The Early Church Fathers taught that the New Testament is hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is revealed of fulfilled in the New. Let us examine few facts about Cross, embedded and foreshadowed in the Holy Scriptures.

In the middle of the Garden of Eden, God planted two trees. He called special attention to it and commanded not to eat the fruits thereof. The tempter serpent enticed them to eat, they ate and thus brought sin and death to mankind and man moved away from eternity of God. The Third Tree of Calvary (Cross) was planted by men and Jesus was crucified on it. He commanded us to partake His Body, bringing life and salvation, paving a path to Eternity with God. The Cross of Christ is indeed the Tree of Life, that overcame death that came into the world, by the tree in the Garden. The Tree of Life, that was lifted-up for us, bore our sins, took the curse of death for us. His Blood cleanses us from all sins. The Holy Eucharist is the Fruit of the Tree of Life, the Holy Cross.

Patriarch Abraham led his beloved son, Isaac (Gen 22: 1-19), to the hilltop for sacrifice, carrying the wood of his torment upon his back (Gen 22: 6), points the future sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son at Calvary. The Cross itself is specifically prophesied, the image of Jesus ascending the hilltop of Golgotha with His Cross Himself and also upon Simon of Cyrene’s shoulders (Mark 15: 21; Luke 23: 26) is a striking precursor.

God divided the Red Sea, when Moses stretched his hand over the sea, the waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left (Ex. 14) and by a transverse blow uniting the waters again, the Pharaoh and his army, were all drowned in the water, while Israel crossed over on the dry bottom (Exodus – 14, 17). So, when Moses executed a cross with his hand and staff, the Red Sea immediately parted for Israel to walk on foot, on the dry beds of the Red Sea.  “……. that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

When the Chosen People could not drink because the waters of the wilderness at Marah, were too bitter, the Lord left them not to their suffering, but God provided graciously for them. Moses, turned to divine guidance. ‘He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. And when Moses threw the wood into the water, behold: the water became sweet’ (Exodus 15: 25).Some make this tree typical of the Cross of Christ, which sweetens the bitter waters of affliction to all the faithful and enables them to rejoice in tribulation. The ‘tree’ typifies the Cross of Christ and the Christ of the Cross, Who took away the bitterness of our lives.

Moses the Lawgiver stretched out his arms, was a type of the Cross (Ex. 17: 8-12). He held his arms raised in the form of a cross during the battle, with Aaron and Hur holding his tired arms. Whenever Moses held up his hands, outstretched in the form of a cross, Israel prevailed, till victory was given to the Israelites over the Amalekites. It was the sign of the Cross which gave succor to the Israelite warriors and encouraged their efforts for victory.

Moses made this sacred image another time when he led the people of Israel into Edom.  The Israelites, during their wandering, murmured against Moses and God.  They became dispirited and lost their faith in God, with the result that God sent deadly poisonous snakes to bite them, leading to many deaths. ‘Moses set upon a wooden pole a cure against the deadly and poisonous bite of the serpents; for a cross like upon the wood – as a symbol of the Cross – he placed the serpent that creeps about the earth, and thereby triumphed over calamity’ (Num. 21: 4-9). Thus, salvation came, and came from God, and came upon a cross. In the sign of the Cross, Israel found life. The deadly venom of the serpent could not prevail against the power which came through the wood. Jesus Christ Himself, foretells His death on the Cross, which He likens to the elevation of the bronze snake in the wilderness, saying: ‘Just as Moses raised up the serpent in the desert, so, too, must the son of man be elevated’ (Jn. 3: 14).

Patriarch Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh with his hands held as cross (Gen. 48: 13, 14). His actions, too, foreshadow the cross; for in offering the paternal blessing to Joseph’s sons, the figure of his own body, with his hands laid on their heads, is of a man extended upon a Cross. In the person of Israel, it is from the Cross that the divine blessing comes to the children of God.

King Solomon, kneeling before the Altar of Lord, with and raised to heaven, in the shape of a Cross. at the dedication of the Jerusalem temple prayed ……………. Solomon had finished the prayers and supplications to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven (1 Kings 8: 22; 2 Chronicles 6: 12).

Church fathers also reckon, the same posture with Jonah in prayer in the fish’s belly. When Jonah, trapped in the belly of a whale, outstretched his hands in prayer and thus took upon himself the form of the cross, the sea-monster itself obeyed the divine command and expelled him safely onto dry land (Jonah 2).

Prophet Elisha brought a Shunammite’s child back to life again by stretching upon him. He went in and shut the door upon them and prayed unto the LORD. And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and he stretched himself upon the child; in the form of a cross and the flesh of the child waxed warm, and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. (2 Kings 4: 32-35).

With renewed strength Samson, destroyed the Philistine temple, with a mighty crash. …… then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, (Judges 16: 29) in the form of a Cross.

And Joshua, stopped the sun and the moon in their tracks by raising his hands crosswise and crying out to the Lord.How divinely fitting that this first Jesus would lead the Chosen People to victory through the shape of the cross, a clear foreshadowing of the eternal deliverance the heavenly Jesus would grant by that same figure.

And David, the king made the sign of the Cross, when he had killed the Philistine with a horizontal sling and a vertical staff. The mysteries were depicted carefully. The stone is Christ, the sling is Mary, and the staff is the Cross.

In the Old Testament, our Church Fathers tell, that the image of the Cross also saved the Prophet Daniel and the three young men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The Biblical text doesn’t present a picture of the rescue of the three young men, but an image of their salvation can be seen that the three young men and Prophet Daniel were saved by raising their arms to heaven in the form of a cross. When he had been cast into the lions’ den, the great Prophet Daniel extended his arms in the form of a cross and was saved, unharmed, from being devoured by them’.

Jesus Christ Himself, even before His Crucifixion emphasized the importance of the Cross, and He refers to the Cross. Lk. 9: 23 “if any man would come after Me let him deny himself, take up His Cross daily and follow Me” (Mk 8: 34). “he who does not take the Cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10: 38).

Thus, the Cross which stood on Golgotha casts its shadow evermore into the future–into eternity itself. And in the mystery of the timelessness of God, the Cross also reaches back into the past, to the very beginnings of history and creation.