The Lord Jesus advanced to the cross as knowing that there as our Surety He had to meet God in a manner in which He had never before met Him, and in which He would never meet Him again. There, as One who had taken upon Himself the punishment of our guilt, He had to meet God in the power of unmitigated wrath. The appointed cup of penal suffering was there to be drunk to the very dregs. It was appointed—it was necessary—because of the holiness of God; otherwise atonement could not be made.