This was the crowning act of man’s awful wickedness and shame — the last sad chapter of his trial under law. It tells the whole story of man’s boasted righteousness.
Fifteen hundred years before this they had said, “All that the LORD hath said will we do” (Ex. 24:77And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. (Exodus 24:7)). How was that promise fulfilled? The “golden calf” is the answer. The nation failed; the prophets were beaten and stoned and killed. Last of all, the Son and Heir was cast out of the vineyard and slain. They crucified the Son of God, and that, too, under the plea of righteousness. They said, “We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:77The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. (John 19:7)). Thus it was that the character of man’s righteousness as under the law was exhibited.
And then the next day, the Sabbath, was a “high day.” What a scene for God to look down upon! His murdered Son in a sepulcher under the guard of Roman soldiers, and His murderers keeping “high day”! Pretending to keep the Sabbath when guilty of the blood of Him who was the Lord of the Sabbath. Such was the righteousness God saw in those to whom He had given His holy law.
But there is another thing. They crucified Him in Golgotha, the place of a skull. Does this convey no meaning to our souls? Surely it does. Does not a skull speak to us of man’s pride and greatness and glory brought to nothing? A skull — an empty skull — that is what man comes to, whose lofty pride defies both God and man. What a story it tells of man’s utter impotency! They crucified the Lord of glory in the place of a skull. How unspeakably solemn!
Sinner, let this speak to your conscience. Stand face to face with the terrible fact of the death of the Son of God in the place that speaks of all man’s pride and glory brought low. Look at it and let it speak to you. Your sins brought Him there. To meet your need He condescended to die there.
“When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)). Could anything better show that man is without strength than a bleached, empty skull? Could anything better prove his ungodliness than the crucifixion of God’s Son? These two things meet at Golgotha: man’s utter inability to keep the law, and his awful hatred of the One whose law it was. Man’s total impotence was there equaled only by the enormity of his sin and shame. It is the complete laying bare of the whole condition of man as a sinner.
And now, is there any remedy? Is there any door of escape? Thank God, there is. The very cross that proclaims the need is the door of escape. If Golgotha manifests the sinner as “without strength” and “ungodly,” it also reveals a Savior for all such — a Savior whose blood answered to the sin that thrust the spear into His side. “One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” — expiation and cleansing for all who believe (John 14:34).
This is God’s remedy — a remedy which was open for the murderers of Christ even, did they believe on His name. Sinner, this is the remedy — the only remedy — for you. That Savior lifted up on Golgotha is God’s remedy for those who are “without strength” and “ungodly.” Is that your condition? Then here is the divine remedy. That precious blood that flowed from His side “cleanseth us from all sin.” GOD HAS SAID IT. Believe and live.