Part 7 – The events of the cross

The terrible night of agony for the Saviour began as they neared the garden. It seemed that the presence of God, which had been His support, was no longer with Him. He was beginning to feel what it was to be shut out from His Father. Christ must bear the sins of the world. As they were now laid upon Him, they seemed more than He could endure. The guilt of sin was so terrible, He was tempted to fear that God could no longer love Him. As He felt the awful displeasure of the Father against evil, the words were forced from Him, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Near the gate of the garden, Jesus had left all His disciples except Peter, James, and John, and He had gone into the garden with these three. They were His most earnest followers, and had been His closest companions. But He could not bear that even they should witness the suffering He was to endure. He said to them: "Tarry ye here, and watch with Me." Matthew 26:38.

He went a short distance from them, and fell prostrate upon the ground. He felt that by sin He was being separated from the Father. The gulf between them appeared so broad, so black, so deep, that He shuddered before it. Christ was not suffering for his own sins, but for the sins of the world. He was feeling the displeasure of God against sin as the sinner will feel it in the great judgment day.

In His agony, Christ clung to the cold ground. From His pale lips came the bitter cry, "O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." Matthew 26:39. The agony of this prayer forced drops of blood from His pores.

Angels long to bring relief, but it may not be. The Son of God must drink this cup, or the world will be lost forever. He sees the helplessness of man. He sees the power of sin. The woes of a doomed world pass in review before Him. He makes the final decision. He will save man at any cost to Himself. He has left the courts of Heaven, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by transgression, and He will not turn from His purpose. His prayer now breathes only submission: "If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done."

A mighty angel now comes to the side of Christ. He lifts the head of the divine sufferer upon his bosom, and points toward Heaven. He tells Him that He has come off victor over Satan. As the result, millions will be victors in His glorious kingdom. A heavenly peace rests upon the Saviour's blood-stained face. He has borne that which no human being can ever bear; for He has tasted the sufferings of death for every man.

In the contest between Christ and Satan, during the Saviour's earthly ministry, the character of the great deceiver was unmasked. Nothing could so effectually have uprooted Satan from the affections of the heavenly angels and the whole loyal universe as did his cruel warfare upon the world's Redeemer. The daring blasphemy of his demand that Christ should pay him homage, his presumptuous boldness in bearing Him to the mountain summit and the pinnacle of the temple, the malicious intent betrayed in urging Him to cast Himself down from the dizzy height, the unsleeping malice that hunted Him from place to place, inspiring the hearts of priests and people to reject His love, and at the last to cry, "Crucify Him! crucify Him!"--all this excited the amazement and indignation of the universe.

She saw His hands stretched upon the cross--those hands that had ever been reached out to bless the suffering. The hammer and the nails were brought, and as the spikes were driven through the tender flesh, the heart-broken disciples bore from the cruel scene the fainting form of the mother of Jesus.

The Saviour made no murmur of complaint; His face remained pale and serene, but great drops of sweat stood on His brow. Christ could have come down from the cross. But if He had done this, we could never have been saved. For our sake He was willing to die. "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5.

In yielding up His precious life, Christ was not upheld by triumphant joy. His heart was rent with anguish and oppressed with gloom. But it was not the fear or the pain of death that caused His suffering. It was the crushing weight of the sin of the world, a sense of separation from His Father's love. This was what broke the Saviour's heart, and brought His death so soon. Christ felt the woe that sinners will feel when they awake to realize the burden of their guilt, to know that they have forever separated themselves from the joy and peace of Heaven. Angels beheld with amazement the agony of despair borne by the Son of God. His anguish of mind was so intense that the pain of the cross was hardly felt.

Nature itself was in sympathy with the scene. The sun shone clearly until midday, when suddenly it seemed to be blotted out. All about the cross was darkness as deep as the blackest midnight. This supernatural darkness lasted fully three hours. "It is finished." John 19:30. "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." Luke 23:46. A light encircled the cross, and the face of the Saviour shone with a glory like the sun. He then bowed His head upon His breast and died.

Satan was defeated, and knew that his kingdom was lost. The greatest care had been taken to guard the Saviour's tomb, and the entrance had been closed with a great stone. Upon this stone the Roman seal had been placed in such a way that the stone could not be moved without breaking the seal. Around the tomb was the guard of Roman soldiers. They were to keep strict watch, that the body of Jesus might not be molested. Some of them were constantly pacing to and fro before the tomb, while the others rested on the ground near by. But there was another guard around that tomb. Mighty angels from Heaven were there. Any one of this angel guard, by putting forth his power, could have stricken down the whole Roman army.

The night preceding the morning of the first day of the week has worn slowly away, and the darkest hour, just before daybreak, has come. One of the most powerful angels is sent from Heaven. His countenance is like lightning, and his garments white as snow. He parts the darkness from his track, and the whole heavens are lighted with his glory. The sleeping soldiers awake, and start to their feet. With awe and wonder they gaze at the open heavens, and the vision of brightness which is nearing them. The earth trembles and heaves as that powerful being from another world approaches. He is coming on a joyful errand, and the speed and power of his flight shake the world like a mighty earthquake. Soldiers, officers, and sentinels fall as dead men to the ground.

There had been still another guard about the Saviour's tomb. Evil angels were there. Because the Son of God had fallen in death, His body was even then claimed as the prey of him who has the power of death--the devil. The angels of Satan were present to see that no power should take Jesus from their grasp. But as the mighty being sent from the throne of God approached, they fled in terror from the scene. The angel laid hold of the great stone at the mouth of the tomb, and rolled it away, as if it had been but a pebble. Then with a voice that caused the earth to tremble, he cried: "Jesus, Thou Son of God, come forth. Thy Father calls Thee!"

Satan was bitterly angry that his angels had fled at the approach of the heavenly messengers. He had dared to hope that Christ would not take up His life again, and that the plan of redemption was to fail. But as he saw the Saviour come forth from the tomb in triumph, all hope was lost. Satan now knew that his kingdom would have an end, and that he must finally be destroyed.

Then He who had earned the power over death and the grave came forth from the tomb. Above the rent sepulcher He proclaimed, "I am the resurrection, and the life." And the angel host bowed low in adoration before the Redeemer, and welcomed Him with songs of praise. Jesus came forth with the tread of a conqueror. At His presence the earth reeled, the lightning flashed, and the thunder rolled. An earthquake marked the hour when Christ laid down His life. An earthquake also witnessed the moment when He took it up in triumph.

All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered against their names in the books of heaven; as they have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmony with the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves will be accounted worthy of eternal life.