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From Heaven With Love
Last Chance to Show Human Pity
When the darkness lifted, Christ revived to a sense of physical
suffering, and said, “I thirst.” One of the Roman soldiers, touched
with pity, took a sponge and dipping it in vinegar, offered it to Him.
But the priests mocked His agony. His words, “Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani?” they misinterpreted. They said, “This man calleth for
Elijah.” The last opportunity to relieve His sufferings they refused.
“Let be,” they said, “let us see whether Elias will come to save Him.”
The spotless Son of God hung upon the cross, His flesh lacerated
with stripes, His hands nailed to the wooden bars, His feet spiked to
the tree, His royal head pierced by thorns. And all that He endured—
the agony that racked His frame, and the unutterable anguish that
filled His soul at the hiding of His Father’s face—speaks to each
child of humanity, declaring, For you the Son of God consents to
bear this burden of guilt; for you He spoils the domain of death; for
you He opens the gates of Paradise; for you He offers Himself as a
sacrifice—from love to you.
Christ Dies Triumphant
Suddenly the gloom lifted from the cross. In trumpetlike tones
that seemed to resound throughout creation, Jesus cried, “It is fin-
ished.” “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” A light
encircled the cross, and the face of the Saviour shone with a glory
like the sun. He then bowed His head and died.
Amid the awful darkness, Christ had drained the dregs in the cup
of human woe. In those dreadful hours He had relied on the evidence
of His Father’s acceptance heretofore given Him. Acquainted with
the character of His Father, by faith He rested in Him whom it had
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ever been His joy to obey. And as He committed Himself to God,
the sense of the loss of His Father’s favor was withdrawn. By faith,
Christ was victor.
Again darkness settled on the earth, and there was a violent earth-
quake. Wild confusion ensued. In the surrounding mountains, rocks
were rent asunder, and went crashing into the plains. Sepulchers
were broken open, and the dead were cast out. Priests, soldiers,
executioners, and people, lay prostrate on the ground.