Lesson for the Lord’s Day
And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Luke 23:33
The four words in the centre of this verse – there they crucified Him – ably sum up the entirety of the depravity of man and the grace of God. A study of these four words could consume the rest of your life and mine, and will surely consume our interest and attention for all eternity. The rejection of the meaning of these four words means eternal damnation; the acceptance of the meaning of these words means everlasting life and glory. The simplicity of these four words can be grasped by a small child; the compexity and depths of these four words have never been fully appreciated and expounded by the greatest minds of all humanity. We gather today to ponder these four words and to praise God for the wonder and magnificence of their truth.
The word there is a pointing finger, directing our attention to a lonely, gory hill beyond Jerusalem’s walls. This word focuses our attention on the very place where the blood of God’s great Sacrifice was shed, where the totality of God’s judgment against sin was poured out, where the wrath of God and the mercy of God came together. Luke names the place Calvary; the other three Gospels call it Golgotha. And we approach the place reverently today.
We must see in the word they the word we. It was the Jews who demanded that Jesus be crucified, it was the Roman solders who carried out the act, but it was our sins that causes Him to be there. Our lost condition, our opposition to God, our rebellion and hatred are revealed in this word.
The mind shrinks from the horror enbodied in the word crucified. No other form of execution is to cruel, so painful, and so degrading. The agony and shame of such a death grip our souls as we realize that it was to even the death of the cross that our Saviour would come, to save us.
But it is the final word in our little phrase that catches our attention today, the simple yet profound little pronoun Him. That He was none other than the Son of God, we truly believe. We see in this word the Darling of the Father’s bosom, the perfect and obedient servant, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Fulfilment of all prophecy, the Son of David and Rod of Jesse, the express Image of the Father, the Sacrifice, the Victim, the Satisfaction of God, and so much more and more and more.
If four words in today’s text can capture our attention so fully and completely, how wonderful to know that the vastness of eternity will expand our knowledge of not only this phrase, but all of Scripture, and focus our attention forever on Him! -Jim MacIntosh