#77 Bearing Your Cross

Jesus spoke of "taking up," "bearing," or "carrying" a cross. We have noted that the first century Jews of Palestine were well acquainted with death by crucifixion on crosses, so there is no reference in Jesus' prior comments about a "cross" unless we are reading into those comments reference to Jesus' own experience of crucifixion, which was yet to transpire. There is no doubt that the death of Jesus Christ on a cross was "foreknown before the foundation of the world" (1 Peter 1:20; cf. Rev. 13:8). But it occurred historically in the first century, and that historical crucifixion was subsequent to the three occasions when Jesus spoke generally of "taking up a cross."