Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-03-15

DGIW66n Two UldjGldClOISs L nat w U.s.
the hour of the morning sacrifice!
For six hours He suffered. The
physical suffering was intense--the
flesh of His hands and feet through
which nails had been driven and
by which He hung there. Inflam-
nation of the joints, fever, thirst,
eXhaustion--all increasing in severi-
ty as every hour passed.
The mental suffering was indie
scribable. Think of the suffering
sensitive gentleman like Jesus would
have experienced to have hung
naked on a tree before the public
gaze!
All, but these were as nothing
that He endured-alone. acCursed,
in the darkness of the deepest hell;
this was the condition of Jesus
Christ the Son of God for three
hours, from noon until three o'clock
in the afternoon; then He deliver
ed His spirit and His body hung
lifeless on the cross, at the hour of
evening sacrifice.
Before six o'clock permission had
been secured from PLATE to take
it down, and bury it; which was
hurriedly done before the Sabbath
begun at that hour.
On Calvary
Let us see if we can what it was
that made the spiritual suffering
on Calvary so intense, and what it
was that our Lord Jesus bore for
us that day. This is indeed holy
ground. May the blessed Spirit of
God enlighten our hearts so that
we may perceive the truth!
Perhaps we can best understand
it by examining the 22nd Psalm,
the opening verse of which He
quoted as one of the seven words
on the cross. my God, Ny God,
why hast thou forsaken Me?". This
was an experience that He had
never known before. In John S:29
He said. "tEe Father hath now left
Me alone; for [, do always the
things that please. Him" Do you
wonder, therefore, that He cried
out now in the agony of Spirit,
"Why hast Thou forsaken me-" for
He still claimed Him as His own"
My mighty one, my mighty one,
why hast Thou forsaken me; so
far from helping me; from the
words of my rearing" God was
far away from Jesus and the eX-
perience was strange and heart
rending to Him. He could not
grasp it-He had lost fellowship
with His Father. which was life it
self to Him; something had come
in between Him and His Father.
He gees on, II cry in the day
time, but thou nearest not, and in
the night season, and am not sill
emit" Surely this cannot be the
same who at the grave CT Lazarus
said to His Father, Father, I thank
thee that thou hast heard me; and
that [ knew that thou nearest me
always" John 11:41-42).
But now, forsaken of God, far
from God, separated from God, not
heard by God when He cries day
and night. Why? He asks. Then
He answers His own question. But
thou art holy" All! there was the
reason; that was the very center of
the cross. This Man that was hang
ing on the, cross was forsaken by
God and not heard by Him because
of Gods holiness. He is so holy
that He will not even behold evil.
Sin and Gods holiness cannot pos
sibly dwell together. Your sin and
my sin had been laid on Jesus and
God could not even look at Him or
listen to Him!
In the next few verses Of the
psalm the awful agony of this sep
aration is continued. He was diff
ferent from others. "Our Fathers
trusted in thee and were delivered"
but when I cry I am not even
heard. All! here again is the reason.
But 1 am a worm the Hebrew
word means the coccus from which
the scarlet dye is made for the cur
tains Of the tabernacle. 1t gives this
only in it's death. 1t has a deeper
significance even yet; Isaiah uses
it of the deepest sin; and we express
it when we speak of the scarlet
woman, the one who has gone to
the bottom.
Here then was the truth; others
trusted and were delivered, others
cried and were heard but He was
not because He had been so identi.
fled with sin that God looks on Him
as sin itself, the worm that in its
death gives the scarlet color.
However, Jesus does net give it
up. AS this psalm, written prophet
ically of Him years before, goes
through His mind. He continues to
pray, reminding His Father whose
face is now turned away from Him
and whose ear will not hear His
cry, shat not one moment before in
His whole life has been spent away
from Him. He had been His God
from His mothers womb; He had
leaned upon Him every moment
since. He therefore pleads for His
presence and His help, for His dis
tress increases. His enemies have
become like beasts-bulls rushing
furiously at Him, gaping at Him to
devcur Him, dogs encircjing Him
like scavengers. And He is in no
condition to withstand them-com-
ing from the furnace of Gethsem-
ane. His heart melted like wax;
as weak as water, His strength
dried up like potsherd, and His
tongue parched> with thirst-What
resistance could He offer without
God as His help?
Crowding around the foot of the
cross, the thoughtless crowd are
staring at Him, the soldiers are part
ing His garments and casting lots
for His seamless robe. Not dismayed,
though forsaken, out of the lowest
depths of sin He cries again, 20 my
strength, haste thee to help me, save
me from the lions mouth
And God finally hears Him and
turns his face towards Him. His
justice has been satisfied, His love
and mercy hasten to express them
selves. Thou hast heard me from
the horns of the wild bull, (Verse
21) cries Jesus the sinbearer. The
rest of that psalm is paean OF
praise for the deliverance and ultl'
mately victory. No wonder at the
close Of those darkest three hours OF
the worlds history that He cried
out with d loud voice, "It is Finished
During those hours He had been
alone-that word is the description
of the first 81 verses of that psalm,
and describes Jesus. Alone, forsaken
of God hecause Of Gods holiness;