"For the preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the
power of God…. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after
wisdom" (1 Cor. 1:18, 22).

To the
natural mind, whether Jew or Gentile, wisdom and signs are displays of the
power of God. But power with God is that which seems weakness or foolishness
with men. There are two signs which God gives in Scripture. "And this
shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12). What could be weaker in man’s eyes than a
babe lying in a manger? Yet there is even a deeper sign of weakness—a dead man.
"A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall
not be given to it save the sign of Jonas the prophet. For even as Jonas was in
the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, thus shall the Son of
man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights" (Matt.
12:39, J.N.D. trans.). The expression of absolute weakness is a man in death.
Yet through a Man in death we are saved. He was rejected by everybody, betrayed
by a false friend, denied by a true one, forsaken by God, and on the cross
"crucified through weakness" (2 Cor. 13:4). "Christ crucified
[is] to Jews an offense, and to nations foolishness; but to those that [are]
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ God’s power and God’s wisdom" (1 Cor.
1:23, 24, J. N. D. trans.).