Chapter 163—The Sins of the World
He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5
.
Some have limited views of the atonement. They think that Christ
suffered only a small portion of the penalty of the law of God; they suppose
that, while the wrath of God was felt by His dear Son, He had, through all
His painful sufferings, the evidence of His Father’s love and acceptance;
that the portals of the tomb before Him were illuminated with bright hope,
and that He had the abiding evidence of His future glory. Here is a great
mistake. Christ’s keenest anguish was a sense of His Father’s displeasure.
His mental agony because of this was of such intensity that man can have
but faint conception of it.
With many the story of the condescension, humiliation, and sacrifice of
our divine Lord awakens no deeper interest ... than does the history of the
death of the martyrs of Jesus. Many have suffered death by slow tortures;
others have suffered death by crucifixion. In what does the death of God’s
dear Son differ from these? ... If the sufferings of Christ consisted in physical
pain alone, then His death was no more painful than that of some of the
martyrs. But bodily pain was but a small part of the agony of God’s dear Son.
The sins of the world were upon Him, also the sense of His Father’s wrath as
He suffered the penalty of the law transgressed. It was these that crushed His
divine soul.... The separation that sin makes between God and man was fully
realized and keenly felt by the innocent, suffering Man of Calvary. He was
oppressed by the powers of darkness. He had not one ray of light to brighten
the future.... It was in this terrible hour of darkness, the face of His Father
hidden, legions of evil angels enshrouding Him, the sins of the world upon
Him, that the words were wrenched from His lips: “My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me?” ...
In comparison with the enterprise of everlasting life, every other sinks
into insignificance.
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