The Cross and the Resurrection is important not just in our lives, but also in the world. I will be writing later on the resurrection. We need to understand the Cross and it’s meaning. The Cross changed my life and it will change your life if you will invite Jesus into your heart. The Cross is the place that Jesus restored our relationship with God. Jesus paid the price for the sin of Adam. As I started writing on the Cross, God asked me a question. What does the Cross of Jesus Christ mean to me? I am asking you this same question. As we move forward on my writing on the Cross keep this question in mind.
The birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ are the turning points of world history. BC and AD separate the old from the new. BC is our acronym for Before Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the reference point for our calendar, and everything that happened before He came into the world is designated as that which occurred in advance of His coming in the flesh. “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1:1-5).
The classification of BC and AD (Anno Domini-in the year of our Lord) during the Roman rule in the early centuries. They based their calendar upon who ruled as emperor or upon specific landmark events in its history. It is obviously very important to Christians to mark the years based on the life of Jesus, and so it became the prevailing method that stands to this day. One of the earliest to designate AD was Dionysius Exiguus, a monk who sought to discern the exact date on which to celebrate Resurrection Sunday. The use of BC, it is thought, came about because of Bede, an Anglo-Saxon monk, and Dionysius Petavius, a Jesuit historian and theologian. Both were Christian writers who included terms meaning “before Christ” in their writings. Isaac Newton knew of these works and used “before” instead of the Latin word, ante. It wasn’t until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that the common use of BC and AD became prevalent. A BC date, e.g., is written 200 BC. An AD date is written A.D. 2021. Jesus is the human equivalent of a clock that hits a negative one and immediately resets to one (there exists no year “zero”).
When someone thinks of events before Christ (BC), they ponder a time when He did not yet appear in flesh on earth. Having the knowledge that the people of the Old Testament longed to have God’s salvation plan revealed to them, “I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it. (Matthew 13:17), we live in a privileged time of having Christ revealed. As mentioned above, all history points to Him—what He has done, is doing, and will do.
Secularists (and even some Christians) since the 17th century have decided to use BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) and impose its usage to try to limit the attention given to Jesus Christ. No matter what designation you use, however, know the Lord Jesus was and remains the reference point for all recorded dates in history.
“Never has it been more obvious that this world needs redemption, and that redemption is costly. The cross more than ever, in our language and in our longings, is necessary to bridge the divide between God and us. Without the cross the chasm that separates us all from truth, love, justice and forgiveness can never be crossed. The depths of mystery and love found in the cross can never be fully plumbed, but it must be the lifelong pursuit of the Christian to marvel at its costliness and to celebrate its meaning.” (Ravi Zacharias)
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)