We, have traced the holy sufferer through the hours of the preparation day until the third hour, or nine o’clock a.m. In the seventh journey He halted at the place of crucifixion. We read the words, but how little can we realize the depth of degradation to the holy, holy Son of God. Let us meditate on what took place during the first three hours on the cross, until twelve at noon. What is crucifixion? At first it was an instrument of death, shameful and cruel. The poor criminal was stripped naked, a sharp stake was placed in the ground with the point upwards. This was driven through the body of the living prisoner, upwards to the heart, and there he was impaled to die! But this was a merciful death compared to the mode used in the days of our Lord.
A hole was dug in the ground to receive the beam of wood. The feet were nailed to that wood and the body laid in awful agony on the same, and the hands nailed to the cross part at the top. Then think of the torture of the body as the cross was lifted up, and let fall in the hole prepared, It was at this supreme moment of untold pain that Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” For three hours He hung there on that shameful cross, brutal soldiers mocking Him, rulers deriding Him. Oh, behold Him there crucified between two thieves. “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.” And there the unfeeling crowd pass by, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ah thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross.” The priests, yes, the chief of them, joined in the mockery. The very thieves reviled Him. (Mark 15:25-3225And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. 26And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. 28And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors. 29And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, 30Save thyself, and come down from the cross. 31Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. 32Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. (Mark 15:25‑32).) Oh, for three hours they sat down and watched Him endure the torture of the cross.
But what was the inward experience of our adorable Lord, as He hung there in cruel suffering? He tells how the fathers had trusted in God, and were delivered, “But I am a worm, and no man... and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord, that he-would deliver him: let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him.” Oh, read the unheard sighs of Jesus in Psalm 22. Was ever sorrow like His sorrow? In the midst of all the cruel mockery, only one voice was heard that owned Him Savior, Lord, One of the reviling thieves was given to Him as He hung there on the cross. He had heard those gracious words, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Faith was given to the dying thief: precious grace. May we not also still pray, Father, forgive the living thieves all around in this day, who are robbing Jesus of His glory as the Savior of sinners, and the giver of eternal life, yea, denying His divinity and atonement for sins—for they know not what they do. But oh, wretched men, beware lest your doom be not that of the dying thief, but that of Judas. For surely the man that pretends to be a minister of Christ, and is a betrayer of the scriptures into the hands of the infidels, is more like Judas than like the dying thief.
Oh, how full the answer of Thy heart, blessed Jesus, to the faith of the tortured dying thief: “Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Yes, he was justly put out of this sinful world, but in grace he was to be with Thee in the paradise of God.
And why is there so little said in the Gospels as to what the holy, holy Lord suffered during those three last hours? Surely it is because it cannot be told. It can only be known to God what Jesus then suffered for us, for our redemption. We only hear the final bitter cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Darkness covered Him from every eye but the eye of God. Oh, think of Him being made sin for us; of all God’s billows rolling over His soul; of all our sins, dear fellow believer, laid on Him—delivered for our offenses, bearing our iniquities—-the infinite wrath of God, which could only be borne by the infinite One.
And now He cries, with a loud voice, “It is Finished, and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.” (John 19:3030When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30).) Nothing now remained, but to take down the precious body and lay it in the sepulcher. The great work of the preparation day is finished. Every scripture is fulfilled; all the shadows of the law pass away. The one atoning sacrifice has been offered. Will God accept it? What was the preparation for? The sabbath of the passover week, the sabbath or rest of redemption. As we have seen, God gave the sabbath to Israel because they were redeemed, as a shadow of this rest, or sabbath, to come. Well, let us see what took place. The body of Jesus is laid in the sepulcher at the close of the preparation day. The great stone was laid on the mouth of the sepulcher.
Did God raise Him from the dead on the Jewish sabbath, and thus restore man to rest under the sabbath of the law? No; Jesus lay in the sepulcher all through the sabbath given to Israel, The eternal sabbath of rest for man must be entirely new—the rest of the new Creation. We cannot express in words how entirely all was changed, and all the effect of the work accomplished on the preparation day. When that work was finished the veil was rent. The way of approach to God was opened—opened also was the way for God to come out to man in richest, fullest grace. But this must be by first raising Jesus from the dead. He must be the first-fruits of them that slept. If He be not risen, all He suffered was in vain, as is fully shown in 1 Cor. 15 “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.” Oh, what a first day of the week was that, when God raised Christ from the dead! Could He have given a greater proof that He accepted the work done on the preparation day? The grave clothes were laid peacefully aside, “and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.” How little the disciples understood what had been accomplished on that preparation day! “For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.”
What were the first words Jesus spoke to His disciples when He was risen from the dead? “Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.” Yes, He had made peace by His own blood on the preparation day. He showed them His hands and His side. The work was done. It is finished. They heard Him speak unto them. We also are assured by the inspired word that righteousness is reckoned unto us, “if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the; dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Rom. 4:24, 25; 5:1, 224But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:24‑25)
1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1‑2).)
What a sabbath of rest, entirely through the work accomplished on the preparation day! Now, if you saw Jesus, if He appeared to you, and you looked at His wounded side and wounded hands, and He were to speak to you with His voice, “Peace unto you” just as He did to His disciples, would not that make you perfectly happy? Well, He says, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” Do you believe He died for your sins according to the scriptures? Do you believe that God raised Him from the dead for the purpose of your justification? And believing this, do you know that you are reckoned righteous, or justified from all things before God? Then He says, being justified by faith you have peace, with God—and all through, our Lord Jesus Christ: yes, through the work He finished on the preparation day.
The redemption from Egypt was temporal, and the sabbath given to them also was temporal, for a time: has been lost, and passed away. But the redemption effected by Jesus on the preparation day is eternal, not for a time, and can never be lost. It does not depend on what we shall do, but on what He has done. The efficacy of His work, like His person, is ever the same, “having obtained eternal redemption for us;” our sabbath of peace and rest is eternal also. Soon we shall enjoy it in all its fullness in His presence, where all is peace and rest forever.
Such is the everlasting portion of him that believeth. And do not forget, “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36).) Which is before you? An eternity of the blessed sabbath of the rest of God, or an eternity with His wrath, ever, ever, abiding on you: where “the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night.” (Rev. 14:10, 1110The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. (Revelation 14:10‑11).) If we think of what this sabbath of rest cost Jesus on the preparation day, and of what God says as to the result of rejecting it, how is it that man can go on with this question unsettled? Eternal rest: or no rest day nor night—torment forever and ever? Do ask yourself, reader, how it will be with your soul? How is it with you now? Have you ceased from all works for salvation, and entered into the rest of God? In this matter be most careful, neither to carry a burden, nor do a work. See Jer. 17:21, 2221Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. (Jeremiah 17:21‑22).
All this is individual. On another occasion we may look at the first great and eternal purpose of God in the work accomplished on the preparation day.