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176
The Story of Redemption
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 that
the Son of God consents to have these heinous crimes laid upon
Him; for thee He spoils the domain of death, and opens the gates
of Paradise and immortal life. He who stilled the angry waves by
His word and walked the foam-capped billows, who made devils
tremble and disease flee from His touch, who raised the dead to
life and opened the eyes of the blind, offers Himself upon the cross
as the last sacrifice for man. He, the sin-bearer, endures judicial
punishment for iniquity and becomes sin itself for man.
Satan, with his fierce temptations, wrung the heart of Jesus. Sin,
so hateful to His sight, was heaped upon Him till He groaned beneath
its weight. No wonder that His humanity trembled in that fearful
hour. Angels witnessed with amazement the despairing agony of the
Son of God, so much greater than His physical pain that the latter
was hardly felt by Him. The hosts of heaven veiled their faces from
the fearful sight.
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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 sud-
denly 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. 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?”
Mark 15:34
.
It Is Finished
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.”
Luke
23:46
. A light encircled the cross, and the face of the Saviour shone