upon him on the cross. And that the one “who knew no sin would become sin for us!” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He would drink the cup of God’s wrath so that we would not have to.
But notice carefully what he says – “if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” If there is any other way for people to be saved, let this cup of Your wrath pass away from me.” If there is any other way …. But there was not any other way for God’s wrath against us to be satisfied. Jesus had to drink the cup – for us – so that we might be set free from the wrath of God that was rightly ours. The cross was totally voluntary, it was completely foreseen, and it was absolutely necessary.
So why did Jesus endure the cross and its suffering? Hebrews 12:2 tells us that he did it “for the joy that was set before him.” What was that joy? It was the joy of seeing many sons and daughters being brought out of sin into relationship with the Father that he endured those sufferings (Hebrews 2:10). The joy of the cross was the salvation of everyone who would believe on Him.
One of my favorite songs tells it all when I think about the cross:
He paid a debt he did not owe
I owed a debt I could not pay
I needed someone to wash my sins away;
And now I sing a brand new song, “Amazing Grace”
Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay.
That’s why we speak about “Good Friday.” Because, “for the joy that was set before him,” he “endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” That’s why we can call the day he died on that terrible cross “Good Friday.” That’s why we can speak about the joy of the cross.
Teaching Ministry …
Last month, I taught Theology 1 online at Kyiv Theological Seminary. We had a great class with lots of good and practical questions. In their first essay, they had to write about what they thought was the most important theological issue facing Ukraine today. Most of the papers were about how to answer questions about the goodness of God in the time of war when friends and family members were dying in the war. While we were able to look at some biblical answers, it was clear that this was no simple theological issue for them. The second most frequent theme in papers was the question of whether a Christian could serve in the army and defend his country. Traditionally, Baptists in Ukraine have been pacifists and believers could not serve in the army. One student even wrote about being excommunicated from his church for joining the army. But he felt that biblically and practically he was doing the right thing even if his church disapproved. The class was really good but, as you can see, the questions they had were really very personal and practical. Please pray for these students as they live out their faith in very difficult times!
I also received some student reviews from our fall Church History class. They were especially encouraging. Here’s some of what one young man wrote:
This course has become very important for me and very constructive. I have been waiting for a long time to take this course at the seminary. During the class, it was clearly visible how the history of the Church and Christianity formed the cultural identity of numerous nations and groups of people. … Studying the history of the Church is a kind of safeguard against repeating the mistakes of the past. Understanding the difficulties faced by Christians in the past can help build wisdom and prudence in decision-making in today’s world. Thank you for this course and for teaching.
Another wrote:
The class helped me appreciate the richness and diversity of the Christian tradition, as well as learning from the ideas and experiences of various spiritual writers and events. I understood that it is necessary to be strong in faith, like a tree with a good root, but, at the same time, to be flexible, because we can be wrong somewhere. Therefore, it is necessary to get to know the Lord more through His Word and prayer. This was inspiring, and I thank God for the teacher and this course.
Thank you for helping me to teach these students and for praying for them while I teach!
Now, I’m in the process of preparing to teach two classes in May – one at Kyiv Theological Seminary (Research and Writing) and the other at Ukrainian Baptist Seminary in Lviv (Prayer and Worship). Both classes will be online and will be done with mentors that I am also training to teach these classes in the coming years. Pray for preparations and for those that will be helping me to teach the classes.
Also, at the end of this month, I will be preaching in Huntsville for a Good Friday Service and I will also be teaching Church History for students in the LightBearers Discipleship Ministry in Fayetteville. Please pray for me as I teach and preach this month.
Ministry Plans …
The last two years have been very difficult from many aspects but especially emotionally – in so many ways. I am in the process of gradually winding down my teaching time in Ukraine. I have been teaching there for 28 years now! So it has been especially hard to think about transferring classes over to Ukrainian teachers. But this is so important. We want the teaching that I have been doing since 1996 to continue so that more and more Ukrainians can be trained to share the gospel and plant churches.
In the last year or so, we have been asking the Lord where we can serve best here in the states. I am still committed to making theological education and training ministers my main priority. Last month, we shared about our involvement with Global Serve International (GSI). In my meetings with their leadership, they have asked Teaching Resources to partner with them to help them with training missionaries and with providing missionary care. In case you missed our last update, GSI only sends missionaries to closed (restricted access) countries where missionaries are not permitted. Each missionary works with an unreached people group, learning the language and planting new churches among those people groups. Our job would be to provide pastoral support and counsel for these missionaries on the field and also to provide theological training for those preparing to go.
Since we are partnering with GSI, all of our support will still come through Teaching Resources International. This also allows us to be involved in teaching and training other missionaries from other groups too. For example, I will be teaching at LightBearers this month and I have been asked to teach missionaries in Northwest Arkansas through Union School of Theology in the fall. They provide Masters Degree level training for missionaries and other ministers. Their goal is for students to finish their degree debt-free! That is especially important for the missionaries that we will be sending out.
Please pray with us about these new opportunities. I have let these groups know that I will not have time to help until the end of this summer because of my classes in Ukraine. I will be teaching classes in Ukraine in October and November this year too so pray that I can find time for all these new ministries while I am still teaching classes in Ukraine. While I am excited about these new opportunities, my heart is breaking as I think about moving away from teaching Ukrainians.
Financial Needs …
We continue to be blessed by all your support since we returned from Ukraine. But we will need to add some additional members to our support team in the coming months. We have already seen our regular support be $800-1000 lower per month than we were receiving when we were in Ukraine. Also, living expenses here in the US are significantly higher than in Ukraine. We have been blessed with some extra gifts each month that have helped but we are praying about adding a number of new people to our support team. If you are interested in being part of our support team, information about making donations can be found at the end of this update.
Address Change
We are in the process of transferring the main mailing address to an office nearer to our home. We have been so grateful to Johnnie Baker in Cabot for his help during the years we were in Ukraine. It would be helpful if you can start sending your gifts to Teaching Resources International, PO Box 100, Goshen, AR 72735. Everything will be the same as before except that we are in the process of moving our main office to this area (we actually live closer to Goshen than Fayetteville). The Post Office will forward all mail but only for 6 months. So, try to change the address for your giving.
Family …
This February, we were quite busy with family and traveling so we have very little family updates. After the missions conference in Venice, FL, we were able to spend some special time with Joel and Ally and their family. We had a great time with Ally’s parents too. We also got to visit some dear friends from my Cumberland College days and some others from my church planting days in Connecticut. Finally, we were able to get together with Todd at the end of the month to celebrate his leap year birthday along with Joy and her family!
Pray for Ukraine …
Please pray for Ukraine. While the air defenses are holding, Ukraine is rapidly running out of weapons. In the East, for example, Russian forces fire 10 shells for every 1 from Ukraine. As a result, Russian forces are making small gains in the East.
Continue to pray for the people of Russia. They have elections for president right now. While we are sure that Putin will win, pray that people will be thinking about what their government would look like without Putin. Pray for an end to this war that has cost so many Ukrainian and Russian lives.
Please pray for our students in Ukraine. The war has greatly affected everyone. More people are interested now in spiritual things. Pray that the gospel will be clear and that people will come to faith because of Jesus and not just because of the war. Also, please continue to pray for our students, friends and colleagues as they minister in Ukraine.
Thank you again for all your support and prayers. We are looking forward to celebrating the resurrection of Jesus in a few weeks. His resurrection has changed everything for our lives. But we are also grateful for the cross. Without the cross, we would still be in our sins. And we are grateful for Jesus – that he saw the joy before him as he faced the cross. And that made the terrible cross a cross of joy!
By His Grace,
Jim and Katya, Kristina and Nadia
If you missed previous updates or just want to read some short theological reflections, you can find these at our website at https://teachingresources.org/ .
Also, some have asked about how to support us. You can send checks to Teaching Resources International, PO Box 100, Goshen, AR 72735 (note: new address) or pay through PayPal on our website. Just put “#1000 Ehrhard” in the memo so our treasurer knows where to allocate the funds. If you want to help with our relocation fund or building efforts (we still have a lot of work to do), put Relocation in the memo.
Some have asked about our personal address now that we are in the states. Our new address is 14680 Magnolia Ridge, Fayetteville, AR 72701.
Teaching Resources International 