The Teachings Of The Cross

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

John 19:23-30

There is no such thing in the history of this world as what men call accident or chance. It is a term the reality of which does not exist save in the vocabulary of the atheist. God is in all things, little and great, fulfilling His own great purposes, and making even the wrath of man to praise Him.

We are willing to admit this when we see the work of the Lord prospering, but when we see it, to our short-sighted view, thwarted, and the enemy of mankind active and apparently successful, it is a truth that is forced upon us with reluctance. This is, however, the infirmity of the flesh, and is very much akin to the feelings that can discern God’s hand in the great events of life and not in the minutiæ of each day; in the earthquake that buries its untombed millions, but not in the passing intelligence which shades the brow and leaves its momentary sadness on the heart. How often do we find in the word of truth God reversing the order, as if, by anticipation, to rebuke our short-sightedness and folly? He who of old made use of a “worm,” a “gourd,” and an “east wind,” to accomplish mighty purposes of grace, is the same God still, and speaks to us through the same medium. He who made His glorious voice to be heard through the mighty operations of His Spirit, in adding to the Church more than three thousand souls in one day, was doing His work as effectually when, to all human appearance, the turbulent passions of bloodthirsty men rose like a sea of waters to extinguish the light of the world on the cross, for:

The very spear that pierced His side
Drew forth the blood to save.

This truth is strikingly brought before us in the words we have selected for consideration. Whether in the affairs of this world, or in the kingdom of grace, everything is carrying out the fulfillment of God’s own word. The murderers of the Son of God thought, through His cross, to carry out the work of their master the devil. How little it enters their minds that they are but the machinery in the hand of the Omnipotent and are carrying out His designs. Each one filled with his own peculiar malice, and that malice suggesting its own peculiar thought, and finally developing itself into action of its own peculiar kind, yet each was fulfilling a Divine end. The first suggestion to divide the garments of the Saviour into four parts, and the deliberation afterwards as to the coat, and who it was that suggested it should not be rent but drawn for, and how that proposal was received, with regard to all these things, so natural, so apparently the result of human deliberation, who would have supposed that each pivot in the vast machine was exactly fitted to the place designed for it in the counsels of eternity? And yet so it was: “that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, these things therefore the soldiers did.” Nature could only discern the unruly wills of sinful men wreaking their vengeance on a pure and spotless Being. Faith pierced the mists of second causes, and read in each, not the gratification of the carnal heart, but the fulfillment, one by one, of all God’s purposes; “these things therefore the soldiers did.” No accident, no chance, no second causes, no mere result of human delibera­tion; none. One answer alone is given to the question Why? “That the Scriptures might be fulfilled,” therefore these things were done.

It is the same too in Divine affairs as in worldly ones. If the world throughout this drama was fulfilling in all its actions the purposes of God, so also was the Lord Jesus Christ in every action of His. “Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.” From the least and lowest act of the worldling, up to the highest in the kingdom of grace, there is one vast chain in which every act is but a link tending to the full accomplishment of all the purposes of God. Let us look behind the scene and realize this. Let us rend asunder the tinsel which dazzles the eye of faith, and see the mighty Ruler behind, and the purposes He is bringing to pass. When the heaven-born soul droops, and its lofty pinions are bowed with sorrow at the thought of wickedness prospering, God’s work apparently hindered, and Satan advancing on every side, let us pause and look behind the vail which nature has flung over our spiritual vision, and repose with calmness on the Divine word, “that the Scriptures might be fulfilled,” therefore are these things done. “The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.”

Nor as to the passing events of the world only, but in our own individual concerns also. This reverse that has happened, this affliction that has been permitted, that plan thwarted, that mercy turned aside, that promise delayed, what are all these, and a thousand others of a similar character, but the outward machinery of the Divine hand, the cloud behind which God is hiding Himself and working out gracious and merciful designs that shall be fully known only in heaven. Read the superscription over each, “that the Scriptures might be fulfilled,” therefore these things have happened. God is behind each, ordering, overruling, and working out His own blessed purposes. “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” See the honor God is setting on His own name behind that wasting sickness, that restless pil­low, that increasing anxiety around, that unaccountable delay, that coffin, that shroud, and those weeping mourners. Jesus is glorifying Himself in that untoward calamity that, leaves two helpless sisters without an earthly prop to lean upon. God is behind the vail; listen, and be still. Go, sit at the feet of the Master, and wait in patience the time when every mystery shall be unraveled and each purpose shine out in its own bright effulgence. If the Saviour is glorified, enough for you, if you are His child. Love will rest there, and learn at length to say, “Yea, let Him take all” if so be that He is glorified. “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. “

But mark the honor God puts upon His written word. “Therefore did the soldiers these things, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” All the passing events of the world are for this one great purpose. They must be fulfilled, come what may. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle” of it, for God’s word is God Himself speaking. The mightiest actions of the world are as motes dancing in the sunbeam, compared with the fulfillment of this written word. It were of less importance, infinitely, that ten thousand worlds like this, with all their teeming millions, should be shivered to atoms, than that one jot or tittle of it should seem to fail in ts accomplishment. This is what God seems to declare to us in these remark­able words. Oh, what a solemn warning to all those who are seeking to invalidate its verbal testimony, or, far worse, to bring it to the low level of fallen humanity by fasten­ing upon it its errors and mistakes! Who shall estimate the judgment overhanging such daring impiety? Only in its own solemn words can such a judgment be described:

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18-19

But to pass on. We have, then; to speak figuratively, these two pillars; one on earth, the other in heaven, and the chain and links between them are the doings of the soldiers and the thirsting of Christ; the work of Satan and the work of God, while on each pillar are inscribed the words, “that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” Between these two pillars are all the passing events of this world, and all the gracious actings of God to man. There is man’s sin, and the cross of Christ meeting it. There is the cross, and the loving and loved ones clustering round it. There is the intercourse or communion between the Saviour and His people at its foot. There is the binding of hearts to­gether in ties, not natural, but stronger than nature, and that can be bound only by and at the cross. Such are some of the important links in the chain that unites the two great pillars of God’s purposes in these verses.

Let us turn our eyes to the great center of attraction between these pillars; the cross of Christ. This is the point to which everything worthy of the name of Chris­tianity is drawn, and the great orbit round which it re­volves. What is Christianity without the cross? What is religion without a crucified Saviour? What is faith or hope, peace or joy, if they are not streams from the smitten Rock? Are they not all illusions, the mirage of the desert, ropes of sand to the needy ones around? Take away the cross, and you take the sun out of the firmament, leaving all religion cold, dark, and dead. Where, reader, is your soul drawn? Round what center do the supreme affec­tions of your heart secretly cluster? What thrillls your soul with delight, draws your heart heavenward, fills the eye with tears of joy, and is the sunshine of your darkest hours? Is it not the cross of Christ? Is anything on earth half so precious to you? Is not your language that of the poet:

Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,
Which before the cross I spend?

Never do we approximate the mind of heaven so closely as when every affection of the heart and every yearning of the soul are drawn to it. For what is it that draws the ascrip­tion of praise from that multitude which no man can number, gathered out of every kingdom, and nation, and clime, and tongue, but the sight of the Lamb as it had been slain in the midst of the throne? In the Church above and the Church below, in the Church militant and the Church triumphant; the cross of Christ is the great attraction of all hearts, and without it there is noth­ing.

In this light it is presented to us in this narrative. A company had gathered round it of various characters, drawn by its Divine attractions. The one pronounced “blessed among women,” the beloved disciple, the reclaimed penitent, the family connection; all are there. The artificial distinc­tions of society, or the conventional rules of worldly rank, might have placed them at a distance from each other. Natural religion would have placed one before another ac­cording to its estimate of their character or their past life. The idiosyncrasies or peculiarities of natural constitution might have prevented approximation or union of heart one among another. But not at the cross. All these differences and distinctions are lost sight of there. All are on the same level there, because all are before God.  Saint and sinner, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, all stand on common ground as sinners saved by grace. Whatever differences of natural character, or degrees of natural holi­ness, or distinction of social rank, all are lost sight of at the cross, and are but the sparks of earth eclipsed by heaven’s radiance. This is the great meeting place between God and man. Not Jesus without the cross; the religion of the Rationalist, not the cross without Jesus; the religion of the Romanist, but Jesus and His cross. Here the family are seen clustering around, gathered from their various haunts and homes, attracted by one common object, and bound together by one common bond. No discord is there. No variance, no strife, no emulation, no clashing of opposite opinions there. We hear, indeed, the sound of the human voice, but it is that of the God-man speaking from it, creating new relationships stronger than nature, giving the mother a son, and the son a mother, and bind­ing them together in everlasting bonds. We see fore­shadowed at this cross the great spiritual features of the present hour; the common ground of sovereign grace, com­munion between Christ and His people, and union among His members; clustering round the feet of Jesus, the place of richest blessing. All are seen at the cross, and at the cross only. There the brightest rays of God’s glory converge. There heart becomes knit to heart, and heaven’s morning has begun. There is the place, of all others, to which the poet’s language may be applied:

There is a place where Jesus sheds
The oil of gladness on our heads;
A place than all besides more sweet,
It is the blood-stained mercy-seat.
There is a spot where spirits blend,
And friend holds fellowship with friend;
Though sundered far, by faith they meet
Around our common mercy-seat.

Let us observe another instructive truth here. Let us mark the ready obedience of the loving disciple in recog­nizing the new relationship.

John 19:26-27 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

There was no mental reserva­tion, no conferring with flesh and blood, no worldly-wise calculations as to the result. None. “From that hour” he recognized and adopted the relationship. Under the con­straining influence of the love of Christ, there was a ready and joyful obedience to the Lord’s mind.

Does it seem strange to us? It need not. There was a secret cause for it, a powerful lever in the disciple’s heart. What was it? The love of Christ. He was the one who had drunk most deeply of the Lord’s love to him. “The disciple whom Jesus loved” is the happy way in which he ever presents himself to our notice. It was the apprehen­sion of the Lord’s love to his own soul that made him recognize the new relationship so quickly, and act upon it. This love of Jesus makes the soul quick sighted.  Who was it that first recognized the Lord on the shores of Tiberias? The same disciple who had drunk most deeply of the Lord’s love himself. Love quickens love. Love penetrates; sees the mind and heart of God, sees His ways and actings most quickly. Love leaves knowledge far behind. It outstrips faith. It flies on wings. It leaves everything else far be­hind. It scales summits, overleaps barriers, unbolts bars, and neither sees nor knows obstacles. It was this love of Jesus, so deeply realized, so richly shed abroad in the dis­ciple’s heart, that made him recognize the relationship and act upon it so quickly. It was the same mighty principle that operated in the heart of another disciple in after years: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, to reveal His Son in me,” what followed? “Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” The love of Christ filled his heart and made him ready, quick, obedient. Christ filled his eye, and there was room for nothing else. So was it with the beloved disciple at the cross. The love shed abroad in his own heart was the bond that bound him to that mother. It spoke to him from the cross; where alone it ever speaks most powerfully, and there was no room for any other consideration. The Lord’s own love toward himself was the measure of its exercise to others.

And what will enable us to own as brothers and sisters in Christ those whom He has made one? Only the love of Christ. No wonder we are restrained, and cold, and distant one towards another! The love of Christ to our own souls is not sufficiently apprehended. We are not leaning on the Lord’s breast; near to His heart, near to His side. We are not at the foot of the cross, looking at Jesus listening to His voice. We are not hiding ourselves in His love as this beloved one of old. Consequently there is no quick sightedness as to the Lord’s ways and actings. There is no “immediate” decision for Christ in the face of flesh and blood. There is no recognition of His blessed image, and ready obedience in taking the Lord’s children “from that very hour” to our hearts and homes. Christian reader, are you one of those who would stand at a distance from your brother or sister in the Lord? Are you conferring with flesh and blood as to consequences, or differences, or distinctions? Oh, go to the cross of Christ! Drink more deeply of His love to your own soul, and then that spirit will be forever banished. Oh, lean on the Saviour’s breast. Go to His feet, and behold Him from that rude and crimsoned cross saying to thy soul, Woman, behold thy son; Son, behold thy mother. Go there, and listen to His voice speaking to thee by name; and with thy dying Saviour’s image imprinted on thy soul, take that brother or sister to thy heart and thy home “from that very hour.” Get a fresh view of His love to thee from that cross, and that love will thaw thy heart and make thee quick to re­cognize God’s image everywhere, and to clasp it to thine heart.

And we may notice, as we pass on, that it was not so much the Divine command the beloved disciple recognized, as the Divine mind. Perhaps the Saviour’s language can scarcely be called a command; but still there exists that distinction. Some can act only on a request, while others recognize the mind or heart of the speaker. It was so with the beloved disciple. In the words of Jesus, Woman, behold thy son! Son, behold thy mother! there ap­pears no command; for where love is deeply seated in the heart there is a principle more powerful. Where the love of Jesus enters deeply into the souls of His people, we do not find Him giving them commands so frequently. Love recognizes the mind, and heart, and will, and is urged onward by a principle far more powerful than any com­mand. We see this exemplified in the case of this same apostle (see John 21:19-20). Peter, whose love to Christ was unmistakable, yet needs the command, follow thou me; while the beloved disciple, who apprehended more than Peter did the Lord’s love to him, is seen following. This was ever the case with the beloved disciple. He recognized the Lord’s mind. Those who lean on His breast, who drink deeply of His love to them, always do.

It is not that they do not need the command; they out­strip it. They are far in advance of it. It is heart recog­nizing heart by a sight peculiar to itself, and leaving the command far behind. Thus was it with the beloved dis­ciple at the cross. At a glance he saw the Lord’s mind, and acted on it. Christ’s own love in his heart was the telescope revealing to him the heart of the Saviour. Love sees, and moves, and acts in a region of its own. Thus the disciple acted; for “from that very hour he took her unto his own home.” The love of Jesus urged him on­ward. For His sake, was the constraining motive. For His sake, the cheerful, ready obedience. For His sake, the enduring nature of the bond. For His sake, the answer to every disclaimer, every remonstrance or cavil. For His sake; this, and this alone, sanctified all.

Oh, that we had this love of Jesus so shed abroad in our hearts, that we could discern the Lord’s mind, instead of that moral and spiritual dullness which cannot move a step without a command! Lord, so fill our hearts with thy love, that we may see thee and know thee! Give us a deeper apprehension of it, that we may perceive thy mind and ways, and act upon them with decision and delight! Give us to lean upon thy breast, to be often at thy cross, to sit at thy feet, and to hide ourselves under the pavilion of thy love!

“After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.” There is the inner and the outer, in grace as well as in nature. The one is the vehicle for conveying the precious treasure to the soul. Through the Lord’s literal words we learn the spiritual meaning which none but those taught of  the Spirit can perceive or understand. “I thirst” for the full and final accomplishment of all God’s purposes of grace in redemption. “I thirst” for the time when I shall see of the travail of my soul and be satisfied. “I thirst” for the millions yet unborn, that shall be made partakers of my grace, and sharers of the glory which thou, O Father, hast given me. How carnal and dull the mind that could see nothing but the vinegar! Yet this is just the difference now, as then, between the carnal mind and the mind of the Spirit, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolish­ness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Sinner, thou wert in the Saviour’s mind then. He thirsted for thee. Roam no longer the forest haunts of sin. Plunge not into one scene after another of the world’s fascinations, in the vain hope of silencing the voice of con­science within thee. Turn and behold this weeping, bleed­ing, dying Jesus. Look unto Him and be saved. Hear His cry, “I thirst,” and hasten to Him. There thou shalt find salvation for thy soul; peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Prodigal, wanderer from thy God, trembling under the goadings of conscience, seeking rest and finding none, thou wert in the Saviour’s mind then. Turn and behold this precious Saviour. Go and bathe His feet with thy tears. Go, wash in His precious blood again, and lie at the foot of His cross. There shall His Spirit give thee a fresh seal of thy pardon, and from that cross peace shall flow in to thy soul, and become the even current of thy life. Look to Jesus; to Jesus only. Cling to Jesus, rest in Jesus, abide in Jesus, and all will be well with thee.

One point more in this precious portion of God’s word: “All things were now accomplished.” But had the Saviour yielded up His life here, one great link in the Divine chain would have been snapped asunder; the Scriptures would have been unfulfilled. For the purpose of supplying this link the Saviour yet prolonged His life. “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” For this He still lingered on the cross, that every jot and tittle of that word should have its literal fulfillment. Yes, it was absolutely necessary that the Saviour’s sufferings should be protracted, in order to bind this last link to the Divine chain of prophecy. When He had received the vinegar; not till then, He cried, “It is finished; and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” That word which so many are daring enough to under value or to set at nought, the Saviour’s sufferings were protracted to fulfill; to teach us its awful value. May God write this lesson deeply on our hearts! While we read it, may we lose sight of the instru­ment, and receive it as God speaking to our souls. Thus reading, we shall honor it. Thus reading, we shall receive a blessing.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
   “Come unto me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down,
   Thy head upon my breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
   Weary, and worn, and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place,
   And He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
   “Behold I freely give
The living water-thirsty one,
   Stoop down, and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
   Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
   And now I live in Him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
   “I am this dark world’s light,
Look upon me, thy morn shall rise,
   And all thy day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
   In Him my Star, my Sun;
And in that light of life I’ll walk
   Till traveling days are done.

Rev. H. Bonai, D.D.

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