Calvary was the scene of the most wonderful event of history, the fulcrum as it were upon which divine Love and Justice operated for the rolling away of the curse resting upon humanity.

Crucifixion is a most horrible and torturous form of death. Yet it was not the torture of death which our Redeemer suffered on our behalf which so much gives us a feeling of sympathy and sorrow as our minds go back to Calvary and the scenes preceding it.

Two others were crucified with Jesus; many others had suffered a similar death before and since, and some, we may presume, suffered as much or more agony through longer drawn-out torture, gradual burning at the stake, lacerations, etc.

The thought which impresses our hearts most deeply is that our dear Savior’s experiences not only were undeserved, unmerited by the one “who went about doing good," but that his experiences were in connection with the payment of our penalty, so that "by his stripes we are healed.” Isa. 53:5.

These words are known as the fourth word or message from the cross. They mark to us the depth of our Lord’s anguish. He was dying as the sinner’s redemption price, as the substitute, in order that God might be just and the justifier of all who believe in Jesus, and that he might grant them in due time a resurrection from the dead and a return to the Father’s favor and to eternal life—to all that was lost in Adam.

To be our substitute he must in everything suffer all that we were doomed to suffer as sinners. This included not only his loss of life, but also his cutting off from all fellowship with the Father.

How glad we are that we can see the philosophy, the reason why this experience came to our Lord! And as we realize this, may it more and more fill our hearts with appreciation of the blessings which are ours through Christ; the privilege of return to the Father’s fellowship and love, so that we can apply to ourselves the Master’s words, “The Father himself loveth you.” (John 16:27.)

The fifth word: “I thirst.” This expression calls forcibly to mind several facts:

(1) Exposed to the heat of the sun, with but slight covering and under nervous excitement and pain, thirst must have been one of the principal elements of torture to the crucified.

(2) When we think of the fact that our Lord had been the active agent of Jehovah in the great work of creation of all things, including water, the Master’s voluntary humiliation and resignation to thirst—yea, to die on behalf of the rebels of the realm—is a remarkable illustration of his love for mankind.

This cry of thirst, we are told, was uttered when he knew that all things had been finished, when all of the work which had been given him to do had been accomplished—and not until then might he refer to his own condition. Even this cry was in fulfilment of the prediction of Psalm 69:21. Our Lord had refused the stupefying draught, but now accepted the refreshment given him from a sponge lifted to his lips on a reed, probably two and one-third feet long.

As we think of this matter let us remember that our Lord hungered and thirsted that we, with all for whom he died, might have the water of life and the bread of life—might attain eternal life!

This sixth word was one of triumph. He had finished the work which the Father had given him to do. He had been loyal from first to last, self-sacrificing. He was glad, surely, that his earthly course was at an end, glad because it ended in victory and because this meant ultimately the blessing of the world of mankind and their release from the power of sin and death and the Adversary.

It might be said in this sense of the word that our Lord began his work when he left the heavenly courts and humbled himself to take the human nature. And it progressed during the period of his attaining manhood’s estate, thirty years. However, Scripturally considered, the work that was finished was the work of sacrifice which began at Jordan when he was baptized, when he made a full consecration of himself even unto death.

Just before his crucifixion he had said, "I have a baptism to be accomplished and how am I straightened until it be finished." Three and a half years was the period of his baptism into death, and now the final moment had come— “It is finished.”

This is supposed to have been the last word, the last act of our Lord’s earthly ministry, its finishing touch. How appropriate that he who had sought to do the Father’s will at any cost should have absolute confidence that in his death his spirit of life would be in the Father’s care and keeping, and that he should thus express himself!

And this should be true of all who are his followers. Having resigned our all to the Lord we should so fully appropriate his gracious promises as to be without fear as we go down into death. Death in our Lord’s case, however, must have meant far more than it could possibly mean to any of us.

We not only have the Lord’s assurance of a resurrection, but we have in our Lord’s own case an illustration of the divine power. It was he who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead whose power will be exercised through him in bringing us forth to glory, honor and immortality. Our Lord was the forerunner; none before him had ever been raised from the dead, either to the perfection of human life or to the perfection of the divine nature.

St. Luke informs us that he cried with a loud voice, a testimony and witness to all that were near of his hope in God and in a resurrection. Some modern writers regard the cry as the utterance of one dying of a ruptured heart, the supposition being that this was the immediate cause of our Lord’s death. It is admitted that there is such a thing as an actually broken heart.

We might attribute the cause of this rupture to the ignominious circumstances surrounding our Lord’s betrayal, denial, condemnation, scourging and crucifixion. No doubt all of these would tend to depress him in spirit. But in our judgment the primary cause of his heart rupture was the grief mentioned in the fourth cry, the withdrawal of divine fellowship, the loneliness which was his during his last hour.

Probably still under this cloud but with this realization he cried, “It is finished!” and died. We often speak of people dying of broken hearts, and use the term figuratively, but so far as can be known our Lord experienced this very matter actually. Apparently he died by the actual bursting of his heart. It is the tendency of deep grief to interfere with the circulation of the blood and to cause a pressure upon the heart. We have all felt this at times—a weight and heaviness of heart under certain peculiar nervous strains. This in our Lord’s case seems to have been so intense that the heart was literally ruptured. He died of a broken heart.

The technical explanation of the reasons for supposing that our Lord died of a heart rupture is thus stated:—

“The bloody water that burst from Christ’s side when pierced by the soldier’s spear evidenced this. The blood exuding from the heart into the pericardium had separated into red clots and a water serum. Jesus died literally from a broken heart.”

It does not surprise us that in the divine order nature is made to manifest a sympathy with our Lord by the peculiar darkness which came over the land at the time Jesus hung on the cross.

With pleasure we find Nicodemus, another wealthy and influential ruler of the Jews, associated with Joseph in caring for our Lord’s body. We may be sure that these men received at the hands of the Lord special blessing because of the courage and zeal which they exhibited on this occasion.

To us the lesson in all this is to be bold for the right, for the truth, for the Lord, for the brethren—at any cost. Indeed, the more our courage and faithfulness to privilege and opportunity may cost us, the greater will be our reward, both in the present life and in that which is to come.

This is the third mention we have of Nicodemus in connection with our Lord’s ministry. First he visited Jesus by night, as recorded in John 3.

A lesson for us is that we should not be content with neutrality in connection with the truth and its service. We should be positive as far as possible. We should take our stand for righteousness and do with our might on behalf of the Lord’s cause and the Lord’s brethren. While using wisdom and discretion, we should nevertheless be courageous. We should bring our flowers to cheer and comfort in life and not wait until death has prevented an appreciation of these.