He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
At Calvary the chief priests with the scribes, elders, rulers and Pharisees, joined by passersby, the mob and the thieves, mocked Jesus on the cross by turning His trust in God and His claim to be the Son of God into a taunt daring God to rescue Him if He delighted in Him. They demanded visible proof, that He save Himself and come down as King of Israel and Son of God, saying they would believe if He did. He truly did trust in God and held fast by faith though feeling forsaken, and though He could have come down or summoned angels He gave no answer and was not rescued because His mission was not yet complete. The mockery was inspired by Satan working through human agents, yet by uttering it the mockers unwittingly testified truly and fulfilled prophecy about the despised and rejected Messiah. Because He did not save Himself sinners have hope of pardon, and those same priests and rulers will remember their taunt with horror at His coming in glory and acknowledge Him as the Son of God.
Mockers and Crucifixion Setting
The taunt was spoken by the chief priests together with the scribes, elders, rulers and Pharisees as Jesus hung on the cross, turning His trust in God and His declaration that He was the Son of God into mockery that dared God to deliver Him now if He favored, accepted or delighted in Him. They challenged Him to rely on God to rescue Him, making His claim to Sonship itself the ground of their derision. The thieves crucified with Him also joined at first in the same taunts.
They were not alone in reviling, for those passing by wagging their heads, the rabble and heedless mob, a vast crowd and multitude enclosing Him, and the thieves crucified with Him took up the cry. Priests, rulers and scribes joined with the rabble as soon as He was lifted up, so that insult passed from lip to lip around the dying Son of God. His sorrowing disciples followed only at a distance behind the murderous throng, while His mother and disciples were pained by the unfeeling taunts.
The setting was Calvary, where He hung nailed through hands and feet between two thieves as if He were the chief of sinners, suspended between heaven and earth before a vast multitude. He hung there as a criminal between two malefactors, with Jesus and two others on crosses amid a grieving and terrified crowd. The scene belongs to His journey from Pilate's court and the judgment hall to Calvary carrying the cross prepared for Barabbas, falling fainting beneath it too weak to bear it after taking neither food nor drink since the Passover supper. Before that He had agonized alone in Gethsemane sweating great drops of blood, endured betrayal and abandonment by His disciples, trials before Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod, insult, mockery and two scourgings, and the crowd that followed saw His weak and staggering steps with no compassion but taunted and reviled Him because He could not carry the heavy cross.
The revilers were not abandoned outcasts or heathen who did not know God, but professed worshipers of God and professed expounders of prophecy and repositories of sacred truth. They were outwardly sanctimonious in appearance, whited sepulchers deceiving the people by show of sanctity, yet hard-hearted, having rejected light and set their hearts against Christ. They chose Barabbas rather than Christ. The taunt belonged with a wider abuse on the way to and on the cross: being bound, derided, mocked and insulted by an infuriated mob, struck, scourged, clothed in an old purple kingly robe for coarse jesting, crowned with thorns driven into His temples until blood flowed, condemned by a murderous throng crying for His blood, then jeered for His lowly birth, humble life, saving work and kingship. That jeering came with coarse oaths, blasphemy, vulgar jests and insulting derision, including being struck in the face and spit upon.
Content of Taunting Challenge
The taunt demanded visible proof, that He save Himself and come down from the cross as the King of Israel and the Son of God, with the rulers claiming they would believe if He did so. It was hurled as soon as He was lifted up, by spectators wagging their heads and by the chief priests mocking with the scribes and elders as He hung on Calvary between two thieves as if He were the chief of sinners. The jeer ridiculed His saving work and kingship, taunted His trust in God to deliver Him, ridiculed His claim to be the Son of God, and challenged God to deliver Him now if He favored Him. It was spoken by those who had bound Him, struck Him, scourged Him and nailed Him, denying and rejecting His divinity and demanding proof by coming down, while angels were indignant and longed to rescue Him but were not permitted because His mission was not yet complete. The demand was for God to miraculously deliver Him as proof that He is the Son of God.
Though spoken in derision to make the world's Redeemer a laughingstock and a reproach, the words unintentionally testified truly that He did trust in God and had said He was the Son of God. They were heard by the thousands who gazed for three hours, and they made a deep impression on many who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, an impression that philosophy and traditions and customs could never efface. That impression led many to search the Scriptures and compare its passages to understand His mission, and some became convinced that He was the Messiah. In repeating words foretold by prophecy the mockers fulfilled prophecy, and because He did not save Himself sinners have hope of pardon and favor with God. He did not exercise kingly power to come down and give proof that He is the Son of God, but revealed His Godhead and redeeming, life-giving power in death by forgiving sin and opening paradise to the repentant thief, which was a rebuke to His crucifiers, while the priests and rulers by deceived religious zeal and mockery in His dying agony closed the gate of paradise to themselves forever despite their claims to piety and knowledge, but the thief who received and believed on Him in humiliation shall have life with Christ in paradise.
The mockery was inspired by Satan and spoken through people acting under demonic influence, for Jesus could have come down from the cross or summoned angels but did not. It was an insult from Satan and his agencies, with principalities and powers of darkness assembled around the cross casting unbelief into mind and heart and the arch-apostate leading the apostate host leagued with evil men to make Him an object of detestation as the chief of sinners. It came in the hour of His greatest trial when His disciples had left Him to tread the winepress alone, in the working out of Satan's enmity, joined by professed worshipers of God who had departed from the principles of the law, expressing their divorcing themselves from God and refusing His rule by taking oath of allegiance to a rival sovereign, while the Lord of hosts suffered with His Son but did not abate one jot of the penalty falling on Christ for transgressors. It was worked by an evil power as He hung in dying agony put to open shame by His own people, belonging to the same spirit that mocks God's word by demanding it come now, a spirit continuing in intense hatred against those who refuse to confederate with evil but reprove, rebuke and exhort the wrongdoer to his face. Driven by Satan having full control of his servants, beginning with the blind, bigoted, faithless chief priests, scribes and elders standing close by as He hung nailed between heaven and earth enclosed by a vast multitude while His sorrowing disciples followed at a distance, it imbued them with religious frenzy by the same spirit that moves the most vile wretches, making a corrupt harmony from hypocritical priests down to the most debased with coarse oaths, blasphemy, vulgar jests and insulting derision mocking His lowly birth, humble life and saving work, under which He opened not His mouth as a lamb brought to the slaughter and as a sheep dumb before shearers. Those outwardly sanctimonious whited sepulchers who chose Barabbas thus yoked with Satan, giving evidence that profession of piety and love for God and claim to know the Scriptures neither made them sons of God nor led them to represent His character, failing to realize that in Christ divinity was enthroned in humanity and could not be separated from His humanity, He who came from heaven to save a perishing world, in whose heart zeal for right and justice and God's glory was highest, the Commander of all heaven, so that to true religion among the spectators it appeared as Satan linked with men triumphantly shouting blasphemy against heaven.
The demand for deliverance was unbelief in the face of clear evidence. It echoes the demand for miracles made by people who reject clear evidence, and speaking this way repeats the spirit of those who mocked Christ. To say to bearers of God's message today, show us a miracle and we will believe, and to ask why they do not heal the sick if they have the truth, utters words similar to those taunting words. It seeks pegs for doubt and excuses for rejecting the light of heaven, closing the eyes to light sent by God, rejecting the most evident truth and believing the most foolish errors.
Christ's Trust and Endurance
He truly did put His trust in God, and He held that trust fast on the cross while mocked and afflicted. Though He felt the anguish of the withdrawal of the divine countenance and could not see the Father's reconciling face, and though He appeared forsaken by God, He was never more beloved of His Father. He knew His Father's character and understood His justice, mercy, and great love, and by faith He rested in Him whom it had ever been His joy to obey. He relied on the prior evidence of His Father's acceptance, and as in submission He committed Himself to God the sense of the loss of His Father's favor was withdrawn, and by faith He was victor. Even while spoken in derision to make Him a laughingstock and reproach, the mockers' words bore true testimony that He did trust in God, and they made a deep impression on many Passover visitors that philosophy and tradition and custom could never efface. His endurance in that agony, joined with His wilderness temptation, life of self-sacrificing love, agony in Gethsemane, and cruelty of the judgment hall, teaches self-sacrifice, patience under affliction, solemn consecration to God, and fitting preparation for holy work in which one called of God makes sacred work the great object, puts all energies into it, holds every other consideration secondary, and unites with angels in ministering divine truth to souls.
He could have come down from the cross or summoned angels and legions of angels to rescue Him. Angels hovering over the scene heard the derision and were moved to indignation, longing to come to His rescue and deliver Him and ready to break ranks, with the heavenly host watching. But He gave no answer to the mockery and opened not His mouth, brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep dumb before her shearers. He was not permitted to be rescued because His mission was almost but not yet complete and no command came from God. The mockery was driven by Satan having full control of his servants, beginning with the chief priests and elders and imbuing them with religious frenzy by the same spirit that moves the most vile wretches, making a corrupt harmony from hypocritical priests down to the most debased.
He suffered as the innocent, sinless Son of the infinite God, bearing the guilt of sin and carrying human sorrows to ransom the world. In the hour of His greatest trial His disciples had left Him to tread the winepress alone amid widespread hostility and abandonment even from professed worshipers of God. The Lord of hosts suffered with His Son, yet did not abate one jot of the penalty that fell on Christ for transgressors of the law.
He answered the mockery not with words but with forgiveness, praying for His murderers because they did not know what they were doing. He did not exercise kingly power to come down and give proof that He is the Son of God, but He revealed His Godhead, redeeming power, and life-giving power in death by forgiving sin and opening paradise to the repentant thief. That pardon was a rebuke to His crucifiers, while those who in deceived religious zeal mocked Him in His dying agony closed the gate of paradise to themselves forever despite claims to piety and knowledge, but the thief who received and believed on Him in humiliation shall have life with Christ in paradise.
His mother and disciples were pained by the unfeeling taunts of spiritually ignorant revilers and longed for Him to manifest mighty power and silence His revilers by coming down from the shameful cross. The disciples had expected Him to reign on David's throne and deliver Israel, so seeing Him crucified amid ridicule brought bitter disappointment. They saw Him in whom their hopes of eternal life rested handed over to wicked men, mocked and persecuted, and finally dying on the cross as a criminal, and witnessing this tested their faith and caused hope and courage to fail.
He had foreseen this humiliation beforehand as part of the burden of sin and the bitter cup He voluntarily chose to drink rather than let redemption fail. That bitter cup meant separation for a time from His Father, yet only through His sacrifice could the sinner be saved, so He did not refuse to drink it. Darkness mercifully covered Him in His final suffering and hid it from those watching, with earthquake, opened graves, and saints appearing in Jerusalem as testimony. God knew best and strengthened His only begotten Son to endure the agony and shame and become a propitiation for a lost world.
Prophecy Fulfilled and Remembered
The taunt at the cross repeated words foretold by prophecy, and by uttering them the mockers themselves fulfilled prophecy. They took His trust in God and His claim to be the Son of God and turned them into a challenge for God to deliver Him. Those who spoke were priests and rulers and scribes who professed to be expounders of prophecy, yet in blindness they did not perceive that they were repeating the very words inspiration had foretold they would utter on this occasion. Their scorn nevertheless led hearers to search Scripture and compare its passages to understand His mission.
Their words fulfilled what Isaiah had foretold about the Messiah being despised and rejected, treated as stricken by God, and suffering for human sin. At His second coming in revealed divine majesty and glory and at the judgment those same priests and rulers remember their taunt with horror. They see Him in glory and acknowledge that He is the Son of God, the true Messiah and King of glory, Lord of heaven and earth. Every mouth is closed and no hand can be lifted against Him, for the question of His divinity is then forever settled. Their mockery gives way to confession, exposes their guilt, and confronts them with their just doom as pronounced against the wicked husbandmen.
At His first coming His divine glory was veiled and He was rejected, but at His second coming He will be acknowledged by all as the King of glory and Son of God. The challenge is answered by the Father's recognition after the cross, when at Christ's return to heaven the Father bows His head in recognition of Christ and accepts Him and the completed atonement. The Father expresses satisfaction and delight in His only begotten Son, whose sacrifice is in every way satisfactory, where mercy and truth meet together and righteousness and peace kiss each other. That embrace includes all who receive Him by faith as personal Saviour, giving them power to become sons of God as chosen ones and joint-heirs with Christ. The loyal heavenly reception, with angels and archangel, cherubim and seraphim standing in view of the cross, contrasts with the earthly reception of sorrow, suffering and scorn from priests who harassed, abused, insulted and derided Him and chose Barabbas rather than Christ.
Saving Significance and Vindication
He bore the contempt, indignity and dying agony on the cross as a sacrifice for sinners so that the world would not perish and all who live and believe might have everlasting life. While suffering as a criminal He was giving His life to ransom His people and to satisfy the just claims of God's law. That shame belonged to the bitter cup that meant separation for a time from His Father, which He did not refuse to drink because only through His sacrifice could the sinner be saved, and God strengthened His only begotten Son to endure the agony and shame and become a propitiation for the sins of a lost world. Heaven did not remain indifferent to His suffering.
Because He did not save Himself, sinners have hope of pardon and favor with God. He bore all that humiliation and suffering on behalf of humanity, going through every phase of temptation and every phase of suffering, so that no one living on earth can say He never suffered as they suffered and does not know how to suffer and pity them.
In Him divinity was enthroned in humanity and could not be separated from His humanity. He who hung as a criminal between malefactors was the Commander of all heaven come from heaven to save a perishing world, whose heart held highest zeal for right and justice and for the glory of God. His rejection and death as a criminal between two malefactors reveal the suffering and reproach He bore despite His divine identity.
His death and passage through the tomb brought light to death. That work gives hope and joy in the face of death to those who lay their loved ones to rest in Him, with confidence that they will meet again.
He stood as humanity stands to bear the afflictions humanity bears and to be tempted in all points as humanity is tempted. Having become partaker of human nature He suffered the most shameful death without proving He was ruler over angels in the heavenly courts by bringing a cloud of angels or legions of angels to surround Him and disperse His persecutors, though the heavenly host watched ready to break ranks to rescue Him. Because He so understands human affliction He makes it possible for humans to be partakers of the divine nature, and all judgment is given into His hand. His suffering calls for sympathy and love for Him and for imitating His life of character, for He endured it to give a crown of glory and to open the gates of the city of God to all who keep the truth.
His standing on the cross against the power of the priests and rulers who forced the Roman governor to do their will illustrates that faith in God's word can stand against human power used to support evil. His suffering shows the cost of His sacrifice and belongs to the insults, crown of thorns, crucifixion and great sacrifice on Calvary. He endured that to show the way and to bring people the divine help they need to overcome and be saved, setting the self-denial asked of His followers beside what He gave up for them.
Warning and Example for Believers
Because He gave up all to lift believers higher, He demands all in return — undivided affections, whole sacrifice and entire consecration, separation from the world and from dead heartless professors, and transformation by the renewing of the mind, so that no narrow path or surrender of society and ease is too strait. That claim rests on the suffering on the way to and on the cross that puts anything called self-denial in the shade, for before it He agonized alone in Gethsemane sweating great drops of blood while a solitary angel from heaven strengthened Him, then was derided, mocked and insulted by an infuriated mob on the way to the judgment hall, clothed in an old purple kingly robe for coarse jesting and cruel mocking, crowned with thorns driven into His temples with a reed until blood flowed from His holy brow, condemned by a murderous throng crying for the blood of the Son of God, and led away pale, weak and fainting to crucifixion where He was stretched on a wooden cross with nails driven through tender hands and feet and hung those dreadful hours in agony while angels veiled their faces and the sun refused to behold and hid its light. His holding trust in God while mocked and afflicted on the cross, together with His wilderness temptation, life of self-sacrificing love, agony in Gethsemane and cruelty of the judgment hall, teaches self-sacrifice, patience under affliction, solemn consecration to God and fitting preparation for holy work. One called of God to sacred work must make it the great object, put all energies into its accomplishment, hold every other consideration secondary, and feel the solemn obligation of being honored by God to unite with angels in ministering to souls and enlightening them with divine truth.
Even though Jesus was sinless, innocent and good, He was not safe from reproach, suffering and trial. The chief priests and elders mocked and taunted Him even while He hung on the cross, with hearts so hard that profession of great righteousness did not restrain them, for they had rejected light, set their hearts against Christ, and, helped by Satan and his angels, sought to catch Him in His words, incited the people against Him, and were determined He should not live. Therefore His followers, who are imperfect and only of His household, cannot expect or desire any better portion in this life, but must expect the same wounding, hindering, false influence and mocking from those who cherish unbelief, jealousy and pride and reject light. As Jesus on Calvary's cross with nails driven through hands and feet was mocked and derided by the Pharisees while giving His own life that we might be saved, so believers will have just such experiences of false reports and mocking.
The verse teaches not to pay attention to reports about self and work nor to stop work to listen to them. It calls believers to walk in humility of mind in perfect harmony, helping, strengthening and praying with one another. They are to keep the eye fastened on the Lamb of Calvary and strive to be a true branch of the living vine, suffering no religious loss from reports unless giving heed to them, with Christ upholding and sustaining at every step toward the heaven to be won.
Those who taunted Him could have repented and been forgiven, as Saul was. Though spoken in derision by men claiming to be repositories of sacred truth to make the world's Redeemer a laughingstock and a reproach, their words bore true testimony that Christ did put His trust in God. Heard by the thousands who gazed for three hours, as the taunt of priests and rulers was taken up by the heedless mob ridiculing His claim to sonship with God and challenging Him to prove it by coming down from the cross and delivering Himself, the words made a deep impression on many who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, an impression that all their philosophy and traditions and customs could never efface. Christ did not exercise His kingly power to come down and give proof that He is the Son of God, but revealed His Godhead, redeeming power and life-giving power in death by forgiving sin and opening the door of paradise to the repentant thief. His pardon of the thief was a rebuke to His crucifiers, while the priests and rulers by their deceived religious zeal and mockery in His dying agony closed the gate of paradise to themselves forever notwithstanding their claims to piety and knowledge, but the thief who received Him and believed on Him in His humiliation shall have life with Christ in the paradise of God, and awful and terrible retribution awaits such scorn.
At Calvary the chief priests with the scribes, elders, rulers and Pharisees, joined by passersby, the mob and the thieves, mocked Jesus on the cross by turning His trust in God and His claim to be the Son of God into a taunt daring God to rescue Him if He delighted in Him. They demanded visible proof, that He save Himself and come down as King of Israel and Son of God, saying they would believe if He did. He truly did trust in God and held fast by faith though feeling forsaken, and though He could have come down or summoned angels He gave no answer and was not rescued because His mission was not yet complete. The mockery was inspired by Satan working through human agents, yet by uttering it the mockers unwittingly testified truly and fulfilled prophecy about the despised and rejected Messiah. Because He did not save Himself sinners have hope of pardon, and those same priests and rulers will remember their taunt with horror at His coming in glory and acknowledge Him as the Son of God.
Mockers and Crucifixion Setting
The taunt was spoken by the chief priests together with the scribes, elders, rulers and Pharisees as Jesus hung on the cross, turning His trust in God and His declaration that He was the Son of God into mockery that dared God to deliver Him now if He favored, accepted or delighted in Him. They challenged Him to rely on God to rescue Him, making His claim to Sonship itself the ground of their derision. The thieves crucified with Him also joined at first in the same taunts.
They were not alone in reviling, for those passing by wagging their heads, the rabble and heedless mob, a vast crowd and multitude enclosing Him, and the thieves crucified with Him took up the cry. Priests, rulers and scribes joined with the rabble as soon as He was lifted up, so that insult passed from lip to lip around the dying Son of God. His sorrowing disciples followed only at a distance behind the murderous throng, while His mother and disciples were pained by the unfeeling taunts.
The setting was Calvary, where He hung nailed through hands and feet between two thieves as if He were the chief of sinners, suspended between heaven and earth before a vast multitude. He hung there as a criminal between two malefactors, with Jesus and two others on crosses amid a grieving and terrified crowd. The scene belongs to His journey from Pilate's court and the judgment hall to Calvary carrying the cross prepared for Barabbas, falling fainting beneath it too weak to bear it after taking neither food nor drink since the Passover supper. Before that He had agonized alone in Gethsemane sweating great drops of blood, endured betrayal and abandonment by His disciples, trials before Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod, insult, mockery and two scourgings, and the crowd that followed saw His weak and staggering steps with no compassion but taunted and reviled Him because He could not carry the heavy cross.
The revilers were not abandoned outcasts or heathen who did not know God, but professed worshipers of God and professed expounders of prophecy and repositories of sacred truth. They were outwardly sanctimonious in appearance, whited sepulchers deceiving the people by show of sanctity, yet hard-hearted, having rejected light and set their hearts against Christ. They chose Barabbas rather than Christ. The taunt belonged with a wider abuse on the way to and on the cross: being bound, derided, mocked and insulted by an infuriated mob, struck, scourged, clothed in an old purple kingly robe for coarse jesting, crowned with thorns driven into His temples until blood flowed, condemned by a murderous throng crying for His blood, then jeered for His lowly birth, humble life, saving work and kingship. That jeering came with coarse oaths, blasphemy, vulgar jests and insulting derision, including being struck in the face and spit upon.
Content of Taunting Challenge
The taunt demanded visible proof, that He save Himself and come down from the cross as the King of Israel and the Son of God, with the rulers claiming they would believe if He did so. It was hurled as soon as He was lifted up, by spectators wagging their heads and by the chief priests mocking with the scribes and elders as He hung on Calvary between two thieves as if He were the chief of sinners. The jeer ridiculed His saving work and kingship, taunted His trust in God to deliver Him, ridiculed His claim to be the Son of God, and challenged God to deliver Him now if He favored Him. It was spoken by those who had bound Him, struck Him, scourged Him and nailed Him, denying and rejecting His divinity and demanding proof by coming down, while angels were indignant and longed to rescue Him but were not permitted because His mission was not yet complete. The demand was for God to miraculously deliver Him as proof that He is the Son of God.
Though spoken in derision to make the world's Redeemer a laughingstock and a reproach, the words unintentionally testified truly that He did trust in God and had said He was the Son of God. They were heard by the thousands who gazed for three hours, and they made a deep impression on many who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, an impression that philosophy and traditions and customs could never efface. That impression led many to search the Scriptures and compare its passages to understand His mission, and some became convinced that He was the Messiah. In repeating words foretold by prophecy the mockers fulfilled prophecy, and because He did not save Himself sinners have hope of pardon and favor with God. He did not exercise kingly power to come down and give proof that He is the Son of God, but revealed His Godhead and redeeming, life-giving power in death by forgiving sin and opening paradise to the repentant thief, which was a rebuke to His crucifiers, while the priests and rulers by deceived religious zeal and mockery in His dying agony closed the gate of paradise to themselves forever despite their claims to piety and knowledge, but the thief who received and believed on Him in humiliation shall have life with Christ in paradise.
The mockery was inspired by Satan and spoken through people acting under demonic influence, for Jesus could have come down from the cross or summoned angels but did not. It was an insult from Satan and his agencies, with principalities and powers of darkness assembled around the cross casting unbelief into mind and heart and the arch-apostate leading the apostate host leagued with evil men to make Him an object of detestation as the chief of sinners. It came in the hour of His greatest trial when His disciples had left Him to tread the winepress alone, in the working out of Satan's enmity, joined by professed worshipers of God who had departed from the principles of the law, expressing their divorcing themselves from God and refusing His rule by taking oath of allegiance to a rival sovereign, while the Lord of hosts suffered with His Son but did not abate one jot of the penalty falling on Christ for transgressors. It was worked by an evil power as He hung in dying agony put to open shame by His own people, belonging to the same spirit that mocks God's word by demanding it come now, a spirit continuing in intense hatred against those who refuse to confederate with evil but reprove, rebuke and exhort the wrongdoer to his face. Driven by Satan having full control of his servants, beginning with the blind, bigoted, faithless chief priests, scribes and elders standing close by as He hung nailed between heaven and earth enclosed by a vast multitude while His sorrowing disciples followed at a distance, it imbued them with religious frenzy by the same spirit that moves the most vile wretches, making a corrupt harmony from hypocritical priests down to the most debased with coarse oaths, blasphemy, vulgar jests and insulting derision mocking His lowly birth, humble life and saving work, under which He opened not His mouth as a lamb brought to the slaughter and as a sheep dumb before shearers. Those outwardly sanctimonious whited sepulchers who chose Barabbas thus yoked with Satan, giving evidence that profession of piety and love for God and claim to know the Scriptures neither made them sons of God nor led them to represent His character, failing to realize that in Christ divinity was enthroned in humanity and could not be separated from His humanity, He who came from heaven to save a perishing world, in whose heart zeal for right and justice and God's glory was highest, the Commander of all heaven, so that to true religion among the spectators it appeared as Satan linked with men triumphantly shouting blasphemy against heaven.
The demand for deliverance was unbelief in the face of clear evidence. It echoes the demand for miracles made by people who reject clear evidence, and speaking this way repeats the spirit of those who mocked Christ. To say to bearers of God's message today, show us a miracle and we will believe, and to ask why they do not heal the sick if they have the truth, utters words similar to those taunting words. It seeks pegs for doubt and excuses for rejecting the light of heaven, closing the eyes to light sent by God, rejecting the most evident truth and believing the most foolish errors.
Christ's Trust and Endurance
He truly did put His trust in God, and He held that trust fast on the cross while mocked and afflicted. Though He felt the anguish of the withdrawal of the divine countenance and could not see the Father's reconciling face, and though He appeared forsaken by God, He was never more beloved of His Father. He knew His Father's character and understood His justice, mercy, and great love, and by faith He rested in Him whom it had ever been His joy to obey. He relied on the prior evidence of His Father's acceptance, and as in submission He committed Himself to God the sense of the loss of His Father's favor was withdrawn, and by faith He was victor. Even while spoken in derision to make Him a laughingstock and reproach, the mockers' words bore true testimony that He did trust in God, and they made a deep impression on many Passover visitors that philosophy and tradition and custom could never efface. His endurance in that agony, joined with His wilderness temptation, life of self-sacrificing love, agony in Gethsemane, and cruelty of the judgment hall, teaches self-sacrifice, patience under affliction, solemn consecration to God, and fitting preparation for holy work in which one called of God makes sacred work the great object, puts all energies into it, holds every other consideration secondary, and unites with angels in ministering divine truth to souls.
He could have come down from the cross or summoned angels and legions of angels to rescue Him. Angels hovering over the scene heard the derision and were moved to indignation, longing to come to His rescue and deliver Him and ready to break ranks, with the heavenly host watching. But He gave no answer to the mockery and opened not His mouth, brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep dumb before her shearers. He was not permitted to be rescued because His mission was almost but not yet complete and no command came from God. The mockery was driven by Satan having full control of his servants, beginning with the chief priests and elders and imbuing them with religious frenzy by the same spirit that moves the most vile wretches, making a corrupt harmony from hypocritical priests down to the most debased.
He suffered as the innocent, sinless Son of the infinite God, bearing the guilt of sin and carrying human sorrows to ransom the world. In the hour of His greatest trial His disciples had left Him to tread the winepress alone amid widespread hostility and abandonment even from professed worshipers of God. The Lord of hosts suffered with His Son, yet did not abate one jot of the penalty that fell on Christ for transgressors of the law.
He answered the mockery not with words but with forgiveness, praying for His murderers because they did not know what they were doing. He did not exercise kingly power to come down and give proof that He is the Son of God, but He revealed His Godhead, redeeming power, and life-giving power in death by forgiving sin and opening paradise to the repentant thief. That pardon was a rebuke to His crucifiers, while those who in deceived religious zeal mocked Him in His dying agony closed the gate of paradise to themselves forever despite claims to piety and knowledge, but the thief who received and believed on Him in humiliation shall have life with Christ in paradise.
His mother and disciples were pained by the unfeeling taunts of spiritually ignorant revilers and longed for Him to manifest mighty power and silence His revilers by coming down from the shameful cross. The disciples had expected Him to reign on David's throne and deliver Israel, so seeing Him crucified amid ridicule brought bitter disappointment. They saw Him in whom their hopes of eternal life rested handed over to wicked men, mocked and persecuted, and finally dying on the cross as a criminal, and witnessing this tested their faith and caused hope and courage to fail.
He had foreseen this humiliation beforehand as part of the burden of sin and the bitter cup He voluntarily chose to drink rather than let redemption fail. That bitter cup meant separation for a time from His Father, yet only through His sacrifice could the sinner be saved, so He did not refuse to drink it. Darkness mercifully covered Him in His final suffering and hid it from those watching, with earthquake, opened graves, and saints appearing in Jerusalem as testimony. God knew best and strengthened His only begotten Son to endure the agony and shame and become a propitiation for a lost world.
Prophecy Fulfilled and Remembered
The taunt at the cross repeated words foretold by prophecy, and by uttering them the mockers themselves fulfilled prophecy. They took His trust in God and His claim to be the Son of God and turned them into a challenge for God to deliver Him. Those who spoke were priests and rulers and scribes who professed to be expounders of prophecy, yet in blindness they did not perceive that they were repeating the very words inspiration had foretold they would utter on this occasion. Their scorn nevertheless led hearers to search Scripture and compare its passages to understand His mission.
Their words fulfilled what Isaiah had foretold about the Messiah being despised and rejected, treated as stricken by God, and suffering for human sin. At His second coming in revealed divine majesty and glory and at the judgment those same priests and rulers remember their taunt with horror. They see Him in glory and acknowledge that He is the Son of God, the true Messiah and King of glory, Lord of heaven and earth. Every mouth is closed and no hand can be lifted against Him, for the question of His divinity is then forever settled. Their mockery gives way to confession, exposes their guilt, and confronts them with their just doom as pronounced against the wicked husbandmen.
At His first coming His divine glory was veiled and He was rejected, but at His second coming He will be acknowledged by all as the King of glory and Son of God. The challenge is answered by the Father's recognition after the cross, when at Christ's return to heaven the Father bows His head in recognition of Christ and accepts Him and the completed atonement. The Father expresses satisfaction and delight in His only begotten Son, whose sacrifice is in every way satisfactory, where mercy and truth meet together and righteousness and peace kiss each other. That embrace includes all who receive Him by faith as personal Saviour, giving them power to become sons of God as chosen ones and joint-heirs with Christ. The loyal heavenly reception, with angels and archangel, cherubim and seraphim standing in view of the cross, contrasts with the earthly reception of sorrow, suffering and scorn from priests who harassed, abused, insulted and derided Him and chose Barabbas rather than Christ.
Saving Significance and Vindication
He bore the contempt, indignity and dying agony on the cross as a sacrifice for sinners so that the world would not perish and all who live and believe might have everlasting life. While suffering as a criminal He was giving His life to ransom His people and to satisfy the just claims of God's law. That shame belonged to the bitter cup that meant separation for a time from His Father, which He did not refuse to drink because only through His sacrifice could the sinner be saved, and God strengthened His only begotten Son to endure the agony and shame and become a propitiation for the sins of a lost world. Heaven did not remain indifferent to His suffering.
Because He did not save Himself, sinners have hope of pardon and favor with God. He bore all that humiliation and suffering on behalf of humanity, going through every phase of temptation and every phase of suffering, so that no one living on earth can say He never suffered as they suffered and does not know how to suffer and pity them.
In Him divinity was enthroned in humanity and could not be separated from His humanity. He who hung as a criminal between malefactors was the Commander of all heaven come from heaven to save a perishing world, whose heart held highest zeal for right and justice and for the glory of God. His rejection and death as a criminal between two malefactors reveal the suffering and reproach He bore despite His divine identity.
His death and passage through the tomb brought light to death. That work gives hope and joy in the face of death to those who lay their loved ones to rest in Him, with confidence that they will meet again.
He stood as humanity stands to bear the afflictions humanity bears and to be tempted in all points as humanity is tempted. Having become partaker of human nature He suffered the most shameful death without proving He was ruler over angels in the heavenly courts by bringing a cloud of angels or legions of angels to surround Him and disperse His persecutors, though the heavenly host watched ready to break ranks to rescue Him. Because He so understands human affliction He makes it possible for humans to be partakers of the divine nature, and all judgment is given into His hand. His suffering calls for sympathy and love for Him and for imitating His life of character, for He endured it to give a crown of glory and to open the gates of the city of God to all who keep the truth.
His standing on the cross against the power of the priests and rulers who forced the Roman governor to do their will illustrates that faith in God's word can stand against human power used to support evil. His suffering shows the cost of His sacrifice and belongs to the insults, crown of thorns, crucifixion and great sacrifice on Calvary. He endured that to show the way and to bring people the divine help they need to overcome and be saved, setting the self-denial asked of His followers beside what He gave up for them.
Warning and Example for Believers
Because He gave up all to lift believers higher, He demands all in return — undivided affections, whole sacrifice and entire consecration, separation from the world and from dead heartless professors, and transformation by the renewing of the mind, so that no narrow path or surrender of society and ease is too strait. That claim rests on the suffering on the way to and on the cross that puts anything called self-denial in the shade, for before it He agonized alone in Gethsemane sweating great drops of blood while a solitary angel from heaven strengthened Him, then was derided, mocked and insulted by an infuriated mob on the way to the judgment hall, clothed in an old purple kingly robe for coarse jesting and cruel mocking, crowned with thorns driven into His temples with a reed until blood flowed from His holy brow, condemned by a murderous throng crying for the blood of the Son of God, and led away pale, weak and fainting to crucifixion where He was stretched on a wooden cross with nails driven through tender hands and feet and hung those dreadful hours in agony while angels veiled their faces and the sun refused to behold and hid its light. His holding trust in God while mocked and afflicted on the cross, together with His wilderness temptation, life of self-sacrificing love, agony in Gethsemane and cruelty of the judgment hall, teaches self-sacrifice, patience under affliction, solemn consecration to God and fitting preparation for holy work. One called of God to sacred work must make it the great object, put all energies into its accomplishment, hold every other consideration secondary, and feel the solemn obligation of being honored by God to unite with angels in ministering to souls and enlightening them with divine truth.
Even though Jesus was sinless, innocent and good, He was not safe from reproach, suffering and trial. The chief priests and elders mocked and taunted Him even while He hung on the cross, with hearts so hard that profession of great righteousness did not restrain them, for they had rejected light, set their hearts against Christ, and, helped by Satan and his angels, sought to catch Him in His words, incited the people against Him, and were determined He should not live. Therefore His followers, who are imperfect and only of His household, cannot expect or desire any better portion in this life, but must expect the same wounding, hindering, false influence and mocking from those who cherish unbelief, jealousy and pride and reject light. As Jesus on Calvary's cross with nails driven through hands and feet was mocked and derided by the Pharisees while giving His own life that we might be saved, so believers will have just such experiences of false reports and mocking.
The verse teaches not to pay attention to reports about self and work nor to stop work to listen to them. It calls believers to walk in humility of mind in perfect harmony, helping, strengthening and praying with one another. They are to keep the eye fastened on the Lamb of Calvary and strive to be a true branch of the living vine, suffering no religious loss from reports unless giving heed to them, with Christ upholding and sustaining at every step toward the heaven to be won.
Those who taunted Him could have repented and been forgiven, as Saul was. Though spoken in derision by men claiming to be repositories of sacred truth to make the world's Redeemer a laughingstock and a reproach, their words bore true testimony that Christ did put His trust in God. Heard by the thousands who gazed for three hours, as the taunt of priests and rulers was taken up by the heedless mob ridiculing His claim to sonship with God and challenging Him to prove it by coming down from the cross and delivering Himself, the words made a deep impression on many who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, an impression that all their philosophy and traditions and customs could never efface. Christ did not exercise His kingly power to come down and give proof that He is the Son of God, but revealed His Godhead, redeeming power and life-giving power in death by forgiving sin and opening the door of paradise to the repentant thief. His pardon of the thief was a rebuke to His crucifiers, while the priests and rulers by their deceived religious zeal and mockery in His dying agony closed the gate of paradise to themselves forever notwithstanding their claims to piety and knowledge, but the thief who received Him and believed on Him in His humiliation shall have life with Christ in the paradise of God, and awful and terrible retribution awaits such scorn.