When the will and lusts of men, in their hatred against the light and enmity against God, made them responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus, who was it that directed them and concentrated their animosity against that Man? Who was it that induced the haughty indifference and the cruelty of a Pilate, warned and alarmed as he was, to connect himself, for the rejection of the Son of God, with the inconceivable hatred of the leaders of the people filled with jealousy and the empty prejudices of the multitude? Who was it that united them to be copartners in this crime? It was the devil. He is the prince of this world, shown and declared to be such in the death of the Saviour by the hand of man, but judged by that very fact. He who ruled the world, its prince, showed himself such in the death of Him who was the Son of God come in grace. Before and after, he could excite passions, entice men’s lusts, produce wars, stir up the wrongs of one against another, provide for the corrupt desires of the heart, but all this was selfish and partial. But when the Son was there, he could join all together, those who hated and despised each other, against this one object — God manifested in goodness.
The prince of this world is the adversary of God. The moment had not yet come for the judgment of this world, but its judgment was certain, for its prince, he who ruled it entirely, was Satan, the adversary of God, as the cross of Jesus showed it. Now the presence of the Holy Spirit was the proof, not only that this Jesus was recognized of God as His Son, but that, as Son of Man, He was glorified at God’s right hand. In fact, this is the testimony of Peter speaking by the Spirit in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit would not have been in the world, if that had not been the case. The rupture between the world and God was complete and final: a solemn truth not sufficiently considered. The question that God puts to the world is: “Where is My Son? What hast thou done with Him?”
J. N. Darby (adapted)