The meeting point of love and hate
Two Sides of Christ’s Crucifixion: by Men and by God
There are two sides to the crucifixion of Christ—His being crucified by men and His being crucified by God. The verses in Acts 2.23,36 and 3.15 speak of men crucifying Him, while those in Is. 53.6,10 speak of God crucifying Him. Which part of His crucifixion is done by men and which part is done by God?
Answer:
In studying the Scriptures we can clearly see that the crucifixion of Christ has both the men-crucifying-Him aspect and the God-crucifying-Him aspect. Judging by the seven words the Lord spoke from the cross, we may know which part of His crucifixion was done by men and which part by God. According to our human estimate, His crucifixion lasts for six hours. During the first three hours He spoke three words; during the last three hours He uttered four words. Why did He not say more or less during the first three hours? After a careful study we will know that the first three hours of His crucifixion is the period of men’s work, whereas the last three hours is the period of God’s work.
The first three hours lasted from nine in the morning until noon (Mark 15.25), when the Lord was crucified, mocked, railed at, and reproached by men. All His sufferings were heaped upon Him by men.
But the last three hours, which extended from noon to three o’clock in the afternoon, were when Christ suffered at the hands of God. For during these three hours darkness covered the whole land, distinctly not an act of men. The veil in the temple was suddenly rent into two from top to bottom; this also was beyond human capability. The earth quaked, the rocks were rent, and the tombs were opened; obviously none of these was men’s work. These were all done by God.
During the first part of Christ’s crucifixion, men did everything they could do to Him; in the second part of His crucifixion, God also did all that He could possibly do. The first part of the cross expressed all the hatred of men toward God; the second part of the cross reveals all the love of God toward men. Hence the cross, as some people would say, became the meeting point of love and hate.
Let us first look at the three words spoken during the initial three hours.
The opening word was: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23.34). How could God forgive those who murdered an innocent person? How could the Lord pray in this way? If God should answer this prayer will He not be guilty of being unrighteous? In answering these questions we need to recognize clearly that the Lord Jesus was crucified to bear the sin of the world. The righteous God could only forgive our sins at the cross, because "apart from shedding of blood there is no remission" (Heb. 9.22). And the Lord Jesus could pray such a prayer only on the ground of the cross. Otherwise, God’s forgiveness as well as the Lord’s prayer would both be unrighteous.
The second word was: "He said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23.43). How could a malefactor enter Paradise? For were all malefactors permitted to enter Paradise would it be any longer a garden of pleasure? Yet all these considerations are human reasonings. In the eyes of God, not only the malefactors cannot enter Paradise, even the so-called "good people" are not able to enter there. For all in Adam have sinned (Rom. 5.12). The Lord Jesus was able to say such a word to the repentant malefactor because He is the one mediator between God and men (1 Tim. 2.5) as well as the Lamb of God (John 1.29).
Through the eternal Spirit He offered himself without blemish to God in order that His blood might cleanse our conscience from dead works (Heb. 9.14). That malefactor in Paradise is no longer a malefactor, but one whose conscience has been cleansed from dead works. All who receive the Lord—that is, who believe in His name—have the same experience.
The third word: "He saith unto his mother, Woman, behold, thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold, thy mother!" (John 19.26,27) Here we are shown that due to what the Lord has done on the cross we now have a new relationship with God and with men; we are now fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God. We may have fellowship not only with God but also with one another. Not just John at that time could receive Mary as his mother according to the word of the Lord, even Paul (see Rom. 16.13) and all the rest of the saints throughout the ages can have the same feeling. How marvelous this is! Sharing the same life gives all the saints a new relationship.
After the Lord Jesus finished uttering these three words the earth was covered with darkness. God had heard the prayer offered by the Lord and had put all the sins of the world upon Him. God had made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. God therefore now saves us not only on the ground of His grace but also on the ground of His righteousness. He has bestowed mercy on us, but He has also given One who has paid the price for us all, who has repaid every penny we ever owed.
And so around three o’clock in the afternoon, the Lord began to utter four more words.
The fourth word was this: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27.46) Many martyrs who have been under persecution and severe punishments have felt the nearness of God to them and have borne their sufferings with dignity. Yet how much closer God would have been to our Lord (whose whole life had been spent in obedience to God) if He had merely been crucified through the persecution that came from men! How could God ever forsake Him when men forsook Him? Praise and thanks be to God, on the cross our Lord did not die a martyr’s death; rather, He died in bearing the sins of all mankind: for God put our sins on Him: it was God himself who crucified the Lord. After the Lord had spoken the first three words, He knew that God had heard His prayer and had put the sins of all mankind upon Him; and consequently, He also knew that God had now forsaken Him.
The fifth word simply came as: "I thirst" (John 19.28). Thirstiness is a condition in hell; thirstiness is the characteristic of the sufferings of hell. The rich man in Luke 16 was in the fire of Hades without even a drop of water to cool his tongue. There is no place more thirsty than hell. At this particular moment the Lord suffered the penalty of hell on men’s behalf and tasted death for every man (Heb. 2.9).
The sixth word was: "It is finished" (John 19.30). This indicates that the work of redemption is finished, for the Lord by this time has borne the sin of the world and received sin’s penalty for the world.
And finally, the seventh word: "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23.46 Darby). Some time earlier the Lord had cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" This was because He stood on the ground of bearing our sins. But now He utters the word "Father" to indicate that the work of redemption has been accomplished and that His fellowship with the Father is now instantly restored. The Lord laid down His life voluntarily, and He committed His life to God: "No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10.18). If this were not the case, then not even a hundred crosses could have taken our Lord’s life away.
Our sins are thus taken away by the most righteous Lord. According to His righteousness God must forgive us, because Christ has already died and become a sin-offering.
Yet some people may ask, Since the Lord accomplishes the work of redemption by His death on the cross, how could He have forgiven people’s sins before His death? This is because, even before Christ died, God has already reckoned the cross as an accomplished fact: "Whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3.16); "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life" (6.54).
These passages show us that even when the Lord was on earth all who believed in Him would have eternal life. Moreover, we read in Revelation about "the Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of the world" (13.8 mg.; cf. also 1 Peter 1. 19,20). The Lord is indeed the Lamb that has been slain from before the foundation of the world.
Consequently, the church is not limited by space (for the body of Christ is one), and the cross is not restricted by time. (For even in the Old Testament period God could forgive people. Under the Old Covenant—see Numbers 35.25-28—if any person should kill another accidentally he could flee to a city of refuge, where no one could seize his life and where he would become free once the high priest had died. This is a type of the fact that even before Christ’s death, if anyone should hide himself in Christ, he was safe and would become free upon the death of Christ who is the high priest of God.)
