T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S the blood of Jesus Christ alone that cleanses us from sin. He did not bear our sins in the manger, the carpenter shop, the streets of Jerusalem or by the lake of Galilee. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. 1 Pet. .2:24. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Admission to Heaven is only given to those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 22:14. R. V. SATURDAY, March 26. John 19:17- 30. The Representative Crowd. The groups around the cross are characteristic. There were the Roman soldiers with stolid indifference dicing for the victim’s clothes, their custom ary perquisites. What difference did it make to them who or what He was? This is apathy. There were the mem bers of the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders of the nation who were respon sible for the awful crime, gratifying their bitter hatred by heaping insults upon the dying Saviour. This is anti pathy. There were the friends of Jesus and the women standing afar off in helpless terror and the agony of love. This is sympathy. The cross is always before the world and the people stand beholding. The same attitudes are maintained now. There are those who look upon the scene with utter uncon cern. Lam. 1:12. There are those who meet the love of God with gratui tous hostility. There are those who survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of gloTy died, with breaking hearts and adoring gratitude. SUNDAY, March 27. Matt. 28:1-20. The Living Christ. We may make a possible distinction between the cross and the crucifix. The latter may stand for a dead Christ but the Christ we now recognize and wor ship is not a bleeding thorn-crowned “Ecee Homo”, but a risen and glorified Redeemer radiant with immortality! His message to His church today is “I
288 5:15. All self energy seeks the glory of self. We are not to be self-centered but Christ-centered. THURSDAY, March 24. Phil. 2:5-13. The Passion of the Cross.. The death of Christ is referred to in the New Testament 175 times. Cal vary means not only the death of sin but the death of death. It was a shame ful death. The cross held the same relation to the ancient world as the gallows does to the modern world. “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." It was a voluntary death. John 10:17, 18. It was love that bound the Saviour to the cross. Other wise the nails could not have held Him. It was a predicted death. The pro phets of the Old Testament wrote of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, not understanding the meaning of the words they used. Luke 24:25, 26. It was a substitutionary death, in the place of and on .behalf of sinners. Is. 53:4-10. This is the only explanation of the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant. The sacrifice was accepted by God in behalf of the offerer, giving him praetermission in anticipa tion of the full and free remission which would follow the sacrifice of Calvary. Rom. 3:26. FRIDAY, March 25. Rev. 501-14. The Bleeding Lamb. The slain Lamb is the cynosure of every ey© in heaven. A lamb is the symbol of innocence. It was required to be without' blemish and without spot. 1 Pet. 1:19. The virgin birth of Jesus guaranteed His stainless purity. A lamb also stands for weakness. There is no animal more helpless. It can suf fer but not contend. Jesus was cruci fied through weakness, 2 Cor. 13:4. Ps. 22:6, but the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Cor. 1:25. There was no virtue however in the living lamb. To imitate the earthly life of Jesus is to know Him after the flesh and can never bring salvation. It is
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