“It is Finished”
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the hearts of men. Oh, fearful scene! the Saviour seized at midnight
in Gethsemane, dragged to and fro from palace to judgment hall,
arraigned twice before the priests, twice before the Sanhedrin, twice
before Pilate, and once before Herod, mocked, scourged, condemned,
and led out to be crucified, bearing the heavy burden of the cross, amid
the wailing of the daughters of Jerusalem and the jeering of the rabble.
Heaven viewed with grief and amazement Christ hanging upon
the cross, blood flowing from His wounded temples, and sweat tinged
with blood standing upon His brow. From His hands and feet the blood
fell, drop by drop, upon the rock drilled for the foot of the cross. The
wounds made by the nails gaped as the weight of His body dragged
upon His hands. His labored breath grew quick and deep, as His soul
panted under the burden of the sins of the world. All heaven was filled
with wonder when the prayer of Christ was offered in the midst of His
terrible suffering,—“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they
do.”
Luke 23:34
. Yet there stood men, formed in the image of God,
joining to crush out the life of His only-begotten Son. What a sight for
the heavenly universe!
The principalities and powers of darkness were assembled around
the cross, casting the hellish shadow of unbelief into the hearts of men.
When the Lord created these beings to stand before His throne, they
were beautiful and glorious. Their loveliness and holiness were in
accordance with their exalted station. They were enriched with the
wisdom of God, and girded with the panoply of heaven. They were
Jehovah’s ministers. But who could recognize in the fallen angels the
glorious seraphim that once ministered in the heavenly courts?
Satanic agencies confederated with evil men in leading the people
to believe Christ the chief of sinners, and to make Him the object of
detestation. Those who mocked Christ as He hung upon the cross were
imbued with the spirit of the first great rebel. He filled them with vile
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and loathsome speeches. He inspired their taunts. But by all this he
gained nothing.
Could one sin have been found in Christ, had He in one particular
yielded to Satan to escape the terrible torture, the enemy of God and
man would have triumphed. Christ bowed His head and died, but He
held fast His faith and His submission to God. “And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the
kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of