sufferings and death. Hitherto we have seen him as the great Prophet : we are now about to see Him as the great High Priest.
It is a portion of Scripture which ought to be read with pecuhar reverence and attention. The place where- on we stand is holy ground. Here we see how the Seed of the woman bruised the Serpent's head. Here we see the great sacrifice to which all the sacrifices of the Old Testament had long pointed. Here we see how the blood was shed which " cleanseth from all sin/' and the Lamb slain who " taketh away the sin of the world." We see in the death of Christy the great mystery revealed, how Grod can be just, and yet justify the ungodly. No wonder that all the four Grospels contain a full account of this wonderful event. On other points in our Lord's history, we often find, that when one evangelist speaks, the other three are silent. But when we come to the crucifixion, we find it minutely described by all four.
In these verses we have now read, let us first observe Jiow careful our Lord is to recall the attention of His disci- fles to His own death. He said to them, " Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified."
The connexion of these words with the preceding chapter is exceedingly striking. Our Lord had just been dwelling on His own second coming in power and glory at the end of the world. He had been describing the last judgment, and all its awful accompaniments. He had been speaking of Himself as the Judge, before whose throne all nations would be gathered. And then at once, without pause or interval. He goes on to speak
. . , CHAP. xxvr. 347
of His crucifixion. While the marvellous predictions of His final glory were yet ringing in the ears of His disci- ples. He tells them once and again of His coming sufferings. He reminds them that He must die as a sin-oflering before He reigned as a king, — that He must make atonement on the cross, before he took the crown.
We can never attach too much importance to the atoning death of Christ. It is the leading fact in the word of God, on which the eyes of our soul ought to be ever fixed. Without the shedding of his blood, there is no remission of sin. It is the cardinal truth on which the whole system of Christianity hinges. Without it the Gospel is an arch without a key-stone, a fair building without a foundation, a solar system without a sun. Let us make much of our Lord's incarnation and exam- ple. His miracles and his parables. His works and His words, but above all let us make much of His death. Let us delight in the hope of his second personal coming and millennial reign, but let us not think more even of these blessed truths, than of the atonement on the cross. This, after all, is the master-truth of Scripture, that " Christ died for our sins." To this let us daily return. On this let us daily feed our souls. Some, like the Greeks of old, may sneer at the doctrine, and call it " foolishness." But let us never be ashamed to say with Paul, " God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Gal. vi. 14.)
Let us observe, in the second place, in these verses, what honor Christ loves to put on those that honor Him.
We are told that when Ho was "in the house of Simon the leper," a certain woman came, while He sat at