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Humble Hero
With intense interest heaven and the unfallen worlds followed
the closing scenes of the conflict. They heard His bitter cry, “Father,
if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.”
Matthew 26:39
. They saw
Him so greatly sorrowful that it exceeded what people experience in
the last great struggle with death. The bloody sweat was forced from
His pores, and three times the prayer for deliverance was wrung from
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His lips. Heaven could no longer endure the sight, and a messenger
of comfort was sent to the Son of God.
Earth the Stage, Heaven the Audience
Heaven witnessed the Victim betrayed and hurried with violence
from one tribunal to another. It heard the sneers of His persecutors
and the denial, with cursing, by one of His disciples. It saw the Sav-
ior dragged back and forth 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.
Heaven viewed with amazement Christ hanging on the cross,
blood flowing from His wounded temples, His hands, His feet. The
wounds gaped as the weight of His body dragged on His hands. He
panted under the burden of the sins of the world. All heaven was
filled with wonder when Christ prayed in the midst of His terrible
suffering, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
Luke 23:34
.
The powers of darkness around the cross cast the hellish shadow
of unbelief into the hearts of the people gathered there. Satanic
agencies led the people to believe that Christ was the chief of sinners
and to make them detest Him. Those who mocked Christ were filled
with the spirit of the first great rebel. He inspired their taunts. But
Satan gained nothing from all this.
If Christ had yielded to Satan in one particular to escape the
terrible torture, the enemy would have triumphed. Christ bowed
His head and died, but He held tightly to His faith. “Then I heard a
loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the
kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the
accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and
night, has been cast down.’”
Revelation 12:10
.