IN THE EIGHTH YEAR of the reign of emperor Tiberius, ten years before the Crucifixion of our Lord, a decree had been passed in the Senate, by which, in every part of the Roman empire all those who were under sentence of death, were granted ten days reprieve, before the sentence could be executed.
But with it the provision had been made, that in the case of one who had instigated an insurrection, or who was deemed a menace to public order, the judge could appoint immediate execution.
This last provision Pilate applied to Jesus.
Our Lord was not granted “postponement of execution”. Evidently Pilate was not at ease. He feared an outbreak of Jewish fanaticism. And it is this anxiety on the part of Pilate, aggravated by the gnawings of his conscience, which explains why Jesus, after having been awake all night long and having been arrested before dawn, without a moment’s relief, had to endure all His suffering at once, and only in His death reach the end of that agony.
Then four soldiers had been ordered, under the command of an officer, to execute upon Jesus the sentence of crucifixion; and it was this officer with the four soldiers under his command, who took Jesus off Pilate’s hands.
What was required for crucifixion, needed no preparation, for it was ready at hand. The cross, the spade, the nails, the ropes, the jug of myrrhed wine, and the jug of vinegar. And so they took their way to Golgotha. Spade and nails, rope and jug the soldiers carried, but the cross Jesus Himself must bear.
That cross He must carry, not merely a short distance, but first through the whole city, all the streets from the house of judgment to the gate, and then from the gate to the place of a skull.
That crossbearing did not mean that the condemned could carry it as he pleased, but the cross was placed over his left shoulder, with the cross-beam in front, to which both his hands were bound.
This readily accounts for the fact, that exhausted by so great an exertion, and the strain of stirred emotions for so many hours, Jesus soon succumbed under the weight of the cross.
Already on the way to Golgotha the strength of human nature began to fail Him.
At length arrived at Golgotha, the soldiers dug a hole in the ground, in it set up the cross, trampled down the ground, till the cross stood firmly fixed; and all this while Jesus stood by speechless, and inwardly trembling at what was to come.
For when the cross was erected, the soldiers laid hands on Jesus; took off not only the upper garment, but also the rest of the clothes from His body; and as a criminal no longer worthy of so much as a covering, while people stood about looking on, He stood in their midst.
Provisionally they laid aside that robe and the clothes, in order presently to divide and to cast lots for them, and then they proceeded to the actual crucifixion.
The cross in those days did not stand very high, usually the malefactor did not hang more than two feet above the ground.
At the lower part of the cross a small beam projected, on which the victim was placed with the legs hanging down by the sides. And while one of the soldiers held him back against the cross, two others bound His hands to the crossbeam, and drove the nails through the hands.
Finally the two feet were turned to the cross, and while one soldier held them in place, the other drove the nails through the feet, each foot separately pressed against the wood.
And when He was crucified, they took the jug of myrrhed wine, to intoxicate Him, that the agonies of dying on that tree might not be so dreadful. But Jesus refused. The anguish of the suffering must not be dulled for a moment.
When Jesus refused, the soldiers did not persist.
With them now rested the appropriation of the booty, the division of Jesus’ garments among themselves.
And then they sat down near the cross, and the centurion stayed by to look on.
And Jesus said: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Soon after the darkness set in.
Darkness like that of night swathed the cross and the hill that bore it.
And thus Jesus hung on the cross to die. And the women and acquaintances, that stood by, trembled in woefulness of heart.
Only the fanatical priests took pleasure in the sight of Jesus’ death-struggle.
Altogether different from the Roman officer who stood by, and though he did not understand, yet from moment to moment felt ever more strongly, ever more clearly, that here no ordinary execution took place, but that it implied a combat between earth and heaven.
The “Truly, this is the Son of God”, he will exclaim only later, but already in advance it trembled in his heart, whether in Jesus he had not committed a crime against a being of an higher order.
SO the crucifixion of Jesus on Golgotha may actually have taken place, as from careful investigation it is learned, how in those days the Romans were accustomed to execute death by the cross.
Had you been there, this is what you would have witnessed. And when the Apostle Paul writes to the churches of Galatia (3:1) that Jesus Christ “had been evidently set forth, crucified before their eyes”, it is evident that we too should let our imagination have free rein with respect to this, and live as it were the dreadful scene over again, and meditate upon it, as though we were eye-witnesses of the same.
Also the picture and painting may come to our help in this matter, provided it is unadorned, real and true.
It is even incredible what a deep impression upon the soul a truly speaking likeness of Jesus’ crucifixion can make.
And yet, even when this striking spectacle stands clearly and actually before our eyes, let no one think that this is all.
Yea, we would almost say, that he who saw all this as before his eyes, saw but a small part of what really there took place.
There was on Golgotha still so much more than could be observed with the eye, and which in a higher sense was equally real and actual.
Already that officer saw more than the soldiers under him. Much more saw Jesus’ acquaintances who stood afar off. And what must not a Mary, a John, who stood there as though stupified, have perceived, and endured, and suffered, of what even that officer and those acquaintances had no faint surmise.
There took place on Golgotha not alone a palpable execution, but much more yet a spiritual struggle, which went on in the blood of the soul, and of which nothing was seen or observed by those whose eyes were blind to what happens in the spiritual world.
Mary and the disciples, who were not entirely blind, saw something of it. But yet, they only saw flitting shadows, and from on high God alone saw in full clearness, what by and during the crucifixion, and on the cross, has been fought out by Jesus’ spirit against Satan and his demoniac spirits; what in that hour of superhuman suffering has been endured, to save a world eternally; how that cross was truly an altar; and how upon that altar the Lamb of God brought His Self-Offering to the finish, that the right of His Father might triumph.
No one, said Jesus, knoweth the Son save the Father, and in this hour there was no creature, man or angel, that has fathomed this fathomless depth of Jesus’ suffering.
Of men uncomprehended, and known of His Father alone, did Jesus go under in this black darkness of death.
And therefore never say, that you at least have understood Golgotha.
You may have surmised something of it, and in love for your Savior you may live it over again with Him, but what that cup, which the Father had given Him to drink, contained, you will never know.
This He alone understood, Who had mingled that cup of suffering for the Son of His love, to save you.
And yet, there is something of that cross of Golgotha, which the Holy Spirit reveals to every one of God’s elect, in a particular way, that is valid for him alone.
On that cross Jesus bare our sin. So the apostles bear witness. So the church of Christ has confessed through all ages. So is the witness borne also in your own heart.
Our sins!
Yours, mine, those of all our brothers and sisters, who have been re-born unto life.
And what do you know, what do you understand of it better than your own sins, and who knows, who understands your sins better than God and your self?
And therefore, when the Holy Ghost, by the light of the Word, leads you into the knowledge of the depth of your sin, in that knowledge of your sins the Comforter of your heart but offers you a standard by which you may learn to understand the suffering and the dying of your Savior in an entirely singular, an altogether personal way, that so the dying Christ can meet your case; can move you inwardly; can quicken you to love Him in return; and can become to you the rich, full revelation of the atoning, compassionate, cleansing grace of your God.
Thus there are two ways in which to experience Golgotha in your own soul, to be crucified with Jesus, and to die with Him, that you may also live with Him.
One way Scripture opens before you, as it describes what took place visibly, and indicates the mystery of Golgotha.
This way is open to all.
But the second way is personal; to be trodden by every soul separately and alone. It is the way through the depths; through the knowledge of your own heart; through the self-accusation of your sinful existence, and sinful life, and discarded grace.
And when consciously you sink away in this sea of your sins, and learn that with all Jesus’ suffering, you added this to it, that you also laid the burden of your sins upon your dying Savior, then you understand, that upon Golgotha there has been suffered something altogether other than the piercing of the hands and the feet.
A piercing of the soul of your Savior; a wounding Him, which not the soldiers, but which together with all God’s saints, you have done.
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