July 31

John 18:37
 
THE crucifixion of our Lord Jesus was far more than a martyrdom for truth, though it was that. A witness is a martyr. But the cross was the display of God’s hatred against sin and His infinite love for lost mankind. We should never think of Calvary as though it simply involved an innocent man dying for guilty men. It was God giving Himself in the Person of His Son to bear the judgment which His righteous law declared to be the penalty of sin. There “the Offended died to set the offender free.”
“Jesus! Source of life eternal,
Jesus, Author of our breath,
Victor o’er the hosts infernal,
By defeat, and shame, and death,
Thou thro deepest tribulation
Deigned to pass for our salvation:
Thousand, thousand praises be,
Lord of glory, unto Thee!
All the shame men heaped upon Thee,
Thou didst patiently endure;
Not the pains of death too bitter,
Our redemption to procure:
Wondrous Thy humiliation
To accomplish our salvation:
Thousand, thousand praises he,
Precious Saviour, unto Thee!”