DECEMBER
"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may
receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be
good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10.
Above the throne is revealed the cross; and like a panoramic view appear the
scenes of Adam’s temptation and fall, and the successive steps in the great plan of
redemption. The Saviour’s lowly birth; His early life of simplicity and obedience;
His baptism in Jordan; the fast and temptation in the wilderness; His public ministry,
unfolding to men heaven’s most precious blessings; the days crowded with deeds of
love and mercy, the nights of prayer and watching in the solitude of the mountains;
the plottings of envy, hate, and malice which repaid His benefits; the awful,
mysterious agony in Gethsemane beneath the crushing weight of the sins of the
whole world; His betrayal into the hands of the murderous mob; the fearful events of
that night of horror—the unresisting prisoner, forsaken by His best-loved disciples,
rudely hurried through the streets of Jerusalem; the Son of God exultingly displayed
before Annas, arraigned in the high priest’s palace, in the judgment hall of Pilate,
before the cowardly and cruel Herod, mocked, insulted, tortured, and condemned to
die—all are vividly portrayed.
And now before the swaying multitude are revealed the final scenes—the patient
Sufferer treading the path to Calvary; the Prince of heaven hanging upon the
cross; the haughty priests and the jeering rabble deriding His expiring agony; the
supernatural darkness; the heaving earth, the rent rocks, the open graves, marking
the moment when the world’s Redeemer yielded up His life.
The awful spectacle appears just as it was. Satan, his angels, and his subjects
have no power to turn from the picture of their own work. Each actor recalls the
part which he performed.... All behold the enormity of their guilt. They vainly seek
to hide from the divine majesty of His countenance, outshining the glory of the sun,
while the redeemed cast their crowns at the Saviour’s feet, exclaiming: “He died for
me!”
"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may
receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be
good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10.
Above the throne is revealed the cross; and like a panoramic view appear the
scenes of Adam’s temptation and fall, and the successive steps in the great plan of
redemption. The Saviour’s lowly birth; His early life of simplicity and obedience;
His baptism in Jordan; the fast and temptation in the wilderness; His public ministry,
unfolding to men heaven’s most precious blessings; the days crowded with deeds of
love and mercy, the nights of prayer and watching in the solitude of the mountains;
the plottings of envy, hate, and malice which repaid His benefits; the awful,
mysterious agony in Gethsemane beneath the crushing weight of the sins of the
whole world; His betrayal into the hands of the murderous mob; the fearful events of
that night of horror—the unresisting prisoner, forsaken by His best-loved disciples,
rudely hurried through the streets of Jerusalem; the Son of God exultingly displayed
before Annas, arraigned in the high priest’s palace, in the judgment hall of Pilate,
before the cowardly and cruel Herod, mocked, insulted, tortured, and condemned to
die—all are vividly portrayed.
And now before the swaying multitude are revealed the final scenes—the patient
Sufferer treading the path to Calvary; the Prince of heaven hanging upon the
cross; the haughty priests and the jeering rabble deriding His expiring agony; the
supernatural darkness; the heaving earth, the rent rocks, the open graves, marking
the moment when the world’s Redeemer yielded up His life.
The awful spectacle appears just as it was. Satan, his angels, and his subjects
have no power to turn from the picture of their own work. Each actor recalls the
part which he performed.... All behold the enormity of their guilt. They vainly seek
to hide from the divine majesty of His countenance, outshining the glory of the sun,
while the redeemed cast their crowns at the Saviour’s feet, exclaiming: “He died for
me!”
No comments:
Post a Comment