“And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him” (Lk. 23:33).
Calvary is the place of the world’s greatest tragedy, for there they crucified the Lord of Glory. But it is the place of the greatest victory in the world: for there sin was put away, Satan was conquered, and death was vanquished. It was at Calvary where the greatest love in the world was displayed: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” God could not give more; He would not give less.
They crucified Him. Only three words, but what unfathomable mysteries are in them: the mystery of sin that made it necessary, the mystery of the love that ordained it long before the pendulum of time began to swing, the mystery of the malice of man’s heart that wrought it, the mystery of the patience that endured it–all surpasses our most careful thought.
As we linger around the cross, let us unfold first that little word “Him.” They crucified Him! Who was He? He was the Father’s only begotten, the delight of His heart, the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person–yet they crucified Him. He was the Lord of angels, the Ruler of the universe, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. He was Jehovah of hosts–yet they crucified Him. He was the Friend of the friendless, the Helper of the helpless, the Saviour of sinners, the Comfort of the sorrowing, the Hope of the lost–yet they crucified Him. He was the incarnation of love, of tenderness, of holiness, the embodiment of all moral excellence, the Altogether Lovely One–yet they crucified Him.
“They crucified Him,” and in the act was committed the world’s greatest crime. It was deliberate, skillfully planned, a crime in which prince and priest and people combined against the lone sufferer. Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, the Jews all had a hand in the dark deed of nailing Him to the cross. This world is guilty of the murder of the Son of God. The earth is stained with the blood of the only sinless One that ever trod its sands. The only Man that had a right to live, the only One upon whom death had no claim, was put to death by those who themselves were guilty of death. The Son of God, come from the bosom of the Father, was given over into the hands of His creatures and committed to those who had no heart for Him.
In fiendish hate, Satan urged man on to crucify Him, hoping that in His death every hope for a fallen race would perish. In measured hatred, marshalling all the mighty forces of darkness against the Christ of God, Satan sought to crush Him and in crushing Him to frustrate every divine counsel, block every purpose of love, and secure for himself complete mastery. Man was his willing tool in all this.
At the cross was demonstrated for all ages, and to all intelligences, the true character of man–his rebel hatred of God and His Christ, his abject slavery to sin, his utter inability to reform. Scan the pages of this world’s history; the evil deeds of men whose names darken the calendars of time and crime do not give us an adequate idea of what sin is. Tear aside the veil that hides from us the unseen world and listen to the wails of the lost and damned; those cries do not tell the full story of sin’s hideousness. Visit Calvary where they crucified Him, and gaze upon the sorrows of the Son of God; there we see the monster sin in all its hellish horror as it lifts its vile head against the holy lamb of God. Hear that bitter cry from the blackness of darkness in that awful hour when the sun was wrapped in night and the heavens refused to send a single ray of light to pierce the gloom. Hear the divine Sufferer cry in the anguish of His soul, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Then know that in those billows of wrath that rolled over His head we have God’s estimate of sin.
How can we enjoy that sin that caused unspeakable suffering for our Lord Jesus Christ? How absolutely intolerable is sin in the sight of a righteous God. In the anguish of the Son of God we behold the measure of man’s guilt, the fullness of God’s love, and the unchangeableness of His character. God was at Calvary in inflexible righteousness, in unbending judgment, in infinite holiness, in intolerance of sin. God in wrath called forth all the billows of judgment; the clouds of fury broke over the head of Calvary’s Victim. Those angry billows, though restrained for four thousand years, were all that while gathering force. Now they burst every barrier and dashed themselves over and around that solitary Sufferer. Utter desolation, unspeakable agony, dense darkness, and the weight of all our sins were there. Forsaken by God and abandoned by men, with no Mary to wipe the cold sweat of agony and the vile spittle of the creature from His marred face, He endured to the uttermost the wrath of God against sin.
God and nature added their solemn Amen to the death of Christ. Darkness, like a huge funeral pall, wrapped itself around the land. There never was a midnight like those three hours. It was not an eclipse. It was God who covered the face of the sky. This horror of great darkness was the full display of God’s righteous wrath as it fell upon the One who took the sinner’s place and bore the sinner’s doom. It was but an outward shadow of the deeper darkness that was pressing upon the Saviour’s soul. The nails that held His hands and His feet could be seen, but not the crueler one that pierced His heart. We can understand the bitter cup of gall they gave Him to drink, but not the cup of wrath He drained to the last drop. We can appreciate the desertion of His disciples, but not the averted face of God. Not even eternity will reveal this secret.
Listen to the message of Calvary: Our blessed Lord made full atonement for sin when He suffered on the tree. Listen to the testimony of the Holy Word of God: God “made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” “He bare the sin of many.” “The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.”
All our sins were laid on Jesus,
Jesus bore them on the tree,
God who knew them laid them on Him,
And believing we are free.
Sin’s heavy load was laid upon Him, its foul mantle was wrapped around Him, as God judged Him there for our sins. Now we are before Him in all the perfection and in all the acceptance of the Son of His delight.
An old legend says that as the darkness gathered round, Barabbas ran to the foot of the cross and, smiting his breast, cried, “O Thou Jesus of Nazareth, I know not who Thou art, but this I know: Thou art hanging there in my place.” I do not know if this is a true story or not, but this I do know, that one day I said to Jesus, “Lord, Thou art there in my stead. It was my sin that nailed Thee to the accursed tree. My sins held Thee there and not the nails or the Roman soldiers standing guard. My sins kept twelve legions of angels from flying to Thy relief.”
My sins deserved eternal death,
But Jesus died for me.
To Him be eternal praise!