Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

We will read two short passages from the Gospels this evening. May the blessed Spirit, who taught the Evangelists to record the sad story of our Lord's sufferings and death, help us to fully enter into the blessed meaning of it while we read it! First turn to Mark 15, verse 15.

Mark 15:15, 16. And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas to them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged Him, to be crucified. And the soldiers led Him away into the hall, called Praetorium. The guard room of Herod's palace, where the Praetorian guards were known to gather.

16-20. And they called together the whole band. And they clothed Him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about His head, and began to salute Him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote Him on the head with a reed, and spit upon Him, and bowing their knees worshipped Him. And when they had mocked Him. To the utmost, and gone the full length of their cruel scorn!

20-23. They took off the purple from Him, and put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him. And they compelled one Simon, a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear His Cross. And they brought Him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but He received it not. They did for Him what they did for others who were crucified— they gave Him myrrhed wine, as a stupefying draught—"but He received it not." He came to suffer and He would bear, even to the end, the full tale of His suffering.

24-27. And when they had crucified Him, they parted His garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. And the superscription of His accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. And with Him they crucified two thieves; the one on His right hand, and the other on His left. They gave Him the place of eminence, as if He were a greater offender than either of the two thieves!

28. And the Scripture was fulfilled, which says, And He was numbered with the transgressors. Sinners to the right of Him, sinners to the left of Him, sinners all round Him—compassed about with those who sinned in the very highest degree by putting Him to death. "He was numbered with the transgressors." Oh, that sweet word! It is the hope of transgressors, now, that He was counted with them! And for His sake all the blessings of Heaven now descend upon transgressors who accept Him as their Substitute and Savior!

29. And they that passed by railed on Him. Not only those who sat down to gloat their cruel eyes upon His miseries, but even the passers-by, "They that passed by, railed on Him."

29, 30. Wagging their heads and saying, Ah, You that destroys the Temple, and builds it in three day, save Yourself, and come down from the Cross. He never said He would destroy the literal Temple. He did, however, say concerning the Temple of His body, "Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up," and He did raise it up in three days after they had destroyed it!

31. Likewise also the chiefpriests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. What they said in bitter scorn was true, for mighty love had bound His hands from self-salvation. Infinite in love, found guilty of excess of love to men, "He saved others; Himself He could not save."

32, 33. Let 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. And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. A supernatural darkness which could not have occurred according to the laws of Nature. It did, as it were, "set a tabernacle for the sun"—the Sun of Righteousness was canopied for a while in darkness, that no longer might those horrible eyes gaze upon His terrible anguish!

34. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama Sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? There was a denser darkness over His spirit than was over all the land—and out of that darkness came this cry of agony!

35. And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, He calls Elijah. Ah, me! This was either a cruel jest upon our Savior's prayer or an utter misapprehension of it!

36. And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink, saying, Let Him alone; let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down. Jesus did receive this vinegar and so fulfilled Psalm 69:21—"In My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink."

37. 38. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the Temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom. Even as the flesh of Christ, which is the veil of the Incarnate God, was rent, so now was the veil of mystery taken away! The Temple in her sorrow rent her veil. The old Ceremonial Law passed away with this token of grief by the rending of the veil! It was a strong—I might say, a massive veil—it could not have been torn by any ordinary means, but when the hand of God takes hold upon the veil of Jewish types, they readily tear and, into the innermost mystery of the Holy of Holies, we may gaze, yes, and through it we may enter!

39. And when the centurion, which stood over against Him, saw that He so cried out, and gave up the ghost, He said, Truly this Man was the Son of God. Convinced by the Cross! Oh, the triumphs of Christ! The last word He speaks won this testimony from the centurion in charge of the Crucifixion! Now we will read part of Luke's narrative.

Luke 23:27-31. And there followed Him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning unto them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? Our Savior, even amidst the greatest sufferings, seemed almost to forget His suffering in the deep sympathy that He had for the people around Him! He pictured in His mind's eye that awful siege of Jerusalem. Who can read it, as Josephus describes it, without feeling the deepest horror? Oh, the misery of the women and of the children in that dreadful day when the zealots turned against each other within the city and fought to the death! And when the Roman soldiers, pitiless as wolves, at last stormed the place! Truly did the Savior say of it that there would be no day like it—neither was there—it was the concentration of human misery and our Lord wept because He foresaw what it would be. And He bade these poor women reserve their tears for those awful sorrows.

32, 33 And there were also two others, malefactors, led with Him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. O blessed Master they did not spare You any scorn! There was no mode of expressing their contempt which their malignity did not invent! Truly, "He was numbered with the transgressors." You could not count the three sufferers on Calvary without counting Him—He was so completely numbered with the others that He must be reckoned as one of them!

34. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. It was all that He could say in their favor, and He did say that. If there is anything to be said in your favor, O my fellow Sinner, Christ will say it! And if there is nothing good in you that His eyes can light upon, He will pray on His own account—"Father, forgive them for My sake."

34. And they parted His raiment, and cast lots. His garments were the executioners' perquisites. Pitilessly they took them from Him and left Him naked in His shameful sorrow.

35. And the people stood beholding. There was no pity in their eyes. Not one of them turned away his face because he could not look upon so disgraceful a deed.

35. And the rulers also with them derided Him, saying, He saved others; let Him save Himself, if He is Christ, the chosen of God. I have already reminded you that there was a deep truth hidden away in what these cruel mockers said, for Jesus must give Himself up as a ransom if we were to be redeemed.

36-38. And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming to Him, and offering Him vinegar, and saying, If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself. And a superscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, For these were the three languages known to the throng, and Pilate invited them all to read in "Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew."

38,39. THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying, If You are Christ, save Yourself and us. Poor man, even though he is dying a felon's death, he must be in the swim with the multitude! He must keep in with the fashion so strong, so powerful—it is the popular current with all mankind!

40-42. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Do not you fear God, seeing you are in the same condemnation? And we, indeed, justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this Man has done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom. It was strange that Christ should find a friend dying on the cross by His side. Nobody else spoke to Him about a Kingdom. I am afraid that even His former followers began to think that it was all a delusion. But this dying thief cheers the heart of Jesus by the mention of a Kingdom and by making a request to Him concerning that Kingdom even when the King was in His death agony!

43. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto you, Today shall you be with Me in Paradise. The Master, you see, uses His old phraseology. In His preaching He had been accustomed to say, "Verily, verily," and here He is, even on the Cross, still the same Preacher, for there was such assurance, such confidence, such Truth, in all His words, that He never had to alter His style of speaking! "Verily I say unto you, Today shall you be with Me in Paradise." Well does our poet put it—

"He that distributes crowns and thrones, Hangs on a tree and bleeds and groans." He was distributing these crowns and thrones even while hanging on the tree! "Tell it among the nations that the Lord reigns from the tree," may not be an exact translation of the Psalm, but it is true, Psalm or no Psalm! 44. And it was about the sixth hour. About noon, when the sun was at its height.

44. And there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Three o'clock in the afternoon.

45. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the Temple was rent in the midst. As if the great light of Heaven and the pattern of heavenly things were both disturbed. The sun puts on mourning and the Temple rends her veil in horror at the awful deed enacted on the Cross!

46. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father—Is it not sweet to see how Jesus begins and ends His prayers on the Cross with, "Father"?

46-48. Into Your hands I commend My spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost. Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous Man. And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts and returned. A strange ending to that day, was it not? The three hours' darkness and the death cry of the Christ had not converted them, but it had convicted them of sin. They felt that a great and heinous crime had been committed and, though they had come together as to a mere show or sight, they went away from the spectacle impressed as they had never been before—"All the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned."

49. And all His acquaintances and the women that followed Him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things. In these doings on Calvary you and I have a share—in their guilt, or else in their merit. Oh, that we may not be condemned with those who were guilty of His death, but may we be cleansed by that precious blood which puts away the sin of all who believe on Him!