S C R I B N E R ' S M A G A Z I N E Important ... - Rparchives.org
S C R I B N E R ' S M A G A Z I N E Important ... - Rparchives.org
S C R I B N E R ' S M A G A Z I N E Important ... - Rparchives.org
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December 31. 1913.<br />
A FAMILY PAPER.<br />
E D I T O R I A L<br />
John W. Pritchard, Editor.<br />
CRUCIFIED BETWEEN TWO THIEVES<br />
All the gospels tell us that when our Lord<br />
died two thieves were crucified with him, one<br />
on either side.<br />
In our mind's eye we see<br />
three crosses on Calvary, each occupied with<br />
an agonized sufi'erer.<br />
The tragedy of the<br />
world's sin and crime is being wrought out<br />
here as never elsewhere, unless in the final<br />
abode of the lost, yet the darkness which surrounds<br />
that low hill is to be followed with<br />
the clear shining of hope.<br />
Long centuries before the crucifixion, Isaiah<br />
had said concerning the Messiah, "He<br />
was numbered with the transgressors," and<br />
the Lord himself had said, "This which is<br />
written must be fulfilled in me. And he was<br />
reckoned with transgressors; for that which<br />
concerneth me hath fulfilment."<br />
What more<br />
unlikely prospect than this for a prophet of<br />
Israel to foresee, for he would have expected<br />
with Messiah to be reckoned with kings,<br />
deliverers, benefactors, rather than with<br />
criminals. But here he hangs between two<br />
malefactors. If Roman justice had been<br />
overborne by the clamor of Jewish priests in<br />
condemning the one who hung on the middle<br />
cross, it had made no mistake in dealing with<br />
those who hung on eithdr hand. "We," said<br />
one of them, "we receive the due reward of<br />
our deeds." They were so justly condemned<br />
that their own conscience approved the sentence<br />
of the judge. Faith, therefore, looking<br />
at the Book and then at the holy one hanging<br />
between the thieves is assured that this is<br />
the promised Messiah.<br />
The company in which Jesus dies is a<br />
part, and a designed part, of his humiliation.<br />
Hanging alone he might awaken pity<br />
and inspire respect. The memory of his<br />
good deeds and of his words of wisdoin might<br />
turn the tide of feeling toward him. But to<br />
class him with robbers, for the name and<br />
punishment both indicate those who take by<br />
force, to gather round him. the vicious element<br />
of Jerusalem come out to see the end<br />
of men of their own kind, does much to<br />
make him the object of derision and scorn. In<br />
the midst as the worst of the three, is the<br />
place that his enemies have chosen for him,<br />
and it is part of his suifering that he suffers<br />
with men who deserved to die.<br />
The Lord Jesus suffered with the malefactors<br />
the penalty of justice. The penitent<br />
thief recognizes this with regard to himself<br />
and his companion, but he does not see its<br />
truth with regard to Jesus. "This man," he<br />
said, "hath done nothing amiss." But deeper<br />
ttian he; or anyone else there could see, the<br />
law was being honored and justice vindicated.<br />
Utterly unjust and wicked as were the condemnation<br />
and crucifixion of Jesus at the<br />
hand of the Roman judge, he was still the<br />
victim of a higher law and of a greater penalty.<br />
In truth the cause for which the thieve.-;<br />
died was small, almost infinitely small, compared<br />
with the mountains of guilt that were<br />
laid upon Jesus. All the sins of all God's<br />
people from the beginning to tbe end of time<br />
were laid upon his devoted head and tbeir<br />
penalty was exacted of him. Lie was even<br />
"made sin for us." There was another coi!!-<br />
trast in suft'ering. The thieves went to their<br />
death against their will, driven by the condemnation<br />
of their crimes; Jesus went v/illingly,<br />
and was not only the victim, but the<br />
priest of the sacrifice in that he offered himself<br />
for us, "the just for the unjust."<br />
We have here also a representation of the<br />
gospel and of its effect upon men. The life<br />
and death of the Redeemer set forth the<br />
good news of salvation. One of the men beside<br />
him,—was it the one on the left?—rejected<br />
it and, as far as we know, died unf<strong>org</strong>iven,<br />
the other was softened and became<br />
hack to die in the wilderness.<br />
had<br />
Opportunity<br />
knocked at their d-oor unwelcome and<br />
came not again.<br />
They listened to the counsel<br />
of worldly wisdom and regretted it to<br />
their dying day.<br />
Their last look of earth was<br />
not upon the pleasant hills and valleys of<br />
Canaan, but on the sands of the desert, and<br />
their children whom<br />
they said would be a<br />
helpless prey were permitted to enter the<br />
land which they would never see.<br />
Opportunity to win the victory for God<br />
and his cause and for ourselves comes often<br />
in our day. The fieldof decision for us as<br />
for Israel oomes in the national questions<br />
that rise demanding a settlement. This great<br />
country of ours u'ith all its wealth of lands<br />
and men and institutions -should be taken for<br />
Christ and His kingdom and every year at<br />
Election time we have an opportunity to stand<br />
and testify for him and his truth by refusing<br />
to acccept a Christless Constitution, or<br />
we turn back and choose leaders to take us<br />
into the wilderness of wandering that leads<br />
toward Egypt and its bondage.<br />
If those who profess the name of Christ<br />
would only stand clear of an agreement to<br />
carry on this government without him, if<br />
they would s.tand out only once, intelligently<br />
and faithfully, giving their reasons and supporting<br />
these reasons with a consistent and<br />
determined protest, the battle for the kingdom<br />
iof Christ would be so well begun that<br />
it would be half won. What a discussion<br />
would arise! What arguments worldly wisdom<br />
would offer and faithfulness would answer!<br />
The great moral conflict would be<br />
on, not merely for 'one or the other moral<br />
reform, hut for the whole array of causes for<br />
which Christ stands.<br />
For those who are making this stand the<br />
example of Caleb and Joshua affords g) eat<br />
comfort and enoouragement. They stood for<br />
national obedience to God and were voted<br />
penitent in his agony and prayed for the rememhrance<br />
down. They resisted the counsels of worldly<br />
of the great sufferer hanging be-<br />
tt'isdom which urged that nothing could be<br />
side him. To one Jesus was the savor of done and were like to be stoned. They believed<br />
death, to the other of life, and thus his gospel<br />
that God was right and his word not<br />
has always divided the world. He is set for to be disregarded and they had his approval.<br />
the fall and rising again of many in, Israel.<br />
After all Calvary was a scene of victory.<br />
Jesus Christ completed the work of atonement<br />
and his last cry was one of triumph.<br />
The penitent thief at last made a success of a<br />
bad life. Only the impenitent one failed and<br />
he because he shut his eyes to the hope before<br />
him.<br />
The whole multitude was against them, but<br />
the whole multitude was wrong and were<br />
punished for their disobedience, while the<br />
heroic two were right and were rewarded for<br />
their faithfulness. It is true that they had<br />
to go back into the wilderness with the rest<br />
of Israel, for a man is bound up with his<br />
people and must in some manner suffer with<br />
them, but they were permitted to enter the<br />
THE PROTEST OF CALEB AND. land and had this prospect always before<br />
JOSHUA.<br />
them. They went to the funeral of the tinremembered<br />
The refusal of Israel to enter into tbe<br />
thousands who lacked the faith<br />
to go forward while they themselves, though<br />
Promised Land at Kadesh Barnea was the<br />
hated it may be in their own time, are held<br />
turning point of privilege for that generation,<br />
in everlasting remembrance.<br />
As the direct result of their want of faith<br />
and consequent disobedience, they were sent<br />
Still, few men in our daji are disposed to<br />
follow tbe example of Caleb and Joshua.<br />
It is wonderful how readily men, even<br />
Christian men, go with the multitude to do<br />
evil. How ready they are to have fellowship<br />
^^ith the throne of iniquity which frameth<br />
mischief by a law! How sure they are that<br />
th.ey can do something good without Jesus,<br />
and how necessary they feel it to be to do<br />
something which Jesus would not do in order<br />
to help his cause! No one thinks, at<br />
least no one bas been heard to say, that he<br />
thinks that Jesus would swear, or send anyone<br />
else to swear, to carry on a government<br />
according to a law that did not recognize his<br />
Father whom he always recognized, or that<br />
did not recognize his own kingly authority,<br />
or that paid no respect to his word. W^hy<br />
should those who profess to follow in his<br />
steps do JO?<br />
Caleb and Joshua had courage as well as