Every step that the Saviour
now took was with labored effort. He groaned aloud as though suffering
under the pressure of a terrible burden; yet he refrained from startling
his disciples by a full explanation of the agony which he was to suffer.
Twice his companions prevented him from falling to the ground. Jesus
felt that he must be still more alone, and he said to the favored three,
“My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye here, and
watch with me.”
He went a short distance from his disciples-- not so far but that they
could both see and hear him--and fell prostrate with his face upon the
cold ground. He was overpowered by a terrible fear that God was removing
his presence from him. He felt himself being separated from his Father
by a gulf of sin, so broad, so black and deep that his spirit shuddered
before it. He clung convulsively to the cold, unfeeling ground as if to
prevent himself from being drawn still farther from God. The chilling
dews of night fell upon him. From his pale, convulsed lips wailed the
bitter cry, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;
nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
Three times has he uttered that prayer. Three times has humanity shrunk
from the last crowning sacrifice. But now the history of the human race
comes up before the world’s Redeemer. He sees the power of sin, and the
utter helplessness of man to save himself. The woes and lamentations of
a doomed world arise before him and his decision is made. He will save
man at any cost to himself. He accepts his baptism of blood...
Pilate
Pilate was filled with sympathy and amazement as he beheld the
uncomplaining patience of Jesus. Gentleness and resignation were
expressed in every feature; there was no cowardly weakness in his
manner, but the strength and dignity of long-suffering...
Pilate, pointing to the Saviour, in a voice of solemn entreaty said to
priests, rulers, and people, “Behold the man.” “I bring him forth to you
that ye may know that I find no fault in him.” But the priests had moved
the mob to mad fury; and, instead of pitying Jesus in his suffering and
forbearance, they cried, “Crucify him, crucify him!” and their hoarse
voices were like the roaring of wild beasts. Pilate, losing all patience
with their unreasoning cruelty, cried out despairingly, “Take ye him,
and crucify him; for I find no fault in him.”
The Roman governor, familiarized with cruel scenes, educated amid the
din of battle, was moved with sympathy for the suffering prisoner, who,
condemned and scourged, with bleeding brow and lacerated back, still had
more the bearing of a king upon his throne than that of a condemned
criminal. But the priests declared, “We have a law, and by our law he
ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
Pilate was startled by these words. The thought that had once before
passed through his mind now took more definite shape, and he questioned
if it might not be a divine personage who stood before him ...
Calvary
By this time the news of the condemnation of Jesus had spread through
all Jerusalem, striking terror and anguish to thousands of hearts, but
bringing a malicious joy to many who had been reproved by the Saviour’s
teachings. All classes of people flocked to the scene of outrage, and
Jerusalem was left almost empty.
Upon arriving at the place of execution, the condemned were bound to the
instruments of torture. While the two thieves wrestled in the hands of
those who stretched them upon the cross, Jesus made no resistance. The
mother of Jesus looked on with agonizing suspense, hoping that he would
work a miracle to save himself. Surely He who had given life to the dead
would not suffer himself to be crucified. Bitter grief and
disappointment filled her heart. Must she give up her faith that he was
the true Messiah? She saw his hands stretched upon the cross--those dear
hands that had ever dispensed blessings, and had been reached forth so
many times to heal the suffering...
Jesus made no murmur of complaint; his face remained pale and serene,
but great drops of sweat stood upon his brow. While the soldiers were
doing their fearful work, and he was enduring the most acute agony,
Jesus prayed for his enemies– “Father, forgive them; for they know not
what they do.” His mind was borne from his own suffering to the crime of
his persecutors, and the terrible but just retribution that would be
theirs. He pitied them in their ignorance and guilt.
And now a terrible scene was enacted. Priests, rulers, and scribes
forgot the dignity of their sacred offices, and joined with the rabble
in mocking and jeering the dying Son of God, saying, “If thou be the
King of the Jews, save thyself.”
The Thief
The thieves who were crucified with Jesus suffered like physical torture
with him; but one was only hardened and rendered desperate and defiant
by his pain. He took up the mocking of the priests. The other malefactor
was not a hardened criminal. In common with the rest of the Jews, he had
believed that Messiah was soon to come. He had heard Jesus, and been
convicted by his teachings; but through the influence of the priests and
rulers he had turned away from him. He had sought to drown his
convictions in the fascinations of pleasure. Corrupt associations had
led him farther and farther into wickedness, until he was arrested for
open crime and condemned to die upon the cross.
During that day of trial he had been in company with Jesus in the
judgment hall and on the way to Calvary. He had heard Pilate declare him
to be a just man; he had marked his Godlike deportment and his pitying
forgiveness of his tormentors. In his heart he acknowledged Jesus to be
the Son of God.
As his heart went out to Christ, heavenly illumination flooded his mind.
In Jesus, bruised, mocked, and hanging upon the cross, he saw his
Redeemer, his only hope, and appealed to him in humble faith: “Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom! And Jesus said unto him,
Verily I say unto thee to-day, thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”
The Spirit of God illuminated the mind of this criminal, who took hold
of Christ by faith, and, link after link, the chain of evidence that
Jesus was the Messiah was joined together, until the suffering victim,
in like condemnation with himself, stood forth before him as the Son of
God. While the leading Jews deny him, and even the disciples doubt his
divinity, the poor thief, upon the brink of eternity, at the close of
his probation, calls Jesus his Lord! Many were ready to call him Lord
when he wrought miracles, and also after he had risen from the grave;
but none called him Lord as he hung dying upon the cross, save the
penitent thief, who was saved at the eleventh hour...
Darkness
Christ was the prince of sufferers; but it was not bodily anguish that
filled him with horror and despair. The withdrawal of the divine
countenance from the Saviour, in this hour of supreme anguish, pierced
his heart with a sorrow that can never be fully understood by man. Every
pang endured by the Son of God upon the cross, the blood drops that
flowed from his head, his hands, and feet, the convulsions of agony
which racked his frame, and the unutterable anguish that filled his soul
at the hiding of his Father’s face from him, speak to man, saying, It is
for love of thee...
Angels witnessed with amazement the despairing agony of the Son of God.
The hosts of Heaven veiled their faces from the fearful sight.
Inanimate nature expressed a sympathy with its insulted and dying
Author. The sun refused to look upon the awful scene. Its full, bright
rays were illuminating the earth at midday, when suddenly it seemed to
be blotted out. Complete darkness enveloped the cross, and all the
vicinity about, like a funeral pall...
The darkness lasted three full hours. No eye could pierce the gloom that
enshrouded the cross, and none could penetrate the deeper gloom that
flooded the suffering soul of Christ. A nameless terror took possession
of all who were collected about the cross. The silence of the grave
seemed to have fallen upon Calvary. The cursing and reviling ceased in
the midst of half-uttered sentences. Men, women, and children prostrated
themselves upon the earth in abject terror. Vivid lightnings
occasionally flashed forth and revealed the cross and the crucified
Redeemer.
At the ninth hour the terrible darkness lifted from the people, but
still wrapt the Saviour as in a mantle. The angry lightnings seemed to
be hurled at him as he hung upon the cross. Then “Jesus cried with a
loud voice, saying, Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being
interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” As the outer
gloom settled about Christ, many voices exclaimed, “The vengeance of God
is upon him! The bolts of God’s wrath are hurled upon him because he
claimed to be the Son of God!” When the Saviour’s despairing cry rang
out, many who had believed on him were filled with terror, hope left
them; if God had forsaken Jesus, what was to become of his followers?
In silence the people watch for the end of this fearful scene. Again the
sun shines forth; but the cross is enveloped in darkness. Suddenly the
gloom is lifted from the cross, and in clear trumpet tones, that seem to
resound throughout creation, Jesus cries, “It is finished;” “Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit.” A light encircled the cross, and
the face of the Saviour shone with a glory like unto the sun. He then
bowed his head upon his breast, and died.
All the spectators stood paralyzed, and with bated breath gazed upon the
Saviour. Again darkness settled upon the face of the earth, and a hoarse
rumbling like heavy thunder was heard. This was accompanied by a violent
trembling of the earth. The multitude were shaken together in heaps, and
the wildest confusion and consternation ensued. In the surrounding
mountains, rocks burst asunder with loud crashing, and many of them came
tumbling down the heights to the plains below. Graves were broken open,
and the dead were cast out of their tombs. Creation seemed to be
shivering to atoms. Priests, rulers, soldiers, and executioners were
mute with terror, and prostrate upon the ground.
Jesus did not yield up his life till he had accomplished the work which
he came to do; and he exclaimed with his parting breath, “It is
finished!” There was joy in Heaven that the sons of Adam could now,
through a life of obedience, be exalted finally to the presence of God.
Satan was defeated, and knew that his kingdom was lost.
When the Christian fully comprehends the magnitude of the great
sacrifice made by the Majesty of Heaven, then will the plan of salvation
be magnified before him, and to meditate upon Calvary will awaken the
deepest and most sacred emotions of his heart. Contemplation of the
Saviour’s matchless love should absorb the mind, touch and melt the
heart, refine and elevate the affections, and completely transform the
whole character. - Adapted from
Desire of Ages |
