when our Saviour was here on earth. Every area of His existence was pointed toward Calvary. In John 19:16-30 we have a pic ture of the crucifixion of our Lord. We find the parallel passages in Matthew 27:33-54, Mark 15:22-29, and Luke 23:33-47. The agony of the cross began as Christ had to carry His own cross along those last steps. His body was racked with pain and exhaustion. Tradition says that Jesus staggered and finally fell. It was at this point that Simon was drafted to help Him carry the cross. Crucifixion was a Roman form of capital punishment. The victim's hands and feet were either tied or fastened by nails to the cross. The latter was the most cruel and was doubtless the way our Lord was afixed to the gibbet. While the cross lay flat on the ground, the individual was attached to it. Then it was lifted up and dropped into the hole prepared for it. This was a cruel, wretching jolt which brought excrutiating anguish. Jesus died in the midst of trans gressors. He was in the middle. One of the thieves rejected Christ with his dying breath, while the other received Him and found life eternal. In John 19:28 we hear the Lord's words, "I thirst." What an expres sion for One who provides the water of life freely. There was no one who would bring Him physi cal refreshment in a time of need. Instead, they gave Him vinegar. This shows His bodily agony. Though He had been without drink for 12 or 14 hours only His lips were moistened. Unless He had made known His thirst, however, no one would have realized that the proph ecy in Psalm 69:21 was now ful- Page 39
from the Lord as He was strength ened to drink from the “ cup" to its deepest dregs. We can be thankful that our Lord emerged victorious, although the marks of the battle were upon Him. There was perspiration which was the result of physical strain; there was blood which was a re sult of His mental and emotional agony. In Luke 22:63-65 the Lord is mocked and smitten by those who held Him before the judgment of the Sanhedrin. Here again the devil was moving among men to try to put Jesus to death prematurely. We can see the cowardly acts of Satan as he works in the hours of darkness. Jesus was taken by con niving leaders of the Jews. Caia- phas put Him on trial without the proper accusations and determin ations of the law. His eyes were shut to the truth. These were trumped-up charges. Christ did not pervert the na tion, nor did He refuse to pay His tribute to Caesar. The Lord at no time sought to be made their King, nor did He ever pretend that He was the Son of God. This He read ily testified to by both words and deeds. He did not say that He would destroy the physical temple, but that He would destroy the temple of His body, only to raise it up again the third day. It was an awful and illegal trial as we see the devil doing His best to end Christ's life before His appointed time. Satan Again Attacks Christ Before Christ was even born the devil tried every possible way to keep Cod's plan of salvation for lost mankind to be brought to its complete realization. Never was the attack so great, however, as
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