Mathew 27, and the reading was 35 onwards. 35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. 36 And sitting down they watched him there; 37 And set up over his head his accusation written, This Is Jesus The King Of The Jews. 38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. 39 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. 41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, 42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. 44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. 45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. 48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. 49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. 50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. 54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

When we started the study on the sufferings of Christ, we can notice that there is an increasing trend in the degree of torture and oppression that the Lord Jesus underwent. If you were to just look at the pain and the oppression that was inflicted upon Christ, You will see it increases and gradually, gradually comes to the passage where we read where it is the cusp of the pain and the torture that He had to endure. At the Gethsemane, it was just merely for the first time, sinners laying hands on Christ and binding Him with ropes probably, and that was about it. And then when we see Him at Caiaphas, before the High Priest, we see Him being Smitten being slapped, being spat upon, being blindfolded and that is way more than what he experienced at Gethsemane. Then when we come to Pilate, we see him being stripped, being crowned with thorns, being scourged with the scourge, making his back look like a plough land. That is extremely more than what he experienced at Caiaphas. But if could it, Could it get more? Could it increase in intensity? Could the degree of torture increase?

And that's the passage that we are led to, where Christ has been led by His creatures to the cross to bear unimaginable pain and sorrow. A man of griefs acquainted with sorrow becomes truly fulfilled in this passage. There are so many ways in which we could probably look at this passage. We could, for example, just look at the seven sayings of the cross, just look at what Christ said at the cross and that would itself be a study in itself. That in itself will give us so much understanding as to why Christ is crucified if we were to just trace all the seven sayings. We could probably look at the cross from the angle of people, just look at the people involved. We could look at the people involved in different dimensions. For example, we can look at the people that cried at the cross, the people that were teary-eyed, that had tears. And that would bring us first to Peter who wept bitterly. It could bring us to a group of women that wailed and lamented. And last and finally, it would bring us to the people at the cross itself who suddenly from mockings and blaspheming and slanderings, they would beat their breast and go back home.

We could probably look at those people that were fearful at the cross, the people that had fear and were afraid. And that would begin with Pilate, who when he heard that Christ was the Son of God, was all the more afraid. We could probably look at the criminal who was crucified with Christ, who reprimanded the other criminal saying, don't you fear God for we have received what is just according to our deeds. And then we could also look at the centurion of whom it is written, after having seen all these things, he was greatly afraid and said, truly this was a righteous man. We could just look at the cross in another way by looking at the believers, the people that were converted at the cross, the people that came to faith through the cross. And that would begin with Simon the Cyrenian, whose children became more reputed and more renowned than him in the Church. We could look at the criminal who at this last breath found entrance at the Paradise and not leaving behind even the centurion who confessed the true confession that this is indeed the Son of God.

We could look at the cross in so many different ways and each of this meditation and study would be beneficial. We would probably look at it also just by considering the prophecies that were fulfilled at the cross against the odds of the people that didn't want it to be fulfilled. We could compare it with what God wanted, what God determined before the world began versus what people wanted of Christ. And we'll see a huge contrast between the will of God and that people wanted. For example, it was of the will of God that Christ, when He is crucified, there should be a title placed on Him that this is the King of the Jews. But the people wanted another title. They just wanted to reduce it to an assertion that Christ Himself made that He said He is the King of the Jews. They didn't want it to make it a matter of fact. But they could not have their way because God had His way that this is a fact indisputable. That Christ is the King of the Jews.

And they probably wanted to part his garments, but again they could not have his way because there was a prophecy that said they will cast lots over that garment. They probably wanted to give him that vinegar, that sour wine, and they probably wanted to give him so as to deaden his consciousness. But here is the Lamb of God in human flesh who will bear the wrath of God. in all of his human strength. He is not going to do it with the dead consciousness. He is not going to do it unconsciously. He is not going to take in anything that will deaden his senses. So they thought they would do that, but they couldn't do it because here is the Lamb of God who has to bear all the sins of the world. And then at the end of the cross, at the end of it all, Christ said, I thirst. And the most natural thing when somebody is thirsty is to give water. But John says that at that point, somehow there was a full cup filled with sour wine and they gave vinegar that sour wine.

They couldn't give water because again it was a prophecy that vinegar is a portion of the sinners and Jeremiah had said that it will be the sinners who drink vinegar and sour wine. And so they couldn't override the prophecies. They thought they could break the legs like they did it for the criminals but they couldn't because He is a Passover lamb. A Passover lamb required that the Lamb be offered in whole without breaking any one of its bones. And so they couldn't break the leg, though they wanted to. And at the end of the cross, when Christ is dead, like any other criminal, they would just dispose the body, they would make His place among the criminals, they would dispose it as if nobody is going to claim it. But the prophecy was that He had to make His grave among the rich, and that a rich man would come to take care of the body of Christ, that Christ could not be simply disposed of. This body had to be raised again three days.

You have these extreme contrasting contradictions of what men wanted to do with Christ and they couldn't cross the line, the line that was determined before the world began according to God's will. And so, in so many different ways, we could probably look at the cross. At the end of the day, we need to ask this question, what does the cross really signify? What does it truly signify for Christ to have suffered? It brings us to a very peculiar narrative that the Old Testament prophecies always try to portray about the Messiah. It's also there in the language of the Gospel of Luke, where Luke says, Pilate delivered Jesus to their will. You see a very strong emphasis to the will of man, where Pilate delivered Jesus to their will, according to their will. And then Luke continues the narrative that they led Him to be crucified. And so you see a very strong narrative there where man is in control, where man has been given the privilege, the unfortunate privilege to do unto Christ what is according to their will.

If man's heart was so filled with wickedness and if man had a way in bringing about that wickedness to fulfilment, then that is what the Cross talks of. What men could do to Christ. We read of how Christ came to His own and how His own rejected. This is the description. This is the explanation, the narration of how His own rejected. And this is again the language of the prophets. When Zechariah would be prophesying about Christ, there's a question that is asked, what are these wounds that are on your chest? From where did you get these wounds on your chest and the answer was that these are the wounds that I received at the house of my friends. My friends inflicted these wounds on my chest. It's a personal thing. My friends. He came to His own, His own rejected Him. And again, there will be a day when Christ will come on the Mount of Olives, where God will pour upon the people a spirit of grace and supplication to look upon Him whom they have crucified, whom they have pierced, where the emphasis is Who did it? It is the people of Jews, it is the people of Israel.

They have crucified, they have wounded Him, they have rejected Him, they led Him, Christ was given to their will, where the emphasis is so much on what did they do to Christ. It is what men did to Christ and that is probably where we will direct our meditation as well, as to consider what did men do to Christ. What did men do to Christ? It's a fulfillment of the parable of the wicked men. If they were given the authority to lay hands on the body and the life of Christ, how would they go about doing it? If every thought of your heart was wickedness as in the days of Noah, as in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, and if all of those thoughts were united like in the days of Babel where they were unitedly rebelling against God, And if all of that rebellion was directed not towards a tower that is being built but against the very Son of God, what would come out of such rebellion? What would come out of such hard-heartedness? What would come out of such anger and wrath of men? And that's the answer that we have when we look at the Lord Jesus on the cross.

He is being completely surrendered, being given, being submitted to be led by His own creatures. And so we see a very sad truth where we read this, that they led Him away, that He is in complete control of wicked hands. And as they were leading Him away, note of a person, that is Simon the Cyrenian, in verse 32, as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, Maybe a word about this person, Simon the Cyrenian. Mark says he had two children, Alexander and Rufus. They were renowned and most probably he was also one of the elders of the first church. So he eventually went to become a Christian by most probability. And that in a way speaks so much about his simple act over here. He did it out of... not out of His own choice. It's written they compelled Him. It's not understood whether He resisted the compilation, but definitely He had no choice. The people put the cross on this person, Simon. Why did they do it?

Is it true that the Lord Jesus fell down three times as the narrative that we see in the Apocrypha where Christ fell down three times and finally somebody had to come along the way and lift the cross for Christ? No, that's not... It is not at all true, it's definitely not Biblical. And the narrative in the Gospels is never of a Christ who is weak, who is infirm, who cannot go ahead, who needs help somehow, never. That's not the narrative. Here is a very profound lesson that the Lord is allowing Simon to understand, that Simon who has been called to bear the cross of Christ will eventually be called... to bear the cross as a disciple and that's the call that we all have to be Simon the Cyrenian. We are all called to be Simon the Cyrenian, to take up the cross and follow Him. And so that's exactly the pattern here, where Simon has been given the cross and he follows after Christ. And that's a beautiful picture. Christ leads Himself to the cross and here is Simon being given a privilege to bear a very small part of the sufferings of Christ.

It's an extremely small part. But yet a very significant thing. All He has to do is to carry the cross. It is extremely heavy. But if you look at the whole spectrum of the sufferings that was inflicted on Christ, this is an extremely small part that Simon was asked to do. And it speaks in volumes about the picture of the Church and Christ because Simon is part of the Church. And we as a Church, we as the universal body of Christ have been asked to carry the cross. We have been asked to fulfill what was lacking in the sufferings of Christ. You see, it was not necessary of Simon to carry the cross. Christ could have carried it Himself, but He gave that as an opportunity, a privilege for Simon to come alongside, a grand privilege to bear some portion, to alleviate some amount of pain that was due to Christ. It was not that the whole suffering befell Simon, no, Simon had to come alongside and bear some portion of it, a little portion of it, little sufferings that was truly of Christ. And that's exactly how Paul would also say that, bear in my body the marks of death and he has come to fulfil what was lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

If you ask, what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ? Hasn't Christ fulfilled everything? Hasn't Christ finished everything? Yes, absolutely. In fact, even this part of carrying the cross, Christ Himself could have done it. But yet Christ leaves a part of it. Christ leaves a part of it for Simon. Christ leaves a part of it for the Church today to bear the cross like Christ bore the cross. And Simon is a beautiful picture of the Church today that is bearing the sufferings and the scourge and the cross of the Lord Jesus. that as much as people would want to do to Christ what they wanted to do, the Church is not isolated. We have been called to be Simon the Cyrenian, to take up the Cross and following Him. And so Simon, in his literal experience of taking up the Cross, learned the biggest lesson that every Christian should learn, that we have been called to be disciples.

We have been called to take up the Cross, the shame, the embarrassment, the humiliation of being followers of Christ and to take it up. and follow Christ. And so here you have the Lord Jesus letting Simon come alongside. You have the same Lord Jesus letting the Church today come alongside. Just as much as He is the green tree that will bear all the sufferings, we the dry tree are called to bear some portions of it. It pales in comparison to what Christ bore, but yet, in our own eyes, our sufferings and persecutions will be so larger than life. But yet we have to remember, it's nothing more than how Simon had to just carry the cross. It pales in comparison to the whole sufferings that Christ had to bear, but yet it's a big privilege for us to bear as well. And so we see Christ being led to this hill called Golgotha. And along that way, we come across a group of women that are weeping.

And here you have another picture of Christ. A Christ who is rejecting all kinds of sympathy. This is recorded only in the Gospel of Luke, where the women are weeping and the Lord tells the women, don't weep for me. And here is Christ who doesn't want sympathy. In fact, that teaches about how should we look at the sufferings of Christ? Are we supposed to look at the sufferings of Christ with an eye of sympathy, with an eye of apathy? Has someone who suffered such great things, despite being good, Are we going to look at the sufferings of Christ like how the women looked at it? They were lamenting, they were wailing, why were they doing so? What was reducing the women to tears? What made them cry? They were crying probably to see how here is someone weak who is being led like a lamp to the slaughterhouse. They couldn't bear that sight.

Obviously, nobody would be able to bear. But what should be the conclusion of the matter? Should we weep like the woman? Should we weep as if you are a loser? Should we weep as if you are someone who cannot carry himself? Should we weep as someone who needs sympathy, who needs apathy? Absolutely not. The Lord clearly said, don't weep for me. The cross of Christ should not bring about us wrong set of emotions and feelings. In fact, if you look at all of the Gospels, there is so little written about the crucifixion. But the most you will get to read about the crucifixion is that they crucified Him. That's about it. Everything else is just imagination. The Gospels give us so little information of how Christ was crucified. Why? Because the writers took care that nobody should sensationalise the crucifixion of Christ. It is not to be understood as an emotional event that simply reduces people to tears out of sympathy and apathy.

Christ did not want those kind of tears. He said in fact, I am the green tree. Imagine if men do this to a green tree. Imagine if men do this to a green tree. Then what about God doing to a dry tree? What is happening at the cross is men doing to a green tree. But there will come a day when God will pour all of His wrath on the dry tree, all the sinners. And imagine what would be the state of the dry tree. And so the Lord corrected a wrong understanding. that here is not someone who is a loser, here is not someone who is dying his death, here is not someone who is being defeated. Then which brings us to the most important aspect of the cross. How are we going to look at Christ on the cross? In what way are we going to consider Him? If we have to consider Him who has been crucified, what is the way in which we will consider Him?

Are we going to look at Him as a loser or are we going to look at Him as the Son of God. You see, this whole exercise of putting Christ to the cross was done by the Jews so as to make an indelible impression on the people that this is someone who is hanging on the tree, cursed is someone who is hanging on the tree, here is a criminal that has been crucified on the tree and that our understanding about this person on the cross should be no more than just a criminal, no more than just a sinner, no more than just a transgressor. That's what the Jews wanted. That's what the Pharisees, the scribes and the high priests wanted. That they wanted the nation to look at this person hanging on the tree and maybe feel sympathy, maybe feel apathy, but never feel that he is the son of God. That they would want nothing to do. They would take care of the optics that no impression should be left that this person is the son of God.

That's probably why they were rattled with the title. When the title was put that this is Jesus, the King of the Jews, it was said as a matter of fact. Indisputable and that rattled him because Christ was crucified on the day of Passover. A lot of people were passing by and that could very much influence the people. Like how come we Jews crucified our own King? And so they wanted to water down that accusation. They wanted to put it down. But the Lord would not allow it that way. And one hand you see people trying to portray Jesus as just another man. But the question is, how are we going to look at the Lord Jesus? Are we going to look at Him like how the centurion saw Him as the Son of God? As how Pilate's wife saw Him as the just person? As how the criminal saw Him as the one who has a King with a kingdom coming?

It is this vision, this understanding of Christ being the Son of God in the midst of the greatest of His sufferings, when everything screams against divinity, When everything screams about His weak and infirm humanity, it is in the midst of that we have the privilege to say that this indeed is Jesus my Lord. We have such a privilege and when we look at the cross, we are going to keep that in mind that here is Christ who is indeed the Son of God. We look at verse 37. Matthew 27 and verse 37. And we want to consider As I mentioned earlier, we considering what did men do to Christ and in part of that, we are going to consider what did they accuse Him of? What were the things that they blasphemed and slandered Him with? So, starting with verse 37, we read there that, The Gospel of John is very specific in saying, it is not dumb, but it is pilot. that this accusation came from Pilate.

That Pilate, when signing off the law Jesus to be crucified, wrote that He is going to be crucified because He is, not that He said, not that He claimed, not that He asserted, but He is the King of the Jews. And we see how in every step of the accusation of the people, the glory of Christ is eliminated. It is so beautifully displayed that when they try to When they try to put Him down, the more they try to put dirt on Him, the more the glory of Christ comes out. Where you can't have a fact written in three languages that is so crisp, so simple and yet so powerful. And to put it on top of a cross, to put it on top of a man who is mangled, who is literally marred beyond recognition, who is hanging naked, who is hanging on the strength of nails, to put it on top of such a person that this is Jesus, Who is the King of the Jews? The oxymoron is so huge, the picture, the optics is so stark, it is so bright that someone cannot miss it. How come the King of the Jews has been crucified by the Jews themselves to such an extent where he has become a worm on the cross?

And so, though this is written as an accusation, as the official accusation that the Romans put against Christ, maybe even in their official records that this is the King of the Jews, Yet this accusation is so glorious talking about the true essence of who Christ is. You see, is what David, one of the greatest kings in Israel, who all Jews look up to, wrote in his Psalm that there is a King that is coming. He said in Psalm 24, there is a King that is coming. So you open up your gates and a King that is coming to sit on a throne, which is on a high hill, and people were confused. So people were asking David, who is this King? Because they knew only David to be the King. And they asked David, David, who is this King? Who is this King of Glory? And David answers, this is the Lord King of Glory. But the greatest answer to that question that the Jews asked, who is this King? is over here at the cross.

You can't have a better answer. You can't have a better answer where Christ has been crucified and yet the indisputable fact is put for everyone to see that He is still the King. He being born as a baby, it was written that He is born King of the Jews. No King is ever born. A prince is born. But when Christ was born, the people from the East came and asked, where is He that is born King of the Jews? That Christ has been born King of the Jews. And when Christ was born, or even before His conception, Gabriel came and said that unto Him will be given the throne of His father David. So Christ was born for this purpose. Christ told it to Pilate as well that I have been I have a kingdom, I have come for this purpose. In fact, Christ acted like a King without power. In fact, Christ acted like a King who didn't want power and yet had all power. There were so many occasions when people wanted to make Him King, especially after He fed the five thousand.

They were looking to make Him the King. And like any King that would want power, any King that would want subjects, any King that would want followers and crowd and people that will obey Him, Christ went away. Christ... put away that request. In fact, Christ did not subjugate Himself to such subjects. He went away from them. So, never acted like a king. In fact, though He was the King, He never acted like a king. And there is therefore a necessity that when everything, every evidence has been presented to show that He is not a king, when everything reeks of someone who is just a slave, who is just a servant, who is just a criminal, who is just a transgressor, who is just a person out of Nazareth, out of which no good can come, when every evidence has been presented by the people to show that this is no more than just a human, it was necessary for Christ to have this title over His head, then this is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

Being born as a baby doesn't change it. Being raised in Nazareth doesn't change it. Being raised of a carpenter's son doesn't change the fact that He is the King. Being... being led by his creatures from Gethsemane to Gabatha to Golgotha never changes the fact that here is someone still the King. And this never changes the fact that he is coming back as the King of kings to rule over the throne of his father David. And so though this is just a mere accusation, it is still the declaration of his glory. In fact, written by a Gentile saying that this is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

The second thing that they maligned Him or they blasphemed Him about was in verse 40. In verse 40, we see, saying that you that destroy the temple, build it in three days, save yourself. In the accusations of Christ, you see the Jews touching upon four very core central aspects of their culture and religion. They have already touched upon the kingship. and now they are coming to the temple and they saying that if you being the one who will destroy the temple, come down and save yourself. You see, they try to portray that someone over here on the cross cannot save himself, leave alone, destroy the temple, leave alone, make it up in three days. But you see how in that accusation, in the thing that they were accusing him of, was the very truth of the statement that here is someone on the cross destroying the temple, that he on the cross when he breathes his last will literally tear down the veil of the temple. That here is someone on the cross truly destroying all temples made by hands to make a temple that is not made without hands.

To really build a temple that is going to worship the Lord, a temple not made with hands, a temple not made with stones, a temple not of a building, here is someone truly building it. He said he is going to do it in three days and it has already started on the cross. That on the cross, when they saw it, they saw it as the greatest evidence of someone who can never destroy a temple, they couldn't be further wrong, because Christ on the cross was indeed destroying the temple and building it all again for new. And so, they touch upon those things that they were so grossly wrong, but in reality, they described the very glory of Christ, that Christ on the cross was the builder of a temple that God desired. Moses whom they gloried, was just a servant of the temple. But the Hebrew writer says Christ is the very owner of the temple. And he on the cross was building that temple for us.

And the third thing that they touched upon there in verse 42, verse 42, He saved others, Himself He cannot save. So they touched upon His kingship, they touched upon the temple that they gloried upon. And the third thing that they didn't want was the Savior. And so they looked upon the cross and they said, He cannot save Himself. Let Him begin, let Him start with Himself. And in fact, when they were saying, He cannot save Himself, they were just playing with His own name, because His name, Jesus, means He is going to save. So they were running down every claim of Him, where He claimed Himself to be a saviour. And they said, they don't want a saviour. They claimed Him, He claimed Himself to be a King. They said, they'd prefer Caesar. He claimed Himself to build a temple, but they prefer a temple that was anyway going to be broken down stone after stone. And they are touching upon every single claim of Him. And over here at this point, they are saying, He saved others. He cannot save Himself.

Well, let's consider the truth of the matter. And could Christ save Himself? Absolutely, He could save Himself. Did He save Himself? Yes, He did save Himself. In fact, He said to the Jews that I have the power to lay down my life and to take it back again. That He on the cross was not because they put Him to the cross, but He on the cross was because He had the power, the authority to cease to exist. We don't have such authority. We read of Christ on the cross at the end that He gave up His ghost. That's how He died. Not like literally someone slaughtered Him. When He died, He gave up His ghost. He ceased to exist on His own will, on His own terms, on His own strength. We can't do that. If we ever do that, it will be called suicide. But for Christ, He could choose when not to exist. He could choose when to give up His Spirit and commit it into the hands of the Father. And so, He was definitely capable of saving Himself.

He was definitely capable of protecting Himself from being murdered. Though they put Him to the cross and though the optic screams as if they putting Him to the cross put Him to death, though that is partially true. The truth of the matter is that Christ gave Himself up. He had the power to lay His life down. He had the power to take it back Himself. He had the power to save Himself. That day when they said, He cannot save Himself, they were so grossly wrong. When they were asking to save Himself or to start with Himself, that's exactly what Christ did. For Christ is the firstborn among those who were instructed, firstborn among the creation. The firstborn... was to be raised again. After Him, we all. So Christ being resurrected on His own power, on His own authority, being raised from the dead, is the greatest evidence of someone who could indeed save Himself. So they didn't want the King, they didn't want the Temple that He promised, they didn't want Him to be their Saviour.

And the fourth thing, which is the most touchy thing for the Jews, we read in verse 43 he trusted in God Let him deliver him now, if he will have him for he said I am the son of God. The kingship, the temple, the saviour and the last thing that they didn't want about Him is that He called Himself the Son of God. And they put the charge that if He is indeed the Son of God, then God will deliver, that God will come fighting for Him, that God will come through for Him. And so they were just testing God, tempting God by putting Christ to the cross. They were just looking out, okay, who is going to come? In fact, when He cried, Eli, Eli, Lama, Sabacthani, they heard it as if He is crying for Elijah, they thought, okay, fine, maybe Elijah is going to come. Maybe God is going to send Elijah. They were looking at this person who's on the cross waiting to see who will deliver him. Is God going to come through?

In their understanding, if someone is on the cross unable to save himself and also not being saved by God, then that is the greatest evidence that this person is no saviour. This person is no son of God. This person is no king. He can do nothing of things that he has claimed. So the greatest, the falsibility of this fact is that can God save this man on the cross? Can God deliver him? Can God be his saviour? And that's the true theme of all the Psalms. Where you see in the Messianic Psalms Christ being saying of how people are afflicting him, but you see a Messiah who's crying to God, a Messiah who's pleading with God, a Messiah who's asking the Lord to deliver him and a Messiah who's asking not just for deliverance for Himself, but a Messiah who asking that all those that are afflicted should be wrapped up like a cloth and they should go away like a moth. That judgment should fall on them as well. You see a Messiah who is crying for help, a Messiah who is asking for help.

And that's the true picture of Christ starting from Gethsemane, even from the days of His flesh, who with much tears and strong weeping asked to be delivered from death. And so this is indeed a great test. Did God deliver Christ? Did God hear Him? Did God forsake Him to the point where God would never deliver Him? Was Christ delivered on the cross? You see, they try to arm twist God or to put God in a box and say, God, if You will deliver Him, then the only way you're going to deliver Him is by making Him come down from the cross. In fact, they said, if you come down from the cross, we will see and believe. That was the test. That was the temptation that they put towards God. You bring Him down from the cross, we will see and believe. And God knew so very well that they were anyways never going to believe.

They have never believed looking at the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire by day and night. They have never believed looking at Christ doing all the miracles. They have never believed looking at Christ raising someone from the dead. Christ has given words of grace and authority. They have still not believed. God has done everything that is necessary for man to believe and yet they will never believe. And so, it is not going to be possible by Christ coming down from the cross that faith will be generated. Faith can never be found in flesh. Faith can never be found in sight. They said, we will see and believe. But the prophet Isaiah said, who has believed at a report, who has seen? It is first believing that brings sight. But they turned it on his head and said, we will see first and then believe. So, they were never going to believe.

But how the Lord answered it anyway, not in their terms, not the way they wanted, not by coming down from the cross, but by rising up from the grave. And that is how the Lord answered their question. They wanted God to deliver. They wanted God to rise up someone. They wanted God to be the Saviour of the world. And that is true. For God the Father, with all of His glory, with all the power, raised up His Son on the third day. You see, everything that they accused of, of Him being the King, it fell flat. Of Him destroying the temple, not being able to build in three days, that fell flat. Of Him being a Saviour who cannot save Himself, neither save others, that fell flat. Of Him being the Son of God, that God has rejected Him, that fell flat because three days later, Christ indeed was risen again.

You see, we have only considered what men have done to Him. I want to bring an analogy over here and close. The analogy we see is in the book of Esther. We see another king who doesn't have sleep and he is asking, how can I honor someone whom I delight in? And Mordecai is the person he wants to honor and he tells Haman to go ahead and honor Mordecai. Give him a horse, give him an apparel, give him a crown, take him through the streets of the city and tell everyone that this is how the person will be whom the King delights to honor. And you see a very contrasting picture over here. Over here, we see a picture of someone not the King delights to honor, but the King delights to crush, that the King delights to put him to death. Where it is only one part to see what men did to Christ. It's another thing to see what God did to Christ.

And so when they put Christ to the cross, they were trying to build a picture that was opposite of Mordechai, where instead of a horse, they gave him a cross. Instead of a crown, they gave him a crown of thorns. Instead of a royal apparel, the apparel of a king, they gave him the apparel of blood and had his body filled with blood. Leading him through the streets of the city and proclaiming that this is the person whom the King delights to honor. Christ was led through the cities, through the streets as someone who is a criminal, as someone who is a transgressor, as someone on whose face people could spit, as someone who is rejected of men and of God. And that's how the Prophet put it, that He is despised, He is acquainted with grief, but we esteemed Him as smitten, stricken and afflicted. of God, that this whole picture of Christ on the cross is what God has done to Christ. That's how they put it.

It's not how men did to Christ, but what God did to Christ. That if there could be a picture of what God can do to a person who is to be put to death, then that is the picture of the cross. You see, death is a capital punishment. It's a punishment that is given out of displeasure. When a judge gives death, It's a punishment given out of displeasure. But of Christ it is written that the Lord, it pleased the Lord to crush Him. That for Christ, for Christ it was not a matter of displeasure. It was not a matter of God not liking it. In fact, it is written, Christ said that I lay my life down for the sheep and that's why the Father loves me. That in all of this, this is not someone God is humiliating on the cross. This is not God putting someone to death to the point of being nothing, of being dishonourable. Our God is putting someone to death out of pleasure, so that through the death of Christ, many sons should come to glory.

In one hand, you may have a picture of whom men would like to honour. In other hand, you have a picture of whom men would like to dishonour. But in the midst of that dishonour, in the midst of what men did to Christ, in the midst of what His own did to Christ, In the midst of what the people of Israel did to Christ, it constrains us to think what did God Himself do to Christ? The cross has these two parts. What men did to Christ and what God did to Christ. It has the picture of how people afflicted Him, they wounded Him, they bruised Him, they despised Him. He became a man acquainted with griefs, but He was also a person stricken, smitten and afflicted of God. And so far, we have just considered what men did to Christ. God willing, next week when we come, we will see what God Himself did to Christ on the cross. May God's name be glorified.