THE MYSTERY OF HIS PAIN

THE MYSTERY OF HIS PAIN

There is no subject more mysterious and yet more sacred in the whole realm of revealed truth than this. This is the heart of that mystery of the love and wisdom of God, which wrought towards, and made possible the salva­tion of man. At the commencement of this article I would place on record not idly, and not for the mere sake of doing so, but under the urgency of a great conviction, that I am deeply conscious of approaching things too high, and too profound for any finality of statement. Person­ally I increasingly shrink from any attempt to speak in de­tail of the great fact of the Cross. This is not because I am growing away from it, but rather on account of the fact that I am more deeply conscious every day of my need of all it stands for, and as I have pressed closer to its heart, I have become almost overwhelmed with its unfathomable deeps, and its infinite majesty.

It is impossible, however, that any consideration of the mission of Jesus should be complete, if this subject were omitted. Let all therefore who approach the subject do so with abandonment to that Spirit of God Who "searches all things, yea, the deep things of God," (1 Cor. 2:10) praying earnestly to be led, so far as it is possible, to see and understand THE MYSTERY OF HIS PAIN.

In the light of the earlier articles, it may here and now be stated that the Cross solves two problems that seem to be unsurmountable that have found solution nowhere else. These problems may thus be stated.

First, how can God be just and justify the sinner?

Second, how can righteousness of conduct be made possible to those who are poisoned and paralyzed by sin?

As to the first it must be remembered that the word “justify" means the clearance of the soul from guilt. Justification must be infinitely more than forgiveness. Sin must be put away, and made to be as though it had not been. For justification the soul must be put into a place of purity, so restored that there shall be no spot, or blemish, or stain, not merely upon the record, but what is of in­finitely deeper significance, upon the character. To be justified before God is to be put into such condition, that no trace remains of the guilt of sin. That is the problem which is solved in the Cross. How can God be just, that is, true to Himself in nature, and yet justify the sinner, that is, receive him upon the basis of freedom from sin?

The second problem touches practical life, and deals with an actual condition, rather than a relative one. How can righteousness of conduct be made possible to those who are poisoned and paralyzed by sin (Matt. 5:48)? The difficulty of the problem is at once discovered if the impossibility of producing right conduct in man is thought of apart from the subject immediately under consideration, that, namely, of the Cross. It is a problem that has never been solved in the past; neither can it be at the present hour. Right conduct can only issue from right character, and therefore is not possible to man whose whole nature is poisoned and paralyzed by sin.

These are the problems with which the Cross is ap­proached.

1.Can a man be justified before God, and sancti­fied in his own actual experience?

2. Can a sinner be so cleared from guilt that he may have a conscience void of offence?

3. Can a man, whose powers have become paralyzed by the virus of sin, be so changed as to enable him to do the things he cannot do?

4. Can a man be made able to translate the vision of an ideal into the actuality of daily life? These problems baffle all the wisdom of man apart from the Cross, and still defy all attempts at solution. These are the problems solved by the mystery of Christ’s sufferings.

The present article is not directed to an examination of the results of the Cross, but to A REVERENT CONTEMPLATION OF THE WAY BY WHICH THEY WERE MADE POSSIBLE.

It is impossible to follow the Lord into the place of His mightiest work. Alone He entered and wrought. No man followed Him, nor could follow Him at all, in help, or in sympathy, or in understanding. Fallen man was de­graded in WILL, EMOTION, AND INTELLIGENCE, and therefore was not able to help, or sympathize, or understand. From that inner mystery, therefore, man was excluded.

Tracing the Lord through the three years in which He was constantly conscious of the Cross, it will be noticed how gradually and yet surely, He moved out into the loneliness of the final fact of His work. While living in Nazareth He was a favorite. He "advanced in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men." (Luke 2:52) At the commencement of His public ministry both the rulers and the multitudes gathered round Him. The men of light and leading were at least interested in Him, and ready to listen to Him, and more than inclined to patronize Him. They were among the first to fall back from Him. As He, in the great progress of His teaching, uttered deeper and yet deeper truths, men who were merely curious became excluded, and only His own disciples remained in anything approaching close association with Him. Yet Further On The Ranks Of The Disciples Were Thinned. After the discourse recorded in John 6, in which He declared He would give His flesh for the meat, and His blood for the drink, of the world, many went back and walked no more with Him. Without closely following the details, it will be seen that His approach to His Cross is marked by constant withdrawals until at last the nearest flee, the story of their going being recorded in one tragic sentence, "Then all the disciples left Him.” (Matt 26:56)

He passed into the actual place of His passion, the region of that mystery of pain through which He was about to solve these problems, IN UTTER LONELINESS. No man could help, no man could sympathize, no man could understand. Let this always be kept in mind when His suffering is followed and contemplated.

Men may gather reverently to the place of the passion, but can only know of it from what is revealed in the words that fell from His own lips. That should be accepted as a canon and principle of interpretation concerning the suf­ferings of Christ. What others may think or say, can only be of value as it harmonizes with, and expresses the meaning of the words He Himself uttered. Nothing can be known of that mystery of pain except from Himself. Any attempt to go beyond this limit is a mistaken attempt, and borders upon the realm of unholy intrusion. The sub­ject had infinitely better be left where He left it, considering reverently, and only, His own words.

Of these there have been recorded SEVEN several utter­ances. The first three manifest His keen and marvelous insight, even on that Cross of shame, into the deepest things and simplest necessities of human life. The last four are expressions of His own Spirit's experience in utter loneliness, and come out of that awful isolation.

The first three: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do"; (Luke 23:34) "Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise;" (Luke 23:43) "Woman, behold, thy son! Behold, thy mother!" (John 19:26-27) In these is evident His pity for men in the issue of their sin, His power towards those believing in Him, and His provision for those upon whom His love is set.

Then the last four: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (Mark 15:34) "I thirst"; (John 19:28) "It is finished"; (John 19:30) "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit." (Luke 23:46) Here man stands in the presence of the process of His mightiest work, through strife and suf­fering to the consciousness and calm of victory.

I repeat emphatically that beyond what these words reveal of the Cross, man has neither ability nor authority to go.

From the present article the first three sayings are elimi­nated, and except for a final moment, the last two also. Thus two words are left which express all that man can ever hope to know of the sufferings of Christ. First, the spiritual anguish, expressed in the cry, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34) and second, the physical agony revealed in the brief but awful exclamation, "I thirst." (John 19:28)

While believing that this was the true order of the say­ing, that the physical pain was not mentioned until after the cry of the spiritual anguish had been uttered, I propose to notice, first, the words "I thirst," (John 19:28) considering them in few words, remembering ever, that silence is often the most perfect exhibition of true understanding and deep sympathy; and then to attempt a somewhat closer examination of that awful cry of the spiritual anguish, which revealed all that man may ever know of the mystery of that pain by which He redeemed the lost.