build our hopes of eternal life, "for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And on whom "chosen of God and precious," believers, as lively [or living] stones, are built up a spiritual house [or temple], an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." But, as He is a “precious stone" and sanctuary to believers, so is He to the Jews in their unbelieving rejection of Him, and to all who "neglect so great salvation," a "stone of stumbling" and "rock of offence," on which they “fall and are broken.” NOTE XIII.-THE CRUCIFIXION-CHRIST A CURSE FOR US.-How truly our Lord was "made a curse for us," we only understand from Deut. xxi. 23, referred to in Gal. iii. 13, "He that is hanged is accursed of God." It was not simply that our Lord was put to death, "the just for the unjust." To mark God's abhorrence and justice towards sin, it was ordained He should not only die the most ignominious of deaths, a death only inflicted on the vilest of malefactors, a death which rendered Him an abomination to His brethren; but further He must be, during that awful death of shame and anguish, forsaken of God— accursed! Who can wonder then at His bitter cry, "My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me!" and His agony in the garden in view of this dreadful hour. God had declared by Isaiah xlix. 7, that He should be an abhorrence or abomination to the nation, and liii. 4, regarded by them as cursed, or "smitten of God;" as truly He was, though they failed to comprehend that "He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities," and that by the punishment due to our sins being inflicted upon Him, our peace with God is sealed. These prophecies could not have been more signally and literally fulfilled than they were by the Crucifixion of our Lord. "No being ever excited more abhorrence; no man was ever regarded with so much abomination by any people, as Jesus of Nazareth was—and still is-by the Jewish people. . . . To this day His name excites the deepest contempt among all the Jews, and they turn from Him and His claims with the deepest abhorrence. The common name by which He is designated in the Jewish writings is Tolvi, the crucified; and nothing excites more deep abhorrence and contempt than the doctrine that they, and all others can be saved only by the merits of the crucified." 1 How wondrous the belief then in such a being by thousands of Jews immediately after His crucifixion! How plainly it is manifested to be the work of the Holy Spirit. (See Note xviii.) NOTE XIV. THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD.-There is no fact of antiquity attested by stronger evidence than the Resurrection of our Lord. But as some difficulty has been experienced in reconciling the accounts of the different Evangelists, and infidels maintain they are quite irreconcileable, it is requisite to examine and compare together the histories of all, when we shall find that in place of contradicting, they do but supplement or complete what is omitted by each other. The gospel narrative should be taken as written by all the Evangelists, instead of taking exception to it because one omits or relates facts in a different order of occurrence from another. We will therefore place in order the circumstances attending this great event, as given by each of the sacred writers. Premising for the better understanding of the matter, that the Jews reckoned their day from evening to evening, agreeably to the law of Moses in Levit. xxiii. 32, commencing the day at 6 p.m. 3 Our Lord having been crucified on Friday "the preparation," that is the day before the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday), the Jews, that the Sabbath, (which as shewn above commenced at six o'clock that evening, and “was an high day," being the first day of the feast of the Passover that year,) should not be polluted by the bodies remaining on the cross, besought Pilate that the sufferings of the crucified might be ended by death," and that they might be taken away.' Which being accorded, the soldiers broke the legs of the malefactors, a cruel mode of hastening the death of the crucified, who sometimes lingered for days in agony. But finding our Lord "was dead already," contented themselves with making sure of that fact by giving Him a mortal thrust in the side with a spear. And we may be certain that these soldiers who had been ordered to put them to death would leave no room for doubt on that point. 1 Barnes' Comment on Isaiah xlix, 7. 2 See Barnes' Note on the Resurrection, at the end of his Notes on the Gospel of Matthew. 3 John xix. 31. 66 After which Joseph "a rich man of Arimathæa," and a member of the great council of the nation, but who "had not consented to the counsel and deed of them," ," in destroying our Lord, "being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews," 2 "went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus."3 Pilate then enquiring first of the centurion who commanded the guard at the crucifixion, and had testified his belief in Him on witnessing how He died, and finding from him that He was dead, "commanded the body to be delivered" to Joseph," who, having taken it down from the cross, assisted by Nicodemus, wrapped it in "fine linen" with a large quantity of spices," and laid it in his own new tomb which he had hewn out in the rock,"6" wherein never man before was laid;"7 which was in a garden adjacent to the place of crucifixion, and closed the door of the sepulchre with a great stone," or rock. "There," says John, xix. 42, "laid they Jesus therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day, for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.” "And the Sabbath drew on,' 1910 or approached, commencing at six o'clock that evening. And this circumstance of hastily depositing our Lord's body in the tomb immediately after death, till the termination of the approaching Sabbath allowed them to bestow upon it the usual attention of embalming, &c., customarily paid to the dead by the Jews, exhibits the providence of God in accomplishing His purposes. For had the crucifixion occurred on any other day, Joseph and the disciples would probably have taken the body to some house, and bestowed much time on these observances, and thus the time passed in the tomb previous to the resurrection would have been less than three days after his crucifixion, though our Lord had foretold He should rise again three days after He was put to death-(John ii. 19; Matt. xvi. 21, xx. 19, and xxvii. 63); while in Matt. xii. 40, He states that He should be three days in the grave previous to His resurrection. Joseph and the disciples then, having secured the door of the tomb, as above stated, departed; and the sorrowing women who had witnessed these hurried and temporary obsequies,11 "returned and prepared spices and ointments," with a view to the completion of the decent attentions of anointing and bandaging the body, &c., "and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." 12 1 Matt. xxvii. 57, 58, and Luke xxiii. 50-52. 2 John xix. 38. 5 Matt. xxvii. 58.; 7 Luke xxiii. 53. 10 Luke xxiii. 54. 4 Matt. xxvii. 54. 6 Matt. xxvii. 60. Matt. and Mark xv. 46. 12 Luke xxiii, 55, 56. The next remarkable circumstance to be noticed is the anxiety of the Chief Priests and Pharisees to guard against any imposition in the matter of our Lord's resurrection, which He had so repeatedly foretold. And we find that these enemies of our Lord were enabled, by the aid and co-operation of the Roman Governor, to take every possible precaution against the surreptitious removal of His body by His disciples, as Matthew relates,1 "So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch," or guard of Roman soldiers over the tomb. Little thinking that they were thereby only carrying out the designs of God in affording evidence of the reality of our Lord's resurrection. For unless they had sealed the door, and placed a military guard over it, whose neglect to watch the same was punishable by death, no one could have said that some imposition had not been practised, save the Witnesses of the Resurrection, who saw and conversed with Him for forty days after His rising from the tomb.2 Matthew says it was the next day the Chief Priests came to Pilate to aid them in securing the tomb, and the infidel might be supposed to cavil that this was not done till after the body was stolen. But "the next day, mentioned here, does not mean the following day in our acceptation of the word, or the following morning, but the next day in the Jewish way of speaking; that is, after the next day had commenced, or after sunset," 3—when, as already mentioned, "the next day, that followed the day of the preparation,' "4 commenced. 66 "And, when the Sabbath was past. 66 very early in the morning,” 5 "when it was yet dark," 6" as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week,' ," "Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of James, and Salome," who "had bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint Him," 8 came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them," Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and others not specified. And on their way they said among themselves, "Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" 10 Which, together with the remark of Mark on their finding the stone rolled away, "for it was very great,”—shows it to have been a ponderous rock, which these five or six women, though doubtless accustomed to considerable bodily exertion, were unable to remove; while the fact of its closing the door of the sepulchre proves it must have been very great, and requiring great force for its removal. At the same time the tomb "being cut out of a rock, there was no way by which the disciples could have access to it, but by the entrance, at which the guard was placed, and consequently it was impossible for them to steal him away.' "And behold there was, [or had been,] a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow; and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men." Probably they fainted with terror at this awful supernatural occurrence. So that on the women arriving there" they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre." 4 John speaks of Mary Magdalene only, visiting the tomb, "probably because his object was to give a particular account of her interview with the risen Saviour." "He does not deny that others were present also." 5 In the same way Matthew says it was "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary;" while Mark adds Salome, but omits the name of Joanna, mentioned only by Luke. It seems only necessary to suppose that three of the Evangelists omitted one or more names of the women. But even Luke does not name all the women, but speaks of "others with them," without specifying their names. Though some have thought it necessary for reconciling the different accounts, to suppose two parties of women, one consisting of the two Marys and Salome," proceeding from the house of Zebedee, the husband of the latter; the other consisting of Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and other women, who probably resided near Herod's palace. However this may be, Mary Magdalene, on seeing the stone that closed the door of the sepulchre was rolled away, concluded that her beloved Lord's body had been stolen by His enemies, and, leaving the other women, immediately ran back to inform Peter and John thereof. Meantime, the other women entering into the tomb, "found not the 1 Barnes' Note on Matt. xxvii. 60. 2 Peculiarly bright and shining.-Barnes. 3 Matt. xxvii. 2-4. 4 Luke xxiv. 2; Mark xvi. 4; and John xx. 1. 5 See Barnes on Matt. xxviii. 1. 6 Luke xxiv. 1, 10. |