HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div
“Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.” John 19:11
Though Pilate and the priests crucified my Lord, no man took His life from Him — He laid it down of Himself. They could have had no power at all against Him, except it was given to them from above.
I thank Him that His death was voluntary. With a free heart, a willing mind, with a steadfast resolution — He went down for me into the gloom, the pain, and the desolation. He was not compelled to suffer; He suffered at His own initiative and with His own consent. As Priest, He offered Himself on the altar — the Lamb of God without blemish and without spot.
I thank Him that His death was long foreseen. It was not in an impulse of sudden generosity, that He allowed Himself to be led away to Calvary. It was not in the last days of His life, that He came in sight of the place where the Cross stands. It was not as though He turned around a sharp angle in His path, and there was the scaffold lifting itself, sombre and stark and awful, against the sky. He had looked forward to it from all eternity. How deep, deep, unfathomably deep, are the strong foundations of His love!
And I thank Him that His death was vicarious and effectual. He gave Himself for me. In my place, condemned He stood. I have redemption through His blood. I am saved by Him. It was to enrich and crown my sin-destroyed soul, that He tasted the wormwood and the gall.
No one ever loved and lived like my Lord Jesus, and no one ever died like Him!
THE MYSTICAL COURT 