Evening star., 1921-03-19

fore their crucifAiou. Every move
ment of the muscles only served to
Increase tho agony of the suffering
upon the cross. We do not dwell so
much upon His physical sufrerings
as upon those of His soul in which
He was truly bearing the curse of
sin.
He was numbered with the trans
eressors. The added disgrace OF be-
ing cruCified between two thieves
made Him the more conspicuous. as
probably the greatest transrressor
IL may have been that as they lifted
his cross up into its place between
the two indicators, that the Lord, re-
calling the cries OF the mob. the
denial of Peter, the treacherv of
Judas. the fraud OF the Sanhedrin,
the cowardly injustice of Plate. the
fury and cruelty OF His enemies. pray
ed Father. forgive them for they
know not what they do" Certainly
that was true OF tn" band of soldiers.
who Gambled at the foot OF the cross
for the seamless robe. which possibly
His own mother may have made for
Him. In casting lots for His coat
there was another fulfllment of
prophecy concerning the Lord, which
serves to fortify ones faith and con-
fdence in both the record and the
Savior.
While Jesus hung in agony upon
the cross He was reyiled by the
passer-by, the chief priests, scribes.
elders and the malefactors hanging
upon the adjoining crosses. Their re-
proaches, which were in accordance
with the psalmists predictions. un-
Willingly testified for the Christ. The
irresponsible mob of passers-by re-
viled Him with taunts, that recalled
the false charges on which the priests
had secured His Illegal conviction
upon the ground of His having bias
phemed, were fulfilling the prophecies
of the psalmist. They little realized
how soon God would demonstrate that
Jesus was His Son, endowed with
power by His resurrection from the
dead. He could not save others and
save Himself This is the glory OF
the gospel. He gave Himself for
others: He calls us to follow His
example. The gray-haired priests, re-
joicinG in their apparent triumph,
pointed to the Indictment of Plate
and tried TO remove its sting by
claiming that If He were king that
He would come down from the cross.
His refusal to give up the cross sus-
tained His claims. Satan offered Him
the Kingdoms of this world and as
sured Him that He could escape the
cross. His refusal to abandon the
the cross proved His Messianic claim.
His replies and attitude won for the
Lord Jesus the championship of one
Of the robbers, who confessed faith
in Christ. and to Him was given an
evidence of Gods love and willingness
to forgive sinners.
During at least three hours of dark
ness Jesus hung upon the cross He
tasted the very dregs of death when
He cried out MY God. My God" He
became sin for the world. He took
the sinners place and suffered for
them. When He had completed His
task the Lord Jesus cried out tri-
umphantly from the cross. 1T is fin
| ished." He had atoned for sin. His
| work of sacrifice was completed. Re-
demption had been secured Ii was not
till then that He yielded up the ghl\t
or dismissed His Spirit from the bodyN
His death was a ransom for many. He
was the Lamb of God taking away the
sin of the world The Servant OF Jeho-
yah fulfilled the Messianic prophecies of
Isaiah and the other prophets who spake
of His death. Ii was the eliminating
act OF His life. Better than any other
it sets forth the real glory of heavenly
minded self-sacrifice. His death has
transformed the cross from a symbol OF
shame and ignominy to token of glo-
rious triumph that We glory in the
blood stained cross of Calvary. We
preach it because it is the center of
human history and source of all real
progress