Clint Eastwood is an iconic Hollywood actor and director. When I reviewed one of Clint’s most popular films, Gran Torino, I said, “We need to learn that getting justice may only be won by giving ourselves.” In short, true victory is achieved through sacrifice.

Eastwood’s symbolic gesture of a cross-like pose at the end of Gran Torino has been used repeatedly since Jesus sacrificed Himself on the Cross for human sin. The importance of the cross is more than a symbol to be worn around a person’s neck. Jesus’ death was a finished work. We remember Jesus dying on the cross because that is where He defeated both sin and death.

My favorite passage of Scripture about the cross comes from Colossians 2:14-15. It reads, “God cancelled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside by nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them at the cross.

In the Roman world of Paul’s day, a defeated enemy was paraded in front of a crowd of people. The people would show their disdain for the defeated foe by throwing garbage and human waste on the prisoners, a final sign of defeat. In the same way, Jesus’ death was an announcement to all supernatural and natural authorities: I have conquered death.

What is Eastwood’s symbolic gesture? You will need to see the end of the movie. But if you want the basis for the movie’s ending, you will need to read about Jesus’ crucifixion, the voluntary gift of His death that defeated death, at the Cross. A symbolic gesture arises out of a factual event – Jesus’ sacrifice for the world’s sin.

For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.

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