the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
April 12—Morning—Matthew 27:46
"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani; that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"—Matthew 27:46.
Mark, my soul! Jesus had hung upon the cross now for six hours. Think what agonies he sustained both in soul and body. The fury of hell had broke out upon him, and in the cruelties of the men around him, exercised upon his sacred person, manifested how extensive that fury was. But had this been all; had God the Father smiled upon him, had the cup of trembling been taken away, some alleviation would have taken place in Jesus’s sufferings; but so far was this from being the case, that the heaviest load of the sorrow his holy soul sustained, was the wrath of the Father due to sin, as the sinner’s surety. Angels, no doubt, looked on. All heaven stood amazed. And, at length, overpowered with the fulness of sorrow and anguish of soul, the dying Lamb cried out," My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? "Pause, my soul, while thou hearest in the ear of faith, still vibrating in the air, the dolorous cry; and conceive, if it be possible, what the holy, harmless, undefiled Jesus felt, when such expressions of exquisite terror and distress were forced from his dying lips. What forsaking was this of Jesus by God his Father? Not the dissolving of the union between them: not the withdrawing the arm of his strength; for Jesus still calls him, "Eli, Eli," that is, My strong One. Not that he left him to himself; neither that his love for Jesus was lessened: but it was the withdrawing or withholding those sweet manifestations whereby he had sustained the human nature of Jesus, through the whole of his incarnation. It was beholding Jesus in this solemn season as the sinner’s surety; and as such, it was a punishing desertion; implying that as Jesus stood, or rather hung, with all the burden of our sins, he was so deserted for that time as we, out of Jesus, deserve to be forsaken for ever. The cry of Jesus, the shriek of his precious soul, under this desertion, represented the everlasting shrieks of them that are cast out of God’s gracious presence to all eternity. Here pause again, my soul. And wouldst thou have howled this endless, pitiable cry for ever, had not Jesus uttered it for thee once? And art thou, by virtue of it, saved from this wrath to come? Hath Jesus both borne thy sins, carried thy sorrows, and been forsaken of his Father, that thou mightest enjoy his presence and favour for ever? My soul, what wilt thou render to the Lord for all his benefits? Wilt thou not take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord, now thy Jesus hath for thee taken the cup of trembling, and drank all the dregs of it? Precious, precious Redeemer, may I never, never lose sight of thee in this part of thy sufferings also; and especially eye thee still more when my soul is under the hidings of God’s countenance. Let me recollect, dearest Lord! that thou hast been forsaken before thy people, and for thy people; and here, as in all other instances, thou hast the pre-eminence, so as to sanctify even our momentary desertions to our good and to thy glory. Yes, precious Lord! such are the blessed effects of thy desertion, that hence my soul learns, my God still supports, though my God may withhold his comforts. Jesus was forsaken for a season, that my soul might not be forsaken for ever. And grant me, dearest Lord, from thy bright example, to cast myself wholly upon thee, as thou didst upon thy Father, when all sensible comforts fail, convinced that thou "art the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever!"
April 12—Evening—John 19:19
"And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.”—John 19:19.
My soul! thou hast not yet read the inscription over the cross of Christ, in thine evening meditations. Do not withdraw from the sacred spot, until thou hast read it, and also, through divine teaching, understood its blessed design. Pilate meant it in reproach: but Jehovah over-ruled the design, to give his dear Son due honour. It was written in the three learned languages, in Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew. And it is the best of all learning to be able to read it in the light in which the Lord the Spirit caused it to be written. Do thou, almighty Teacher, cause me so to read it! Pilate meant it as Christ’s crime; as if to tell the world wherefore he suffered: but, so far is the inscription itself from notifying a crime, that it positively asserts what it was meant to deny. Pilate wished it to be understood that Christ was punished as an usurper: but then he should not have said that he was the king of the Jews, but that he assumed the title; whereas he marks it as a thing perfectly understood; "Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. "Some of Christ’s enemies perceived this, and accordingly desired Pilate to alter the words—"write not," say they," the king of the Jews: but that he said, am king of the Jews. "But he who over-ruled the mind of Pilate to write, over-ruled his mind that he should not alter. "What I have written," said he, "I have written. "Yes, Pilate: Jesus was indeed king of the Jews! And now that memorable scripture was fulfilled: "Yet have, I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion;" Psalms 2:6. Precious Lord Jesus! thy title hath been this from everlasting; and will be to everlasting. It is like thyself, "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever!" And now, my soul, do not lose sight of the testimony of an enemy to the kingship of thy Lord Jesus. Look at the cross now, where thy Redeemer was publicly proclaimed king upon it; and behold how the offence of the cross is ceased. And Oh! for grace to own Jesus now in glory for my King, as Pilate notified to all the world that he was king, when in the lowest humiliation upon earth. And Oh! what rapture will break in upon the soul, when he, whom Pilate proclaimed king upon his cross, shall come as a King upon his throne. Lift up thine head, O my soul, and contemplate thy King, who once was crowned with thorns, now crowned with glory, Hear what the apostle saith, and let thy whole mind be occupied in contemplating the glory that shall be revealed: "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him!" And what is the answer of the church, but "even so; come, Lord Jesus!" Amen.
