Magazine:

Editorial

“O LORD, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.” Isaiah 25:1

Meditating upon the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Christ we notice several praiseworthy features. First, consider His submission to the Father (Matt. 26:39-42). With His arrest drawing near, He said in the Upper Room, “But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here” (John 14:31). Then, just prior to His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Lord prayed, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” At this juncture, He was not seeking to avoid the cross but was yielding Himself to His Father.

The holy, omniscient Christ knew that the cross was the reason He came and was fully aware of the suffering He would endure. He faced the impending wrath of God for humanity’s sins and the agonizing experience of crucifixion even before He left the glories of heaven (Ps. 40:6-8). Yet He came in submissive love for His Father and, at Gethsemane, verbally reaffirmed His commitment to His mission. His divine knowledge of what lay ahead brought anguish to His whole being, but it did not deter Him.

Next, we observe Christ’s sovereignty (Matt. 26:47-57). Several times during His ministry, He said, “My hour has not yet come.” On a few occasions, some tried to seize or kill Him, but He prevented them and slipped away (Luke 4:29-30; John 7:30, 44; 8:59; 10:31, 39; 18:6). As His time drew near, He said, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified” (John 12:23). When they came to arrest Him, He told Peter to put his sword away. Unlike the powerless, unwilling lambs of the Old Testament, the omnipotent Lamb of God voluntarily gave Himself up to be arrested and crucified. And on the cross, He sovereignly dismissed His own spirit (Matt. 27:50; Luke 23:46; John 19:30) but only after He had finished bearing our sins: “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father” (John 10:17-18).

Third, during His trial, He demonstrated the substitutionary nature of His death (Matt. 26:59-62). According to the Mosaic Law, the two false witnesses should have been crucified for their lies: “And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you” (Deut. 19:18-19). Christ took their place on the cross, just as He did for you and me.

Fourth, we view His silence (Matt. 26:62-64) before the authorities as foretold: “As a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Isa. 53:7). He refrained from defending Himself or embarrassing His adversaries. It was only after the high priest put Him under oath that, in obedience to the Law (Lev. 5:1), He replied that He was the Son of God.

Finally, we see His sufferings, sorrow, and solitude. Indeed, He suffered being tempted (Heb. 2:18; 1 Pet. 4:1) and was the “Man of Sorrows” (Isa. 53:3; John 11:35; Luke 19:41; Heb. 5:7-9). The Lord had told Peter, “The rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me” (Luke 22:34). Later, when the rooster crowed immediately after Peter’s third denial, “the Lord turned and looked at Peter” (Luke 22:61). His look of sorrow caused Peter to depart and weep bitterly (Matt. 26:75). Christ was truly human and knew the pain of rejection by His family (Ps. 69:8), His nation (Ps. 69:20), and being forsaken by His disciples (Matt. 26:56). Then, on the cross, bearing our sins, He was forsaken by God (Ps. 22:1). By Himself, He purged our sins. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him (Phil. 2:9). He is now gloriously risen, ascended, and seated at God’s right hand (Heb. 1:3). Praise the Lord. Hallelujah!

George T Ferrier