The Cross in Redemptive History

For the last several days, I've been thinking about how Christ and His cross are the fulfillment of so many Old Testament promises.  In my mind, I've always divided redemptive history into two categories: now (creation to the end of this physical world) and eternity.  However, although I still see two categories, the two categories now are the time of God giving promises and the time of God fulfilling promises.

From creation (Genesis 3:15) until the end of the Old Testament, God is continually giving promises.  Some of these promises were given to a nation whom God corporately elected and with whom he had a covenant relationship that was not necessarily salvific.  Others of these promises were given to His redeemed people whom He bound Himself to by covenant.  With the birth of the Messiah, the Branch, the King, the Shepherd, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ, these promises began to be fulfilled.  Jesus Christ's coming inaugurated the fulfillment of all of the promises of the Old Testament.  We may not see their fulfillment or the results of their fulfillment immediately, but their fulfillment was begun.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians in II Corinthians 1:18-20:

But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No.  For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us...was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes.  For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

The fulfillment of God's promises continues from the coming of Christ through eternity, for in the Eternal State we will still be experiencing and rejoicing in the fulfilled promises of our faithful, covenant-keeping God.

Thinking about redemptive history in these two categories has highlighted the centrality of Christ and the cross in my mind.  It is Christ and His cross to which God's promises point, and it is Christ and His cross which fulfill these promises.  Words like Christological and Christo-centric are making sense in a different dimension because I am seeing that Christ and the cross really are the focus-point of all redemptive history.  This is not to minimize themes such as the glory of God, for there is more in God's plan than just redemption, but the section of history that we as humans can best understand is the redemptive part, and Christ and the cross are turning point of redemption.  Whether it is the redemption of individual people or the redemption of the heavens and earth, redemption and fulfilled promises are only possible because of Christ and His cross.

The Valley of Vision nicely summed up centrality of the cross in daily life in the prayer "The Grace of the Cross":

I thank Thee from the depths of my being for Thy wonderous grace and love in bearing my sin in Thine own body on the tree.  

May Thy cross be to me as the tree that sweetens my bitter Marahs, as the rod that blossoms with life and beauty, as the brazen serpent that calls forth the look of faith.

By Thy cross crucify my every sin; use it to increase my intimacy with Thyself;

Make it the ground of all my comfort, the liveliness of all my duties, the sum of all thy gospel promises, the comfort of all my afflictions, the vigour of my love, thankfulness, graces, and the very essence of my religion;

And by it give me that rest without rest, the rest of ceaseless praise.