WHAT is the greatest event that has ever happened?
Not creation with all its wonders of wisdom and power; not the entrance of sin into Eden with its sore entail of sorrow and death; not the judgments which fell on the old world, on Sodom, on Egypt; not even God’s intervention on behalf of His people to deliver them out of the house of bondage and to make them a great nation; not Solomon’s glorious kingdom, nor any of the mighty empires that have risen and fallen since then.
There is but one answer to the question. The point is which all the prophecies looked forward, the central fact of all history before and after, the one outstanding event in the whole universe is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary.
No words could express the significance, for time and for eternity, of His death. Heaven and earth bore witness that it was no ordinary event. The sun was darkened, the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. It was the manifestation of the thoughts of God; it was the telling forth of love that was stronger than death; it was the culmination of man’s rejection and hatred. It revealed, as has been often said, the spiritual condition of all who were there. The dying thieves, the rough soldiers, the frightened disciples the watching women, and the Roman centurion all alike stood exposed in their true characters, naked and open before God.
Then there came on the scene one whose name has not been mentioned before—Joseph of Arimathæa. The evangelists describe him in some detail—a rich man, an honorable counselor who waited for the kingdom of God, a good man and a just, who had not consented to the decree of the Sanhedrim, a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews. This man comes forward; no longer a secret disciple, he went boldly to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. To him was committed the fulfilling of the prophecy that His grave should be with the rich, (Isa. 53:99And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9). N. Tr.) and Joseph and that other secret disciple, with reverent hands and with fragrant spices, conducted the most sacred funeral that ever had been or could be.
By their act they identified themselves with Him who had died this death of shame, “crucified through weakness” (2 Cor. 13:44For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. (2 Corinthians 13:4).). Their act proclaimed aloud that they were followers of the Crucified, and it was well. It was done at the risk of their lives, and certainly with the loss of their reputations. Never again could they take their place among the feared and powerful rulers of the Jews; all that was over. And yet we, who are so far behind them in zeal and courage, cannot but marvel that they had missed a very priceless privilege. They had not followed the Lord in His life here. In the days of His loneliness and rejection, others had borne Him company, not they. The words, “Ye are they which have continued with Me” (Luke 22:2828Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. (Luke 22:28)) could not be spoken to them. What a loss had been theirs!
Does not this raise questions in our hearts beloved fellow Christians?
His death has put away our sins; in His resurrection He has associated us with Himself in all His triumph, and has brought us as sons to His Father’s house (in spirit now, soon to be there actually.) Before God we have been buried with Him by baptism unto death, we own our identification with Him in His death every time we break the bread and drink of the poured out cup until He come; but we may well ask ourselves, is it a formal or habitual thing with us, or do we take it to heart that His death is the greatest event that has ever happened? Do we with adoration and worship look back into eternity, and forward to all the generations of the ages of the ages; back to before the time when the morning stars sang together, and forward to the time when all things are made new, and consider that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation of every blessing, ever to be enjoyed by men or angels, and will be the one eternal theme of praise?
Again, as we remember Him in His death we may well ask ourselves, are we content to be His disciples “but secretly for fear”— not of the Jews perhaps, but for fear of reproach or persecution? He is not loved in the world’s ways any more than He was as He walked here, and those who are true to Him may find things made very difficult for them. On our lips perhaps is the well known hymn
“We sing the praise of Him who died,
Of Him who died on the cross,
The sinner’s Hope—let men deride,
For this we count the world but less.”
But do we? Many saints who have gone on before, have testified that for them the world was well lost, so excellent was the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If when our path is ended He should say to us, “Ye have continued with Me,” would not all loss seem to have been so well worth while? Not indeed as having companied with Him on earth, but as having desired to follow, feebly and far behind perhaps, in the steps of those to whom this grace was given.
L.R.