"Ever This Our War Cry–victory, Victory!"
(No. 3279)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1911.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall
divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul
onto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors: and He bore the
sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" Isaiah 53:12.
[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon upon the same text is #2070, Volume
35–CHRIST'S CONNECTION WITH SINNERS THE SOURCE OF HIS GLORY.]
OUR great concern is concerning Christ. "For Him shall constant prayer
be made." It does not much matter what becomes of us, the common
soldiers, so long as our great Captain is to the front. As the men of
Napoleon's Old Guard could defy death for themselves, but were always
anxious about the emperor, so every loyal soldier of Christ feels that
the one question in the present conflict is, "How goes it with the
King?" Is He crowned? Is He exalted? Is He winning His way among the
sons of men? Brothers and Sisters, it may be that our star is waning.
Does it matter if Hssun is reaching its noon? It may happen that the
company with which we are associated is not so much to the front as it
used to be, and the regimental flag is in the rear, but what of that?
Let us do the best we can to retrieve its honor but, after all, the
main consideration is the royal standard. Where is that? "Let my name
perish," said Whitefield, "but let Christ's name last forever." Such a
feeling should actuate us all! What are we, my Brothers and Sisters,
and what is our father's house? What if ten thousand of us should fall
merely to fill a ditch for Him to march over? What if He took the whole
of us and crushed us to the dust–if He were lifted an inch higher, it
were none too costly for such an One as He is who has redeemed us unto
God by His precious blood!
Our first and last concern is about the result of our great warfare in
regard to Christ. And my text will be consoling to your hearts in
proportion as you are consecrated to Christ. If you are a worker for
Jesus and your heart is tremulous for the cause of God–if you feel
dismayed at times and often anxious about the progress of the
Kingdom–such an assurance as this will be like a voice from the
Comforter, Himself! It is the Father who speaks and He says, concerning
the Well-Beloved, "Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the
great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong."
I. The first great Truth of God taught us here is that THE VICTORY OF
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IS SURE!
Sure, first, because these words are a Divine promise and every word of
promise that comes from God is established. "Has He said, and shall He
not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" God has
said, "I will divide Him a portion," that portion shall be divided. If
the Lord has declared that He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
who is he that shall keep Him back from the prey? We might have doubted
if His Word had been a prediction as to the probabilities of the life
of this religion or of that. We might have supposed that the religion
of Christ would be crushed out by rougher faiths that could use carnal
weapons, or that its exceeding spirituality might cause it to wither
away in an atmosphere so uncongenial. We might, I say, have had some
trembling because of the Ark of the Lord if this had been a mere
influence or opinion! But we have none, now, for as surely as this Book
is the Infallible Word of God, so surely must Christ win the day! As
surely as God cannot lie, so surely must He, upon whom the Lord laid
the iniquity of men, rise from all His sorrows to a glorious victory!
The text is a promise placed very singularly in connection with facts
which have been accomplished. We are told that Christ shall divide the
spoil with the strong, but that promise is set side by side with the
declaration that He is "brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opens not His mouth." Just as
surely, then, as that part of the prophecy is fulfilled in which Christ
suffers, so surely shall that be fulfilled in which He triumphs! You
have no doubt whatever about His being taken from prison and from
judgment, about His making His grave with the
wicked and with the rich in His death. Well, the same Book and the same
Chapter which contains the prophesy of those sorrowful facts contains
this prophecy–that He shall divide the spoil with the strong!
Therefore the ultimate victory of Christ is made sure by a Divine
promise!
Notice, moreover, that it is the Father, Himself, who here puts forth
His hand to guarantee the victory He writes, "Therefore will I divide
Him a portion with the great." "I will do it. I will see that He
conquers. I will see that He has the reward of His labor. My own right
hand and My holy arm shall so be with Him that He shall tread down His
enemies and He shall take from them mountains of prey." Who is this
that says, "I will divide Him a portion"? It is He at whose voice the
earth trembles–
"The pillars of Heaven's starry roof Tremble and start at His reproof."
When He says, "I will do it," who shall stay His hand, or resist His
will? God, the Everlasting Father, has staked His honor and His Glory
upon the success of Christ! I make bold to say that if Christ wins not
the world, and if He is not crowned King of kings and Lord of lords, it
is not Jesus that is dishonored so much as the Great Father by whom He
was ordained, sent and anointed! The stain would not only be upon the
manhood but upon the Godhead, too, for God, Himself, appointed the Lord
Jesus and said of Him, "This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased." He must see the Messiah through with it! It is the pleasure
of the Lord that is in His hand–and that pleasure must prosper there,
or else God's name would be dishonored. I am sure that Jesus will win
the victory!
I am delighted to notice a change of expression in the next sentence.
The Son of God Himself also puts His hand to the work of ultimate
victory. Read the text again–"Therefore will I divide Him a portion,"
"and He shall divide." God gives Him the victory and He takes it
Himself. The Father grants it and the Son grasps it by His own right
hand. The glorious Jehovah cries, "He shall divide," and the
ever-blessed Son of the Highest, as a conqueror, comes forth actually
to divide the spoil. O my Brothers and Sisters, Jesus is as gentle as a
lamb, but I might say of Him as they at the Red Sea said of Jehovah,
"The Lord is a Man of War: the Lord is His name." The Lamb is the Lion
of the tribe of Judah, and who shall stand before Him when He goes
forth to war? Who shall rouse Him? They that came against Him to take
Him in the days of His humiliation stumbled and fell when He uttered
the words, "I AM." And if the full power of that, "I AM," had been let
loose upon them, they had not merely staggered to their falling, but
each man among them had stumbled into his grave! It is He that stilled
the waves upon Gennesaret! It is He that ruled the powers of the deep
and made the devils fly at His bidding! If He puts His hand to the
battle, woe to those that strive against Him! The defeat of Christ?
Laugh the idea to scorn! No, the thorn-crowned Prince is victorious!
Well spoke the apostate Julian in his dying moments, "Nazarene, You
have conquered."All His foes will have to admit it. In the Day of
Judgment, trembling, and in the lowest pit of Hell, despairing, they
shall acknowledge His supremacy! The despised and rejected of men, with
a rod of iron shall break His enemies in pieces! Yes, He shall break
them in pieces like potters' vessels. "Be wise now, therefore, O you
kings: be instructed, you judges of the earth. Kiss the Son, lest He be
angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a
little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him."
That is the first thing, then–the Christ will conquer. It is a Divine
promise! Its fulfillment is guaranteed by the Father! It will certainly
be achieved by the Son!
II. Secondly, THE VICTORY IS AS GLORIOUS AS IT IS SURE. "Therefore will
I divide Him a portion with the great."
The great King rewards our Champion. You have heard of great champions
who have been knighted on the battlefield by their sovereigns–deeds of
special prowess have been thus rewarded. Others, amid the acclamations
of their troops, and while yet their hands were unwashed from gore,
have been crowned on the field only because of their superior valor and
the decisive nature of the battle. Now, what is it to be knighted or
crowned by kings or nations? It is as nothing! But to be crowned of
God? For God Himself to give the reward in the light of eternity? What
must such a victory be? I know that many an act which man applauds is
despised by the Most High–and many a fierce fight that has stirred the
heart of nations and made the poets ring out their hymns for
centuries–has been not only despicable but abominable in the sight of
the Most High! But when God rewards, what must be the Glory of the
achievement? And here we have it–God, even the Father, the same One
whom it pleased to bruise His son when He made the iniquity of us all
to meet upon Him–that same God who knows all things and weighs all
things aright, and is the very source and soul of honor, He shall crown
our Lord Jesus! Must it not be a glorious victory? He hascrowned Him!
He iscrowning Him! He shall continue to crown Him, for thus it is
written, "Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great."
The Glory of this victory may be seen, next, not only in the reward
coming from so high a source, but from its being manifestly a great
reward in the esteem of men, since our Lord is to have "a portion with
the great." It is difficult to say what makes a great man. When I look
over the lists of great men, some of them seem to be to be very little.
But still, men have among themselves a sort of standard by which to
measure, and they say of such-and-such persons that they are "great."
From different points of view they are. Now, Christ is to have a
portion with the great. Perhaps you have been grieved to see how
certain ungodly men in these times make nothing of Christ–like Herod,
they set Him at nothing– but these people are mostly very second-rate
individuals, of small account even among their own order. Almost all
intelligent men, even if they do not accept all that Christ says, agree
that He is a great Man and many confess that there never was such
another man as He. There have been skeptics whose admiration of Christ
has been extreme. I, for one, cannot understand how any honest mind can
do other than reverence His marvelous Character and the grandeur of the
Truths which He has revealed. He is great, inexpressibly great, and the
day will come–must come, is every day coming nearer–when Christ will
be seen even by His enemies to be supremely great. His Cross today
towers over the wrecks of time and He, Himself, rises before my faith's
vision so much above all the sons of men that I see all philosophies,
theories, and human dogmas crouching at His feet! His victories are not
victories among pigmies, but victories among the great, such as shall
make all men see that He, Himself, is the Great–such as shall make all
men see that He is the Greatest of the great!
My Brothers and Sisters, think for a minute what a battle Christ has
waged with all the powers of evil. With all the wit, and craft, and
unbelief, and pride, and lust of man. With all the foul devices and
cruelties, and wickedness of the devil, and all the principalities and
powers that obey his bidding. And with death and all that goes with it,
and shall come of it–against all these He has set the battle in array,
and over all these He has triumphed, so that He divides the spoil with
the great! Your adversaries, O Prince Emmanuel, are not such as a
common warrior might rout. They are foemen worthy of your steel! What
desperate tugs they gave You when they forced the bloody sweat from out
of You in the moment of your sternest wrestling. But you have flung
them to the ground!
Of course, this language can only be used as speaking part of the Truth
of God because the portion which God has given to His dear Son is
indisputably greater than the greatest things that earth can hold! I
take it that the question that Christ has come to answer is the
greatest question that ever moved eternity. The work that Christ has
come to do is the grandest work that ever stirred the ages. It is God's
work and God's question–how shall evil be driven out of the world? How
shall Justice, without a stain, smile on a sinner? How shall God be
seen as the Holy One with all the Glory of His Character manifested,
receiving to His bosom the guilty sons of men? The grandest work that
ever was done of God, Himself, Christ has come to perform, and not only
has He His portion with the great, but of all the great He is the
greatest, and His portion is above their portion! They are not to be
mentioned in the same breath!
Notice, too, that a part of the description of this victory represents
the Lord as Himself dividing the spoil "with the strong. "Not merely
with great enemies did Christ wrestle, but with strong powers. I might
give you a hundred illustrations of this, but I prefer to give you just
one. When the Lord Jesus Christ came into my heart–came to battle
there– He did, indeed, divide the spoil with the strong, for I was
strong-willed and desperately set on mischief–and for a while I was in
the hands of strong despair, out of which it seemed impossible that I
could escape. The bands which held me were of iron, tough as steel,
hardened in the fires of Hell! And yet this day I am His, for He has
won me and taken the prey from the mighty! I have been, just now, to
see our venerable Elder White. He is dying. I looked at his venerable
beard as he sat up in bed, and I looked at the bright face that shone
above it–and I was charmed at the joyful sight! He said, "I have no
trouble. I have not a troubled thought. I am the happiest man in the
world–I am going Home and I rejoice in it! Though I am perfectly
satisfied to wait." Death is just nothing at all to him! Just like a
dear Sister who went from us some time ago. When I went to see her, you
might have thought she was going to be married, she was so happy in
prospect of departing! Charles Wesley once said, "They may say what
they will about Methodism, but our people die well." That is my
comfort–our people die well–they die gloriously triumphant in the
Lord! When I think of it, I can see how my Lord divides the spoil with
the strong. Death comes and he says, "That is mine." He has taken the
poor, wrinkled body! And Christ smiles, and lets him have it, for He
takes for His share, the soul, the life! And as He bears him off, He
takes the best part of the spoil! He has left Death the husk, but He
has, Himself, secured the kernel! Yes, the day will come when He will
take the body, too, out of the custody of Death, for not a wreck or a
rag of all His saints shall remain in the domains of Death. There is a
resurrection of dead bodies as well as an immortality of spirits! Glory
be to Christ! In this
way, here and hereafter, He divides the spoil with the strong! Strong
is Death, but still stronger the Omnipotent Son of
God!
There is another aspect under which we may speak of the Glory of
Christ's victory, He will share it with His people. The second
paragraph of the text is, "He shall divide the spoil with the strong."
That is, He will divide it out, and allot portions to all those who
came to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Just as David after
Ziklag, when he had taken the prey from the Amalekites, sent portions
all round to his friends in Judah, so, when the King Eternal takes the
spoil, He will give a share to you and to me if we have been faithful
to Him. There shall be a portion even for us whom the Lord made strong
for Himself in the day of battle. Does it not make your heart laugh to
think of it? Jesus wins the victory, but He will not enjoy it alone–He
will glorify His people. Even the sick folk that go not down to the
battle, shall have their share of the spoil, for this is David's Law,
and the Law of the Son of David, that they that abide with the stuff
shall share with those that go down to the fight. He will give to each
faithful sufferer or worker a portion of the prey. Make haste, O
Champion, make haste to give to everyone of us a prey of divers colors,
meet for the necks of them that take the spoil!
III. Thus we have seen that Christ will win the victory, and the
victory will be glorious. Now let us declare, thirdly, that THE RESULTS
OF THIS VICTORY WILL BE VERY SUBSTANTIAL.
Let me remind you that in consequence of what our Lord has done,
myriads of souls will be redeemed. How many will escape from sin and
death and Hell to live forever is not revealed. We have every reason to
believe that a number that no man can number out of every nation, and
people, and kindred, and tongue shall praise their redeeming Lord.
Christ's death will not spend its force in the conversion of here and
there one, but He will see of the travail of His soul and will be
satisfied. And we are convinced that no little thing will satisfy Him.
The great result of our Lord's death will be the eternal salvation of
untold myriads!
Next to that will be the overthrow of every form of evil which now
reigns in the world, and the extermination of religions falsehood,
vice, drunkenness, war and every horrible mischief born of the Fall and
of human depravity. Christ will conquer these and there shall be new
heavens and a new earth, wherein shall dwell righteousness. Forever and
ever boundless honors shall be given to Christ for His victory over
every force of evil. The Seed of the woman shall trample on the
serpent.
As the result of Christ's death, Satan's power will be broken. He will
no longer go forth to rule among the nations.
Death also wiilhave lost its dominion over the sons of men. The Son of
David shall restore that which He took not away. More than our first
father lost, shall Christ bring back. There shall be substantial Glory
to Himself in the lives of His people on earth, in their deaths and in
their lives forever. Glory shall be brought to God of a new and unusual
kind. A light will be shed upon the Character of God which so far as we
know, could not have come to us by any other means except by the death
of the Only-Begotten. Hallelujahs louder than before shall rise up
before the Throne of God. Praises shall ascend unto God such as
Creation never produced, "for You were slain, and have redeemed us unto
God by Your blood, and we shall reign forever and ever."
Now, my Brothers and Sisters, do not get into a state of fright and
fear about the Christian religion. Do not go to your chambers and sigh,
"Everything is going to the bad, and we shall all be eaten up by the
devil." Nonsense! There is a stronger arm yet than that black arm of
Satan! In God's eternal goodness resides a power and majesty that
cannot be found in the infernal malevolence of the devil! I know which
is the winning side–I am sure of it. Though we may drearily imagine
that things go amiss and fancy that the vessel is ready to break up and
become a wreck, she will enter the harbor yet with all her cargo
safe–and from every wave that tossed her and every wind that beat upon
her she shall derive eternal advantage! Courage, Brothers and Sisters,
we are not beaten and we are not going to be beaten! We are succeeding
all along the line. Shout victory, universal victory, from stem to
stern of the good old ship! Not a foe has been able to live upon her
deck. Give the enemy's black hull another broadside. When you think
that the crew of the Black Prince are about to board us, grasp your
pikes and give them a warm reception! This good ship bears the Red
Cross at her masthead, and shall never be taken, but shall win the
victory as surely as God lives and His Son lives who has risen from the
dead!
IV. So I close with this last remark. THE WHOLE OF THIS VICTORY RESULTS
FROM CHRIST'S OWN WORK.
Lend me your best attention for two or three minutes, because this is
the pith and marrow of it all. "Thereforewill I divide Him a
portion"–that is logic. Why this, "therefore"? What is the argument?
Christ shall divide with the strong because–how does it run? "Because
His Doctrinal teaching is singularly in keeping with the progress of
the age"? I have
heard that observation and smiled at it. "Because His Gospel is
preached with such remarkable eloquence and singular clearness?" Indeed
not! Why, then, will Christ win the victory? The answer is, "Because He
has poured out His soul unto death." If God, Himself, deigns to take
upon Himself our Nature and in that Nature pours out His life like a
libation even unto death–if, I say, He thus pours out His life–it is
impossible to conceive that He will be defeated! Blasphemy may imagine
it, profanity may speak it, but truth abhors the idea that Jesus can be
baffled! A dying God? It is an inaccurate expression, yet I know of no
expression that is so accurate! God putting Himself into human form, so
as to be capable of suffering and death, cannot suffer and die in vain!
He must, He shall, He will win that for which He died! He must reign,
"because He has poured out His soul unto death."
Listen again, here is the second reason, "He was numbered with the
transgressors." This is mentioned secondly, as if there was something
even more in that than in the first. To die is wonderful condescension,
but for the pure and Holy One to deign to be numbered with the
transgressors, and stand as if He had, Himself, transgressed, though
transgress He never did, nor could–I say this is more wonderful! If
Jesus did that, then He must win the victory! When I am dispirited,
where do I find encouragement? Where the stars of Bethlehem burn and
where men make merry on their Christmas days? No, their mirth is
weariness to a heavy heart! I will tell you where I go for comfort–to
Gethsemane, to Golgotha, to the Garden and to the tomb. Christ cannot
have suffered there in vain! Christ cannot have been despised,
slandered and actually numbered with transgressors–and all for
nothing! It cannot be! It cannot be! Death and Hell, you can defeat
armies of men, but the Crucified treads you down! When our Champion of
the pierced hands comes to the front, the battle no longer wavers! We
glory in His death and in His making common cause with transgressors!
But this is not all. It is added, "and He bore the sin of many." This
denotes His actual and literal Substitution–His acting as the
Sin-Bearer. This is something more than being numbered with the
transgressors. He actually takes the sin of the transgressors and bears
their burden upon His own shoulders by a wondrous system of
Substitution which is easier to be believed than to be explained!
Because He did this, He must conquer! He must conquer! Sin cannot be
victorious if Jesus has carried it on His shoulders and hurled it into
His sepulcher! If the darkest days were to come and all the Churches of
Christ were to be extinguished, if there were left only one Christian
and he as good as dead by reason of weakness, yet might he believe that
God, from the dead, would raise up seed unto His Son and fulfill His
Covenant, and keep His Word! It must be so. The offering of Christ's
soul for sin secures to Him a seed forever!
And lastly, there is this fourth reason given, "He made intercession
for the transgressors. "I can conceive you praying, my dear Friend, and
God's not hearing you. But if the Man who was despised and rejected
should say, "Rise, poor suppliant, rise, and I will take your place."
And if the Blessed and Beloved of the Father whose eyes are as the eyes
of the morning, and whose lips are as lilies dropping sweet-smelling
myrrh, kneels down and prays, "My Father, by My blood, and wounds, and
agony, save this sinner," why, it must be done! And if He says,
"Father, give Me those whom I have redeemed," it must be done! And if
He pleads, "Father, keep them by Your Word," it must be done! And if He
prays, "Father, make them one, as We are," it must be done! And when He
shall ask, "Father, give them power and victory," it must be done! And
when He shall ask, "Father, let My servants all become champions and
send them forth, East, West, North, and South against idolatry, and
infidelity, and Popery, and clothe them with the Holy Spirit," why then
it must be done! The power of Christ's intercession is irresistible!
Queen Mary reckoned the prayers of John Knox to be worth many
regiments, but what shall I say of the prayers of Jesus, the Son of
God? They are with us today! While we are sitting here, and troubling
our minds about the Lord's work, and saying, "What shall we do?"and,
"What will come of it?"and all that, Jesus is pleading! Hush till your
hearts leave off beating–till not a thought is heard! You may hear Him
saying, "Father, I will." Here is the power of the Church! The plea of
Christ with authority before the Throne of God is the majestic force
upon which the Church depends! "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the
end of the world." Therefore pluck up courage. Jesus will yet win. You
weak, faint-hearted ones, rejoice! The victory is sure, not because of
anything you are, or of anything you can do, but for Jesus' sake! In
the name of the Lord we set up our banners. Hallelujah!
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN 19:14-37.
Verse 14. And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the
sixth hour: and he said unto the Jews, Behold
your King! [See Sermon #1353, Volume 23–ECCE REX.] They had accused
Him of being a king, or of pretending to be one. Pilate had scourged
Him, the soldiers had mocked Him, and there He stood–a piteous
spectacle of woe. What cruel sarcasm there was in the tones of the
Governor when he said to the Jews, "Behold your King."
15. But they cried out, away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!
Pilate said unto them, Shall I crucify your King?'"How could you call
Him, King, and bring against Him a charge of setting up a rival kingdom
when you, who would be His subjects, are all crying out, 'Crucify Him'?
'Shall I crucify your King?'" How false they were their own actions
proved.
15. The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar They said
this with all the coolness in the world. The mob had been stirred up
and excited, but the chief priests, the principal ecclesiastics of the
day, coolly said, "We have no king but Caesar." Did they not recollect
that the scepter was not to pass away from Judah until Shiloh came, so
that, as it had evidently passed away, Shiloh must have come? After all
their Bible reading, did they not know that? Oh, how easy it is to read
much of Scripture and yet to know little about its teaching! Dear
Friends, let us not join the Jews in refusing to have Christ as King.
They cried, "Away with Him, away with Him," when He was set before them
as King. Let us not do that, but let us rather accept the Crucified as
our Master and Lord, and cheerfully bow at His feet.
16. Then delivered he, Him, therefore, unto them to be crucified. And
they took Jesus, and led Him away. [See Sermon
#497, Volume 9–THE PROCESSION OF SORROW.] So was He led as a sheep
to the slaughter, as Isaiah had long before foretold that He would be.
17. AndHe, bearingHis Cross, went forth into aplace called the Place
ofa Skull, which is calledin Hebrew, Golgotha. Probably a knoll of rock
which today stands outside the city gate looking wonderfully like a
skull, with two depressions in the rock which, at distance, appear like
eyes. This was the common place of execution–the Tyburn, the Old
Bailey of Jerusalem!
18. 19. Where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, on either
side, one, and Jesus in the middle. And Pilate wrote a title and put it
on the Cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE
JEWS. What could have moved Pilate to write that title? Perhaps he did
it just to let the Jews know that they had forced him to put the Christ
to death. He would put over Him their accusation without any
endorsement of His own–"JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS." And
so He is, and King of the Gentiles, too!
20. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus
was crucified was near to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and
Greek, and Latin. So that everybody could read it, for someone or other
of these languages would be known to everybody in the crowd–they were
not dead languages, then, as they are now.
21, 22. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not,
The King of the Jews, but that He said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate
answered, What I have written I have written. He could sometimes be
firm. Perhaps when there was least excuse for it but when there was
need of firmness, this vacillating Governor was swayed by the will of
cruel men.
23. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His
garments. It was the custom with executioners to take the garments of
the criminal.
23. And made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also His coat:
now the coat woven without seam, woven from the top throughout.The
common robe of the country, for Christ assumed no garment or vesture
that would make Him seem great. He was too great to need the adornment
of any special style of clothes.
24. They said, therefore, among themselves, Let us not tear it, but
cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the Scripture might be
fulfilled, which says, They parted My raiment among them, and for My
vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers
did.Those rough Roman soldiers knew nothing about the ancient Prophecy,
yet a Divine destiny guided them! God's Word must be fulfilled and
they, in the freedom of their will, did exactly what God had ordained,
and the Spirit had long before prophesied! There are two things that
are true–that men act freely and are therefore responsible when they
sin, but that there is a Divine Predestination that rules all things
according to the purpose and will of God! It would have puzzled us to
explain how such a prophecy could be fulfilled at all–parting Christ's
raiment among them, and then casting lots for his vesture–yet so it
was, they divided what could be divided, and they cast lots upon what
would have been spoilt if they had torn it! I think that no Christian
will ever like the rattle of dice when he remembers that they were used
at the Cross! All games of chance should be put away from us, for we
can, as it were, see our Master's blood spattered upon them.
25, 26. 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 sa w His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He
loved, He said unto His mother, Woman, behold yourson!"See in John one
who will act as a son to you."
27. Then said He to the disciple, Behold your mother!"John, take her
home and treat her as a mother should be treated."
27. And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. He was
the disciple whom Jesus especially loved, so as a token of Christ's
great love to him, He left His mother to his charge. Have you any poor
folk dependent upon you? Do you know any of God's very poor people?
Take care of them and do not think the charge a burden, but do it for
the sake of Him who loves you so much that He entrusts His poor ones to
you. Oh, that everybody would look at this matter of caring for God's
poor in that light!
28. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished,
that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirstUt seems a strange
thing that Jesus should have said, "I thirst," because, out of all the
pains that He endured upon the Cross–and they were very many and very
sharp–He never mentions one except thirst! A person in such terrible
agony as He was enduring might have mentioned 50 things, but He singles
out this one because there was a prophecy concerning it.
29. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a
sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth.
Why is hyssop mentioned here? You remember that the hyssop was used in
the cleansing of the leper and that David prayed, "Purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than
snow." The hyssop was also used in the sprinkling of blood under the
Law of God, so it is introduced here with a set purpose. The sponge is
introduced here, too–it always seems to me very remarkable that in the
death of Christ the circle of life was completed. The sponge is the
very lowest form of animal life and Christ is the very highest type of
life of any kind. The sponge was lifted to the lips of the King of
Glory and carried refreshment to Him–and you and I, like the
sponge–the very least of God's living ones, may yet bring refreshment
to our Savior's lips!
30. When Jesus therefore hadreceived the vinegar, He said, It is
finished. AndHe bowedHis head, andgave up the ghost. It is not that He
died, and that then His head fell forward, but while He yet lived,
having before maintained an erect, noble bearing even in the pangs of
death, He now, to show His perfect resignation to His Father's will,
bows His head and yields up that saved spirit of His which dwelt within
His body!
31. The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies
should not remain on the Cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath
day was an high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken,
and that they might be taken awaj. The breaking of the legs was
intended to hasten death–a very cruel method, but a very effectual
one. Passing by Christ hanging in the center it was a strange thing for
them to do, yet it had to be done, although they were quite unconscious
of the reason why they so acted.
32-34. Then came the soldiers and broke the legs of the first, and of
the other which was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus,
and saw that He was dead already, they broke not His legs: but one of
the soldiers with a spear pierced His side–To make sure that He would
not survive–
34-37. And forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it
bares record, and his record is true, and he knows that he says the
truth, that you might believe. For these things were done, that the
Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall not be broken. And
again another Scripture says, They shall look on Him whom they pierced.
"So His side must be pierced, but His bones must not be broken! See how
the hand of God carries out the Word of God–and value every line of
Scripture! Our Lord Jesus Christ seemed to go out of His way so as to
ensure that every single word in the Old Testament in reference to
Himself should be fulfilled, so mind that you do not think little of
the