0482. The Groups Around the Cross
The Groups Around the Cross
"Many bulls have compassed Me; strong bolls of Bashan have beset Me round" (Psa_22:12).
Our key verse brings before us a graphic picture of those who surrounded the Cross. There is nothing said about the few disciples who were there. Mary, the mother of Christ was there, but an arrow was piercing her heart. She could do nothing, but sigh. Some of the other women stood near; and some of the friends and acquaintances from Galilee stood afar off, beholding the sight, but none could help. Alone, Jesus Christ passed round and round the cycle of His suffering.
His enemies, however, did not merely stand beholding, they cried out against Him. Christ was enclosed by a congregation of evildoers.
1. "Many bulls have compassed Me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round." The word’s refer to the leaders of the people, the rulers, the ones in authority. These led the wild mob against Him.
2. "For dogs have compassed Me." The word dogs, when used symbolically, has reference to false teachers, false prophets. The saddest experience of the Cross lies in the fact that Jesus Christ was rejected, disowned, crucified and beset around by religionists. The very ones who should stand for the faith, too often, alas, deny the authority of faith.
3. When we turn to the 27th chapter of Matthew, we have outlined before us some of the sayings of the scribes and Pharisees and rulers, as they cried against the Son of God.
(1) "They reviled Him." Beneath the Cross they surged, "wagging their heads," 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." Of course, our Lord could have saved Himself, He could have come down from the Cross, so far as the physical effort was concerned. Yet, in behalf of lost sinners, He stayed and suffered. So it was that His revilers thought Him a malefactor, deserted of God, because He appeared helpless, and forsaken.
He had claimed, indeed, to be the Son of God. Therefore, they derided Him because He hung helpless upon the Cross.
(2) Others mocked Him. "Likewise also the chief priests mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, said, 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. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him: for He said, I am the Son of God."
Certainly, our Lord could not have saved others had He saved Himself. The salvation of sinners depended upon Christ’s staying upon the Cross. He had often saved others physically, and spiritually. He had said, "Arise, take up thy bed and walk;" He had also said: "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." He could not have said either the one or the other, unless He was very God of very God, ready and willing to die upon Calvary’s Cross.
The promise these vain religionists made, "We will believe Him," was a camouflage. Had Jesus Christ descended from the Cross, they would not have believed Him. Proof of this is seen in that He ascended from the grave, and they believed Him not. Hear the chief priests, the scribes and the elders, as they thrust upon Christ their blatant dare: "He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him." First, They dared Christ to come down from the Cross; and then they dared God to reach forth His hand and deliver His Son, if He would have Him. In the face of such blatant blasphemy, both Father and Son remained true to their eternal promise–the promise that Christ should die.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR