THE CROSS THE WAY TO THE CROWN.
By C. J. Pope
CHRIST came from the highest exaltation to the lowest humiliation. He was "in the form of God," but was "found in fashion as a man." Down all the length of that long ladder which reached from the highest throne in heaven to the lowliest cottage in Nazareth, the Saviour came. He was "in the form of God." That was his own by right. No one could have found fault if he had continued to hold on to his own. He was a great King on a throne. But he saw his subjects "plunged in deep distress." They were "poor, wretched, blind." "There was no eye to pity, no arm to save." And so he came himself, a loving King to his helpless subjects. All the way down the ladder he came. He was "found in fashion as a man." But he steps down lower. "He took upon himself the form of a servant." But this is not enough. Down still farther he comes. He humbled himself more, "and became obedient unto death." "Did e'er such love, such sorrow meet?"
But this was not all. Below his feet there is yet one round. It is the lowest of all. Will he take it? He hesitates. He prays in the garden. He resolves. And he steps down. He dies upon the cross—the cross of shame. "O God, what love, what love was that
When Jesus died on Calvary!
Took from my hand the bitter cup,
And drank its dregs for me, for me!" And there the gulf is bridged. Its first pier was erected upon the highest battlement of Heaven. Its last upon the lowest strata of human lowliness. And from that to this a great bridge is stretched; and upon it is written, "Our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor." But he arose from the dead and is set "far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named." And again the chasm is spanned. Upon this structure is written, "He humbled himself; . . . wherefore God hath highly exalted him." It is not alone by his inherent and eternal right as King and Monarch that Christ has established himself Lord of all. That was his. That is his. He is Lord by right of his inherent power and majesty. But he is King of millions of willing subjects through the power which he gained by coming down from his throne to the lowest depths of humility to secure his people’s good. He came to the crown by way of the cross. Like the image produced by the lens, the ladder by which he descended from his exaltation seemed to be inverted. We saw him coming down, round after round. But he was, in reality, going up. When we saw him at the bottom he was at the top. He was never so much a King as he was on the cross. And so the cross is the wisdom of God and the power of God. He sits Monarch, "not by might nor by power," but by the constraining energy in self-renunciation. He will not subject the world by armed battalions nor learned philosophies. His weapons are not carnal. But they are mighty and powerful. It is love, unquenchable, unparalleled, undying, unmerited.—Rev. C. J. Pope.