NR 27
November 27
Luke 28:33, 34. The Crucifixion.
Every innocent sufferer feels it a disgrace to be confounded with wicked men. He would rather suffer alone, or with other innocent people, than be led to execution in company with criminals. Martyrs have generally been led together to the stake, and have enjoyed in their dying moments the sweet society of the righteous.
But the glorious Son of man was conducted to the cross in company with two malefactors, or evil doers. Their names were joined with his in the history of the executions of that day. Thus the prophecy spoken by Isaiah was fulfilled—"He was numbered with the transgressors." (Is. 53:12.) Had John the Baptist been crucified with him, or one of his own disciples, the shame of his death would not have been so great. But shame was one of the ingredients in his bitter cup. Shame is the consequence of sin, and he who bore our sins bore also our shame.
His death was not only disgraceful, but painful. Perhaps there is no manner of being put to death that causes such lingering pain as crucifixion. It suited the cruelty of heathen hearts to devise such a mode of torture, and it continued to be practiced until the Roman emperor Constantine was converted to the Christian faith. He abolished crucifixion, and appointed hanging as the punishment for the greatest criminals.
The unhappy victim who was to be crucified was first stretched upon his cross as it lay upon the ground. His hands and feet were grasped by four soldiers; a nail was then driven through each hand, and another through both feet. Afterwards the cross was lifted up, and one end thrust with a sudden jerk into a hole prepared to receive it. The gaping wounds exposed to the air became inflamed, and the blood disturbed in its circulation, caused the head to throb and burn, and the heart to feel oppressed with an insupportable weight. This was the death which David, when he spoke by the Holy Spirit, had prophesied his Redeemer should suffer—"The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me; they pierced my hands and my feet;"—those gracious hands which had restored so many wretched objects to health and joy—those blessed feet which had trodden so many rough paths to save perishing sinners, and at length—the path to Calvary itself!
But did the suffering Son of man feel resentment against those who drove the nails into his blessed limbs? Listen to the words he utters when stretched upon the cross. Is it a complaint? No! it is a prayer. Does he pray against his enemies? No! he intercedes for them—"Father, forgive them; they know not what they do." He intercedes for the four soldiers who had inflicted his wounds—for the band who had mocked him—for the multitude who had cried, "Crucify him." They knew not what they did. Caiaphas knew what he did; Judas knew what he did, but the greater part of the enemies of Christ sinned through ignorance.
Yet they were guilty, for they loved ignorance. It might have been said of them all, that they "loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." What must they have felt when they first knew that the man they had insulted, and tormented, and executed, was the Son of God! We are told what some of them felt, and what they said. When Peter, in his sermon, declared, "Him you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain," (Acts 2:23,) three thousand were pierced in their hearts, and said, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
Are there any of you who can remember what you felt when you first discovered against what a Savior you had been sinning all your lives long—when you first knew that while you had been piercing him by your transgressions, he had been interceding for your pardon? Then it was you looked on him you had pierced, and mourned as one that mourns for his only son. Those were bitter tears that you shed at the feet of the crucified Jesus, yet they were blessed tears—they were the tears of repentance, which are so precious in God's sight. But it was not tears that washed away your sins; no, it was the precious blood of Christ that made your scarlet stains as white as snow.