the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
April 8—Morning—Philippians 2:8
"He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."—Philip. 2: 8.
My soul, dost thou not feel, at every step towards Calvary, somewhat of the angel’s words when he cried," One woe is past, and behold there come two woes more hereafter? "Revelation 9:12. Surely, never was there a manifestation of the holiness of Jehovah, nor the utter detestation of God against sin, as was set forth in the crucifixion of Jesus. Would men, would angels, see what sin really is, let them go to the cross of Jesus. The casting rebellious angels out of heaven, the curse pronounced upon the earth, the drowning the old world by water, the burning of Sodom by fire; nay, the millions of miseries among men, and the unquenchable fire of hell; though all these may make the souls of the awakened exclaim against sin, yet all these are slight and inconsiderable things, compared to the wrath of God poured out upon the person of God’s own Son, when he died the accursed death of the cross. My soul, take thy stand this day at the foot of the cross. Behold the Lamb of God! There see divine justice more awfully displayed than would have been in the everlasting ruin of all creation. And Oh may it be thy portion, my soul, while looking unto Jesus, to say as Paul did—"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. "But, my soul, while thou lookest up to Jesus hanging on the painful tree, contemplate the sufferings of the Lord Jesus in his sacred body. The death of the cross was a violent death; for as there was no sin in Jesus, there could not have been those seeds of death, which in all the race of Adam, are found to bring forth fruit unto death. Precious thought this, even in the moment of beholding Jesus’s life taken by violence. Had Jesus not died by a violent death, he would have been no sacrifice; for that which died of itself naturally, could not by the law have been offered to God. The death of Jesus was also a cursed death; for it is written," Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. "Behold, my soul, thy Lord thus lifted up a spectacle between heaven and earth, as if cursed and despised both of God and man. The death of Jesus was a painful death, in which many deaths were, as it were, contained in one. The nails driven through the most feeling parts of the hands and feet, and the body stretched forth on the transverse timber; in this manner the cross, with the Lord Jesus fastened upon it, was lifted up in the air, until the bottom fell into its socket, which suddenly shook the whole and every part of his sacred body; and thus the whole weight hanging on his pierced nailed hands, the wounds in both hands and feet by degrees widened as he hung, until at length he expired in tortures. Precious, precious Redeemer! was it thus thou didst offer thy soul an offering for sin? Was there no method, in all the stores of Omnipotency, for satisfying divine justice, but by thy holy, harmless, undefiled body dying the violent, cursed, painful death of the cross? Oh by the crimson fountain of thy blood, which issued from thy pierced side, enable me to sit down, day by day, until I find my whole nature crucified with thee in all its affections and lusts. Let there be somewhat, dearest Lord, of an holy conformity between my Lord and me; and if Jesus died for sin; may my soul die to sin; that by mortifying the deeds of the body I may live; and by carrying about with me always the dying of the Lord Jesus, the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in my mortal body.
April 8—Evening—Mark 15:44
"And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead."Mark 15:44.
Precious Jesus! had the unjust judge but known thy soul travail and agonies, instead of wondering at the speediness of thy death, all his astonishment would have been that nature, so oppressed, and so suffering, could have held out so long; for what would have crushed in a moment all creation, as well angels as men, in sustaining the wrath of God, due to sin, Jesus endured on the cross for so many hours! In point of suffering, he wrought out a whole eternity due to sin, on the cross: and in point of efficacy, he "for ever perfected them that are sanctified." Jesus therefore accomplished more in that memorable day, than all the creatures of God could have done for ever. Wonderful were the works which God dispatched in creation; but the wonders of redemption far exceed them. The six hours which Jesus hung upon the cross, wrought out a more stupendous display of almighty power and grace, than the six days God was pleased to appoint to himself in making the world. But, indeed, Pilate need not, on another account, have marvelled at the quickness of Christ’s death, had this unjust judge but reflected on the previous sufferings of the Redeemer. They who have spent sweet hours in tracing Jesus’s footsteps through the painful preludes to his death, and especially in the concluding scenes, have been able to mark many a sorrowful part which (besides the soul agonies of Jesus in accomplishing redemption-work) bore hard upon his body also. My soul, if thou wert to trace back the solemn subject, thou wouldest find enough to excite thy astonishment that Jesus lived so long on the cross, rather than that he died not before. His agony evidently began four days before the passover. The evangelist Luke tells us, that he spent the whole night in prayer, and the whole day in preaching to the people in the temple, Luke 21:37-38. Read also Matthew’s account four days before his crucifixion, in the prospect of what was coming on, Matthew 20:18-19. And again, before a single assault was made upon him in the garden, Matthew 26:38. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful," said the dying Lamb," even unto death. "And the beloved apostle’s relation is to the same amount, four days before his crucifixion: "Now is my soul troubled (said the holy sufferer); and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour! But for this cause came I unto this hour!" John 12:27. And if to these agonies of soul, before the tremendous season of Gethsemane and Golgotha arrived, be added the exercises of the Redeemer in body; all must have contributed to wear out and exhaust his strength, and hasten on the pains of death. When we call to mind how the Lamb of God was driven to and fro; hurried from one place to another; from Annas to Caiaphas, and from the judgment hall to Calvary; we cannot be surprised at his fainting under the burden of the cross. Many a mile of weariness did he walk, before nine of the o’clock in the morning of the day of his crucifixion; and many a bodily fainting must he have felt from the thorny crown, the soldiers scourging, and their buffetings and smitings with the palms of their hands. Unfeeling Pilate! thy marvellings will be now, and to all eternity, of another kind. As for thee, my soul, take thy stand at the foot of the cross, and do thou marvel, whilst thou art looking up, and beholding Jesus dying, that He who might have commanded twelve legions of angels to his rescue, should in love to his church and people, thus give "his soul an offering for sin," and die," the just for the unjust, to bring us unto God!
