"A worn-out purple robe, once garment of
the leader of a Roman cohort, is produced. This is thrown over His back still
bleeding from every pore, while the barbarians exult aloud at this supposed
witty and appropriate idea. They then
break off twigs from a long-spiked thorn-bush, and twist them into a circle,
which is afterwards pressed upon His sacred head as a crown. But in order to
complete the image of a
mock king, they put into His hands a reed instead of a
scepter, and after having thus arrayed Him, they pay mock homage to Him with
shouts of derisive laughter. The miscreants bow with pretended reverence to the
object of their scorn, bend the knee before Him, and to make the mockery
complete, cry out again and again, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' It is not long,
however, before they are weary of this abominable sport and turn it into
fearful seriousness. With satanic insolence, they place themselves before their
ill-treated captive, make the most horrible grimaces at Him, even spit in His
face, and in order to fill Up the measure of their cruelty, they snatch the
reed out of His hands and repeatedly smite Him with it on the head, so that the
thorns pierce deeply while streams of blood flow down the face of the gracious
Friend of sinners.
How can we reconcile such revolting occurrences
with the government of a just and holy God? A great mystery must lie at the
bottom of them, or our belief in a supreme moral government of the world loses
its last support. And is not this really the case? What befalls Christ befalls
us in Him, who is our representative. The sufferings He endures fall upon our
corrupt nature. In Him we receive the due of our misdeeds. With the shudder at
the sight of the martyred Lamb of God, ought to be joined adoration of the
unsearchable wisdom and mercy of God and the glorious accomplishment of the
counsel of grace. Our hell is extinguished in Jesus' wounds; our curse is
consumed in Jesus' soul; our guilt is purged away in Jesus' blood. The sword of
the wrath of a holy God was necessarily unsheathed against us; and if the Bible
is not a falsehood, and the threatening of the law a mere delusion, and God's
justice an idle fancy, not a single individual would have escaped the sword, if
the Son of God had not endured the stroke and taken upon Himself the payment of
our debts."
-From The Suffering Saviour by F. W.
Krummacher First English Edition 1856
Published by The Banner of Truth Trust 2004
Carlisle, PA
