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Sufferings of Christ
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have but faint conception of it.
With many the story of the condescension, humiliation, and
sacrifice of our divine Lord awakens no deeper interest, and stirs
the soul and affects the life no more, 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? It is true He died
upon the cross a most cruel death; yet others, for His dear sake, have
suffered equally, so far as bodily torture is concerned. Why, then,
was the suffering of Christ more dreadful than that of other persons
who have yielded their lives for His sake? 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. It was the hiding of His
Father’s face—a sense that His own dear Father had forsaken Him—
which brought despair. 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. And He was struggling
with the power of Satan, who was declaring that he had Christ in
his power, that he was superior in strength to the Son of God, that
the Father had disowned His Son, and that He was no longer in the
favor of God any more than himself. If He was indeed still in favor
with God, why need He die? God could save Him from death.
Christ yielded not in the least degree to the torturing foe, even in
His bitterest anguish. Legions of evil angels were all about the Son
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of God, yet the holy angels were bidden not to break their ranks and
engage in conflict with the taunting, reviling foe. Heavenly angels
were not permitted to minister unto the anguished spirit of the Son of
God. 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?”
The death of the martyrs can bear no comparison with the agony
endured by the Son of God. We should take broader and deeper