The Death of Christ.
Zion's Advocate, October 1902, Vol. 41, No. 10, Part 1.
The death of Christ is a very extraordinary event, standing alone in history, with which no other event can compare. Multiplied millions have died, but unlike all others is the death of Christ. Thousands and thousands of human beings have been executed, many of whom were innocent. In all other executions the guilty only were justly put to death, but in the death of Christ we have the single instance of the infliction of death upon an innocent, harmless person, in strict conformity to the most rigid justice. In this marvelous death we have the death of one who alone had the power to conquer death itself! At the grave of Lazarus, at the bier of the young man of Nain, and at the deathbed of the daughter of Jairus, he manifested that he was Lord over death. Is it not most wonderful that he should die who had thus demonstrated that he was the Resurrection and the Life? Here is a bleeding mystery which, but for the efficient aid of divine revelation, could never be solved.Christ died voluntarily. He said, "I lay down my life. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself." John x. 18. How can this be reconciled with the fact stated by Peter in his address to the Jews, "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain?" The seeming contradiction in these passages disappears when we remember that many times before this the Jews had sought to take him but could not because his hour had not yet come. This appears clear in Jesus' commanding Peter to put up his sword, saying, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to the Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" He laid down his own life by voluntarily giving himself into the hands of his enemies to be crucified by them. They did not conquer him by arbitrary force and take his life by an irresistible power. All men combined could not have done that. He thus laid down his own life, giving himself for us, the just for the unjust. Really the life of Jesus was not taken by the Jews at all. They only nailed him to the cross. When they came to complete the work they broke the legs of the two malefactors but they found Jesus already dead. One of the soldiers then pierced his side, while not a bone of him was broken. This piercing of his side was after his death, and his death did not result directly from his being nailed to the cross. He committed his own spirit into the hands of the Father, and gave up the ghost himself. It is positively declared that he, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God. There was no compulsion from without, because no force was sufficient to conquer him. This crowning act in the great work which he came to do was his own act.
Christ was nailed to the cross. This was done on the great day of the atonement, the most sacred and solemn of all days to the Jews, the one day on which the high priest entered into the most holy place in the temple. The spot selected for this most tragic scene was the summit of Mount Calvary - Golgotha - a naked eminence, the place of execution of rebels, incendiaries, thieves, murders and other offscourings of the human race. Love never ruled there. Naked justice sat enthroned with scales and instruments of death, from which one would naturally turn with abhorrence. This horrible spot became the scene of the most amazing occurrence ever seen by mortals or recorded by historic pens. Upon this awful hill the healing fountain for sin and uncleanness was opened, and springs of peace and salvation burst forth. Here towers the pillar of our refuge, and here the Bethany of our repose and refreshments is displayed.
Let us now collect our thoughts and employ our imaginations to witness the horrible catastrophe. Look! Alas! what is it that now transpires on the bloody hill? Barbarous, unfeeling men, hardened by sin and inured to the most dreadful of all employments, approach the blessed Jesus and offer him wine mingled with myrrh, a potion designed to stupefy convicts before executing them. He refuses the draught, desiring to suffer in full the penalty of the law, and to submit to drink the last drop of the accursed cup in compliance with the will of his Father. After stripping him of his garments, the executioners seize him and lay him down upon the cross. O what a dying bed for the Lord of glory! His arms are next stretched out upon the rugged cross-beam, and his feet are placed upon the post, all being secured by cords. What next? Oh! why do not our hearts of stone break within our breasts at the sight and sound? The strokes of the hammer drive the nails through the innocent hands and feet of the spotless Lamb of God! These awful strokes testify of our sins, and at the same time of the wrath of almighty God! A crimson flow gushes forth from the mangled flesh -- the blood of the Holy One is streaming to the earth!
Slowly the cross is raised, bearing its bleeding, suffering victim, to be planted in the hole dug to receive it. Thus the cross is elevated to its height and drops into its place. What a spectacle! The Prince of peace is rejected from the surface of the earth, and seems to be refused also of heaven. The Creator of both is hung in disgrace between the two!
J. R. D.
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