The Bride of Christ is on planet Earth today, living in the final hour. The endtime signs are all around us, and without a doubt we know this is the hour that Jesus foretold: Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors (Matthew 24:32,33).

Joel the prophet told of the great pouring-out time—our time. He declared it over twenty-five hundred years ago, and now the Spirit is being poured out just like he said it would be. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit (Joel 2:28,29).

My dad studied Bible prophecy, and he loved to teach. He would tell us children, “The Jews will gather back as a nation; that will be one of the endtime signs.” We have seen this prophecy fulfilled in our day.

In this endtime hour, over five million Jews have gathered back to the Holy Land already. The two great signs that we live in the endtime hour are the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the gathering back of the Jews. Had I seen only one of the two signs, I would know I was in the final hour; but I have seen both, and I know the tribulation period is at the door. But because of the Middle Cross, we have a way of escape.

Look to the Middle Cross

Three crosses were seen on Mount Calvary that dark day, but had it not been for the Middle Cross, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to be separated from sin, hate, and unforgiveness; nor would we be separated from contention, envy, strife, and jealousy. Were it not for the Middle Cross, we wouldn’t be set apart from confusion, faults, and disappointments. Without the Middle Cross we wouldn’t be drawn into the greatness of God. It took the blood that flowed down that Middle Cross to separate, to make the great dividing line between righteousness and unrighteousness, holiness and unholiness, the pure and the impure. How wonderful, how wonderful indeed is that Middle Cross!

The Lord wants the Middle Cross to be your focus in this final hour. Meditate again and again on what took place on the Middle Cross. The love of all loves was displayed there.

When you’re sad, look to the Middle Cross and find gladness, joy. Look to the Middle Cross when no one seems to understand you, for at the Middle Cross you will find understanding. Look to the Middle Cross when you’re discouraged and feel as though you can’t go on. Look to the Middle Cross and find yourself lifted up into the arms of the one who died on that Cross.

Jesus took mankind’s ugly sins and disobediences upon Himself on that Middle Cross. Sicknesses, diseases, sins: The sacrifice on the Middle Cross covered them all. The Middle Cross changed things for the human race, changed everyone who would come on planet Earth—if they wanted to be changed. The Middle Cross gave Heaven’s promise of eternity, a promise to live on and on forevermore.

Because Jesus died on the Middle Cross, you can live. The Middle Cross tells you that there was a Resurrection; Jesus conquered death, and you can be born new. Again and again you will hear me say that Jesus turned the Cross of shame and suffering into a glorious Cross. It shines with all the holiness, purity, righteousness, joy, and happiness of God at all times.

Jesus said, This is for you, not that old ugly cross, but this glorious Cross. I want you to carry the glorious Cross; I want you to carry its glad tidings. The strength of Heaven and all the promises of God are on the Middle Cross; tell it to the nations. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).

Jesus took your place on the Middle Cross; He paid the price, made it possible for you to have joy unspeakable and full of glory—all because of that Middle Cross. Because of the Middle Cross you see a crown of thorns to represent the bitterness of life before Jesus came into your heart.

The crown of thorns tells you that sin is cruel, destructive. Sin hurts. If you go to hell, you will always have that crown of thorns reminding you of what could have been. Jesus took the crown of thorns, that ugly crown of sin that man was wearing, and He turned it into a glorious crown of life for every one of us. Jesus took all the thorns out of the crown and made a most beautiful crown, a crown of peace and joy, a crown of eternal life. How beautiful indeed is what He did for you and me!

Living for God is not hard when you love Him, really love Him. In sin, you had heartaches, despair, but no one to take your troubles to, no one that fully understood. Some of you tried to drown your troubles in alcohol, drugs. Others took so many pills that their stomach must have wondered what was coming next. But now instead of the heavy burden of sin, you have this glorious Cross to carry, the Cross of light to the whole world.

How Did God Feel?

God gave every bit of His love when He gave Jesus; He had no more love left. Accept that love, that sacrifice; for rejecting it means hell. The Bible says, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).

For about three hours on Calvary, darkness covered the land as God showed His anger. When Jesus gave up the ghost, the earth did quake, and the rocks rent (Matthew 27:51). The darkness, the violent earthquake let people know how God felt about the sacrifice of His Son. The disciples looked at the Middle Cross and thought it was the ugliest sight they had ever seen. There was Jesus, their loved one, the one they thought to be the Savior, the Redeemer…and He was dying on the Cross. Oh what an awful, awful sight they looked upon!

No Beauty to Be Desired

Isaiah the prophet describes Jesus as one who hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him (Isaiah 53:2). No comeliness, no beauty could be seen in Jesus as He hung on the Cross; He had been beaten, tortured, and finally crucified. Jesus so beaten, so bloody…there was nothing pleasing about His appearance, nothing to be desired about Him, no beauty. Hundreds of years before it happened, Isaiah had foreseen it.

The Christ I have seen is beautiful to look upon. I’ve beheld Him so mighty in the sky over a congregation of people, and I’ve beheld Him the size of a man. I’ve seen His dress, seen His skin; it’s wonderful to behold Him. He is indeed altogether lovely, the lovely Christ.

When you see Jesus, you want to hold Him on and on. No matter how long He appears before me, I want to hold on to Him longer. He amazes me in His reality. My God and my Lord, thou art great in all of your ways! Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints (Revelation 15:3).

But at the Crucifixion there was no beauty. Listen again to Isaiah: 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 (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus had gone through much sorrow, much grief. No one had stood with Him. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted (Isaiah 53:4). Smitten of God—His own Father—Jesus was our sacrificial Lamb; and the Father laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.

He Bore Our Sins and Sicknesses

Jesus became our sin bearer and our sickness bearer. 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 (Isaiah 53:5). For our transgressions Jesus was nailed to the Cross. Never would we have found peace had it not been for the Middle Cross. Jesus brought the peace of Eden that man would have known forever had he not failed God. And with His blood stripes we are healed. We are healed through the blood of Jesus.

Jesus came that he might destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8). What did Jesus bring for that destruction? Divine blood, the divine blood that destroys all sin and all sicknesses. Nothing unclean, nothing unlike God can stand before the blood.

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 (Isaiah 53:6). Everyone needs a Savior. God’s ways are not man’s ways; His thoughts are not man’s thoughts, and so very easily man chooses his own way with little or no regard for the way of the Lord. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8,9). When man turned to his own way, the Lord had to lay on Jesus the iniquity of us all.

All Have Sinned before Salvation

We were all sinners at one time, and as sinners we came short of the glory of God. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Some people mistakenly believe that because all have sinned it means no one can live sin free. No, although we were all sinners at one time, when we became born again, the blood of Jesus cleansed us of all sin. As long as we commit no more sin, we are saved—but we can backslide and lose our salvation. We can go back into sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (I John 1:8). We all once were sinners because we all were conceived in the iniquity of sin. We all need a Savior. But when we’re set free from sin, we are free, and sin no longer has dominion over us—the Bible declares it: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace (Romans 6:14).

The Bible goes on to say that if you commit sin, you’re of the devil. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God (I John 3:8-10). If you’re sinning, the devil is your father. How can you get to Heaven if you are related to the devil?

But if you’re righteous and holy, God is your Father. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not (I John 5:18).

Recognize the Humility of Jesus

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 (Isaiah 53:7). How amazing is the humility of Jesus! The Middle Cross gives you that humility, helps you to do away with egotism. The Middle Cross will let you see yourself any time you want to take a look.

Behold the Middle Cross before it was turned into the glorious Cross. Recognize the humility of Jesus, His sufferings, the way He died. Hear Him crying, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me (Matthew 27:46)? In all His sufferings, in all His sacrifices, Jesus gave everything; He held nothing in reserve.

Jesus, I repeat, turned the ugliness of the Cross into beauty; turned sin away from us and brought us into righteousness. Jesus made it possible for all to be washed clean from sin, to be pure and holy like the first Adam and the first Eve. How can we do less than serve Him totally?

No Shadows of Death

Because of Jesus, the crown of thorns became a crown of life, beautiful life, a crown you will wear as the eternal ages roll. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him (James 1:12).

Jesus conquered death, hell and the grave, and it all started on the Middle Cross. Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory (I Corinthians 15:54,55)?

The Middle Cross of suffering takes even the shadows out of the valley of death. The Psalmist said, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me (Psalm 23:4). There are no spiritual shadows of death for a child of God. No, absolutely not! Jesus, remember, is there, and He’s conquered death. Death has to let go of the soul that embraces Jesus in His liberty and freedom. The price was paid on the Middle Cross; Jesus gave Himself to death for the life of all who would come to Him.

Do you believe the price was paid? Do you believe Jesus turned death into something beautiful for us, making death but a step into Heaven? Yes, Jesus gave Himself over to death: I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again (John 10:17,18). Crucified on the Middle Cross, Jesus walked out of the tomb on the third day; He laid down His life and then He took it up again. Praise God, He walked out for you and for me!

We don’t have to fear death. When a loved one is dying, it isn’t goodbye forever. It’s, Goodnight; we’ll see you in the morning! How wonderful! But for those who die without the glorious Cross, those who die with that old, ugly, degraded cross, that sinful cross, it’s farewell forever.

Where will you spend eternity? Without the Middle Cross becoming your glorious Cross, without the crown of thorns becoming your crown of life, you will go to that place of eternal torment, shut away from the face of God forever. Oh, why will people gamble with their souls!

Stricken for Our Transgression

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 was he stricken (Isaiah 53:8). This sacrifice was all for you, all because of you.

Jesus walked those paths of sin’s judgment for you so you wouldn’t have to walk them. He took not only the sting of death, but He took judgment away from you. When you accepted Jesus into your heart, you met the only judgment you will ever face—other than the judgment of rewards for the righteous. You met your judgment at the Cross, and you were judged righteous.

A born-again Christian will never stand before the White Throne Judgment, never stand in front of an angry God. Before you were saved, however, you were on your way to eternal death, on your way to be judged and to hear God say, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). But not so now; the Middle Cross changed it all.

What a great price Jesus paid to take all the sins of the people, to take all the sicknesses and diseases! No wonder He was in such torment in the Garden of Gethsemane that He fell beneath the load and cried, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me (Matthew 26:39). He still had a flesh body although He had divine blood in His veins. He could feel the sting of Calvary; He felt it all. It wasn’t just divinity dying for you, Jesus gave Himself not only as very God but also as very man, spilling sinless blood.

So young, Jesus was cut off from among the living for my people, saith the Lord. 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. 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. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:9-11). Oh, what a love that would lead God to be willing to bruise His Son! Jesus had become the servant, not just a son, but a servant; He came to serve.

He Poured Out His Soul unto Death

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 53:12). The Middle Cross is the Cross of intercession. Jesus is the one who makes intercession for us. Glory be to God as the endless ages roll!

The Bible tells us in John 19:17,18 that Jesus bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. Jesus, on the Middle Cross, was crucified with two thieves.

Evil men, mocking Jesus, called out: If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him (Matthew 27:40-42). Jesus is coming down all right; He’s coming all the way from Heaven with judgment.

A Vesture Dipped in Blood

They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots (John 19:24). For His robe they cast lots. One day when Jesus comes back to Earth as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, He will be wearing a vesture that no one will take away from Him. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God (Revelation 19:13). The Lord wants all who will accept the Word of God to be sure of Jesus’ identity. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean (Revelation 19:14). The heavens will open and, behold! our King of Peace will come riding on a white horse. Faithful, true and righteous, He will judge and make war. Jesus is coming to end the Battle of Armageddon.

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God (Revelation 19:15). In His wrath, Jesus tramples His enemies underfoot. No longer is there a God for them; they have had their last chance, their last drop of mercy.

And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (Revelation 19:16). Jesus’ name is written not only on His robe, but also on His thigh. He’s a different looking Jesus, different from His first appearance when He was brought like a lamb to the slaughter. People beheld Him and thought He was just a man, just a man; they didn’t recognize that He was also very God.

A New and Living Way

We have the Middle Cross as our beacon and guide. The Middle Cross is our light, love, peace, joy, and happiness. We don’t need alcohol or drugs; we don’t need anything the devil offers. We have the joy of Heaven, abundant life. Jesus said, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

Paul called that abundant life the new and living way. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh (Hebrews 10:19,20). And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Praise the name of the Lord!

Study the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah often. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? The Middle Cross is the report, God’s report that everything was accomplished, the plan of salvation completed. The arm of the Lord is revealed to those who look to the Middle Cross. If you don’t look to the Middle Cross, you don’t see the power of God and His deliverance. If you don’t look to the Middle Cross, you don’t realize that hell and the White Throne judgment are waiting for you if you don’t have Jesus in your heart. You don’t realize that some morning you may not wake up in this life but in eternal darkness.

When you turn out those lights at night, Sinner, Backslider, you may turn out the lights forever in your life. Many people have gone to bed only to wake in a world of eternal darkness where there is no light to turn on, no peace ever again. Therefore, you must have the eternal light of God, this eternal beacon of light that beams from the Middle Cross.

Words of Triumph

Hear Jesus’ words of triumph: It is finished (John 19:30). The plan of salvation was finished, and that means you can live free from all sin; you can be like the first Adam and the first Eve before they fell. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (II Corinthians 5:17). Being a new creation made in the righteousness and the holiness of God is offered to all.

Do you see any sin involved with salvation? The Middle Cross declares no sin. No guile was found in Jesus who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth (I Peter 2:22). The Bible tells us to follow his steps (I Peter 2:21). Follow Jesus; follow with no guile. Follow thou me, He said (John 21:22). Oh to be like Jesus! How wonderful!

He Opened Not His Mouth

Seek daily to be like Jesus. Stop and think before you act: What would Jesus do? Jesus, what would you do? Jesus, what would you say? Would it be a time to not say anything? And the chief priests accused him [Jesus] of many things: but he answered nothing. And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee. But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marveled (Mark 15:3-5). Jesus’ accusers wanted Him to speak, and He wouldn’t open His mouth. They wanted Him to say something so they could accuse Him, and He knew answering them was useless. The Lord can let you know when your words are useless, when you must trust Him to take care of things.

So many times we hinder God, tie His hands because we have spoken too quickly, and He could not take over. Jesus didn’t open His mouth, and on the third day the Father took over; the Holy Ghost, through the blood, brought Him out of the tomb.

That same divine blood, through the same divine power of the Holy Ghost, will resurrect you—if you die before Jesus comes. For those who remain, the power of the Holy Ghost working with the power of the blood will change the Bride in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye.

Jesus Will Come Again

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (I Corinthians 15:51,52). The greatness of the blood and the power of the Holy Ghost will raise the dead and rapture the living. The Holy Ghost uses divine blood.

No Pleasure in Animal Sacrifices

What marvelous power is in the blood of Jesus! The blood took on the sins and all the sicknesses of mankind. Jesus paid the price: Jesus, the one and only sacrificial Lamb that pleased God. Of all the animals sacrificed in Old Testament times, none pleased God. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure (Hebrews 10:6). But the Middle Cross was pleasing to God because it was a true sacrifice, an eternal sacrifice; it was a sacrifice that the devil couldn’t touch.

Just as the devil couldn’t do anything with the sacrifice on the Middle Cross, he can’t do anything with you if you yield to that sacrifice. As you stay yielded to the sacrifice on the Middle Cross, you can overcome no matter how you’re being mistreated. The sins of others don’t diminish the power of God in your life.

Give Your Burdens to Jesus

Look again at the Middle Cross in the light that God wants you to view it: See it first as ugly, tormenting, sinful, full of sickness, and darkness, darkness, darkness; and then see it, I repeat, turned into the glorious Cross. Jesus calls, Here it is, Child. It’s an easy burden to carry now. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me (Matthew 16:24). If you have any burdens you can’t carry, all you have to do is lay them down in all faith at Jesus’ feet and go on your way rejoicing. Don’t look on the Cross as a horrible burden. No, Jesus said, My yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:30). The Middle Cross is easy to carry because it’s the glorious Cross. Don’t make it difficult in your mind, in your thought life.

There is a burden, however, that Jesus wants you to carry: the burden of the lost. We’ve spent most of our time carrying other burdens; but in this final hour, the Bride will spend her time, saith the Lord, carrying the burden for the lost.

The Middle Cross has all the life, all the grace, and all the help you need. The prophets of old caught a glimpse of it. Isaiah must have cried much as he wrote the fifty-third chapter. But he rejoiced when he wrote: His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Since the Middle Cross was turned into a Cross of glory for you and me, we can see Jesus as Isaiah described Him here. We can see Him wonderful and beautiful.

Only Jesus Will Be Scarred

In Heaven only Jesus will be scarred, reminding us all of that ugly Cross He changed into beauty. Jesus made it possible for us to never have a scar in eternity, never a blemish. But He will always have the nail prints in His feet and His hands; we’ll see those nail prints for all eternity. They’re scars of love, scars to remind you how much He loves you. On that day in Heaven when you finally get to walk with Jesus and feel the nail prints in His hand, you will remember that He died for you, that He took your place on the Middle Cross.

Were it not for Jesus, you would die in a cursed condition, disowned by God as Lucifer and his demons have been disowned. They were once beautiful angels in Heaven but because they sinned, the Lord cast them out. If He cast out angels, what will He do to sinful human beings? God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment (II Peter 2:4).

How terrible it would be to stand before God charged with trampling that blood from the Middle Cross underfoot!

In all Jesus’ suffering and agony on the Cross, He could still hear a cry for mercy from the repentant thief hanging beside Him: Remember me. I believe you to be the Son of God; I have faith in you. I give my love to you; I give myself to you as much as I can on this cross. And Jesus said, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43).

Suddenly that old ugly cross the thief was dying on to the right of Christ became his cross of life and was changed into beauty. Only one thief saw the beautiful glorious Christ.

We, too, saw the glorious Christ when the Holy Spirit let us know we could be free. Jesus declared, If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed (John 8:36).

Thank God for the Middle Cross; thank God Jesus took care of that Cross we should have died on. Thank God Jesus took our place! He paid the price and He made a glorious Cross for us to carry.

Shouldn’t we carry this glorious blood Cross? Shouldn’t we carry it to the world? Shouldn’t we tell the whole world about this? Of course we should.

Take one more look at the Middle Cross, how ugly, how terrible, how bitter it was. What a cup of bitterness and what a life of bitterness would have been ours for all eternity had Jesus not taken over with His divine blood! He gave His life, laid it down for you and for me, and made us this glorious Cross.

That glorious Cross and the glorious Christ are crying, Sinner, come home! Don’t be like the thief on the left who said, I don’t want you. Be like the thief on the right who said, I do believe.

If you don’t have Jesus in your heart, pray this prayer with me now: Dear Jesus, I know you’re the Son of God. I want to be a part of your Kingdom! Save my soul! I’m so sorry I sinned against you, but I have come home. I’m going to serve you, Lord, the rest of my life. I believe the blood of Jesus washes away all my sins. Come into my heart, Jesus; come on in!

Let the blood spilled on that Middle Cross become a living reality to you night and day. Through that divine blood you have everything needed for your life to be glorious in this last and final hour as you help the Lord bring in the harvest of souls throughout the whole world.

See the glory of the Middle Cross, and never let it go.