When I Survey
H. Hoeksema
Book 1, Part 2, Chapter 6
Refusing to Come Down

"Save thyself, and come down from the cross." (Mark 15:30)

The night in which Jesus was captured and tried by the Jewish council was, as far as the action of the enemies is concerned, a night of hopeless confusion. Eager though they were to put the Lord to death, they were not at all prepared to execute their wicked plans. The capture of Jesus had been precipitated. And even after they had taken the Lord prisoner in the garden, they had no definite plan of procedure to realize their evil schemes. The reason for this lack of a definite program and concerted action according to plan, we pointed out in a former chapter. Their own plan had been frustrated, and the Lord had taken matters in His own hand. They had intended to postpone all action against Jesus until after the feast day; and, besides, they purposed to avoid a public trial. But the dismissal of the traitor that night had upset their entire program: they were forced to take action before they were thoroughly prepared. And this explains why their action from the moment they had captured the Lord was characterized by confusion and indecision. It appears that there was a sort of preliminary hearing of Jesus before Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, which was decided upon, probably, on the spur of the moment, to create an opportunity for the Sanhedrin, or, at least, part of the council to assemble. In the meantime notice must have been sent to the Jewish council in Jerusalem that Jesus had been captured, together with a summons to meet. As soon as a sufficient number of the Sanhedrists had arrived, Jesus must have been transferred from the apartments of Annas to those of Caiaphas, occupying another wing of the same building. Then there followed a hearing before the Jewish council, which must have lacked official capacity, because the Jewish council was not allowed to commence a trial at night, and which was marked chiefly by the vain attempt to find false witnesses against the Lord. In the morning there must have been a formal convocation of the supreme court of the Jews, and it was then that Jesus was found guilty of blasphemy and condemned to death. Luke 22:66-71. And, finally, there was still another gathering of the council in the absence of Jesus, to decide upon the question whether or not they should bring the Lord before the Roman governor. How easily they might have taken matters into their own hands, and stone Jesus to death, as they did in the case of Stephen! But, after all, it was the feast day, and they were afraid of an uproar among the people. And so they decided to lead the Lord to the Roman governor and to insist that he would confirm the death sentence they had already pronounced. Thus the Father's purpose was realized, that the Savior should die on the cross.

To the scene of that cross our present meditation takes us. We take our stand among the crowd that is gathered at the foot of the Hill of the Skull, and listen to the conversation that is carried on, and watch the crucified Son of man. Particular attention we wish to pay to the reproach and mockery that is even now cast into Jesus' teeth, to the cutting jibes men of all classes and stations in life address to that Sufferer on the central of the three crosses that have been erected on Calvary. There is, in this respect, a marked difference between the first half of the six hour period of the crucifixion and the second half. It was about nine o'clock in the morning that Jesus was nailed to the tree. And about noon the sun began to be darkened, and soon the entire scene of the cross together with all the surrounding country is enveloped in the darkness of night. A hush falls over the crowd standing by. Fear, amazement, terror clutches at their hearts. From now on, they realize, that cross is no longer their work alone: God Himself has come down to make the cross His own. It is the hour of the judgment and divine wrath. But during the first half of this period, before the sun was darkened, the scene on Calvary appeared to be a common execution. And the witnesses mock and jeer. Even criminals are wont to evoke some pity from the hearts of the witnesses when they are led to the place of execution. But with Jesus this is different. It seems as if even at His cross, though they had apparently fulfilled all their evil counsel upon Him, their fury has not assuaged. They must still pour out the vials of their contempt and hatred over His head. And mockingly they challenge Him to come down from the cross and to save Himself if He can!

One of these challenges came from the passers-by. We read in Mk. 15:29,30: "And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross." Strange, how well they had remembered this reference of Jesus to the destruction of the temple, they, who could not hear the word of Jesus, and did not accept it! And yet, it was not so strange, if we consider that this particular saying of the Lord concerned the earthly temple, the symbol of all that was dear to the carnal leaders of the Jews; symbol, that is, as they had made it, of their external form of righteousness, without justice and mercy, of their religious conceit and pride, their greed and covetousness! It was on the occasion of the first cleansing of that earthly house of His Father, now three years ago, that the Lord had spoken the words which these passers-by now cast in His teeth. When He had found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the exchangers of money, He had made a scourge of small cords, and driven them all out of the temple. And when the Jews had demanded of Him a sign of His authority to do these things (as if, forsooth, the act itself had not been a sufficient revelation of authority), the Lord had referred to Himself as the Lord of the temple and the true temple-builder in the words: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." But, as is usually the case when your enemies and enemies of the truth spread the report of your words, this saying of the Lord had been distorted until their real meaning had been changed into its very opposite. Different versions of it were given. Some reported that the Lord had said, "I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days." Matt. 26:61. Others alleged that they heard Him say, "I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands." Mark 14:58. And these passers-by find time to shout at Him: "Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross!" All these reports differed from one another. But they all agreed on the fundamental point that Jesus had presented Himself as the one that would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.

There were people that passed by who thus mocked at Him and challenged Him to come down from the cross. The cross was erected near one of the main roads that led from the north to Jerusalem. And so, the cross was a public spectacle. These passers-by were probably Galileans that came to celebrate the passover. They knew Jesus. They had seen His mighty works. There had been a moment even when they had confessed that Jesus was the prophet that was to come, and when they had intended to take Him by force and make Him their king. But the Lord had bitterly disappointed their fondest hopes, that all concentrated around the idea of an earthly king and earthly prosperity, when He had revealed Himself as the One Who through His death would become the Bread of life to them! John 6:14ff. And they had become His enemies. However this may be, on Golgotha they act in the capacity of mere passers-by. They have no time to stop and survey the cross. The cross of Jesus of Nazareth is not of sufficient interest to them. After all, a crucifixion is not an uncommon occurrence. So they pass by. Only, as is the case with many a superficial passer-by, who takes no time to investigate and knows not what he is talking about, they do slacken their pace for a moment, long enough to look up into the face of the crucified Christ, shake their head at Him and cast their mockery and reproach in His teeth. How they hate Him in their hearts! Pity for Him in this hour of His agony they know not. They wag their heads at Him. And by doing so they express their profound contempt of Him, their utter disapproval of His case, their opinion, as people that have long been acquainted with Him and that, therefore, ought to know, that He is a contemptible fool who has but Himself alone to blame for His utter failure in life and His disastrous end! And by their expressed challenge they deny His power: Thou that destroyest the temple, save thyself, and come down from the cross! They mean to imply that Jesus' claim that He would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, had been the boast of a demagogue that would by such a sign rouse the people to insurrection against the Roman authorities! Now, then, let Him make good His boast, save Himself, and come down from the cross! It is now evident that He is a vain boaster, powerless even to deliver Himself!

Will He come down? Will He take up the challenge, deliver Himself from the tree to which He is nailed, and thus expose His enemies as boastful liars? But no, this is impossible! He will remain on the cross, not because He lacks the power to come down, but because He has a work to do in this hour, a work that can be finished only on that cross. He is busy! Yes, indeed, He is suffering agonies of body and soul, but in this suffering He is active, and He is occupied with a work that requires all His attention, all the strength of His will, all the energy of His being. And, strange though it may seem, He is in this hour doing the very thing which His enemies challengingly deny that He can do: He is rebuilding the temple! He is laying down His life, and in doing so He is co-worker with God in the laying of the foundation-stone of the temple that will never be destroyed again, the House of God, the tabernacle of God with men. On that cross He is engaged in the realization of the Word of God, that the stone which the builders despised must become the head of the corner! Looking at the cross in this light, we may say that all that are present there are really engaged in the same work of God: the building of the temple. The powers of darkness, the leaders of the Jews, Herod that fox, the Roman governor that delivered Him up to be crucified, the soldiers that hammered the cruel spikes through His hands and feet -- all are engaged in the building of the house of God! True, they do neither know it nor mean to build the temple. They hate God and His Christ and they imagine a vain thing. Building the temple they will go to hell, if they do not repent. But the fact remains that every creature, willing or against his will, must be subservient to the counsel of the Most High: and that here, on Golgotha, the powers of darkness serve that purpose of the Almighty in destroying the temple that is made with hands in order that the eternal tabernacle of God with His people might be established forever! But He, that is affixed to that central cross, is the Servant of the Lord. Willingly, in the love of the Father and of His own, He is engaged in the building of the house of God. And therefore, when through these passers-by the Prince of darkness makes a last forlorn attempt to destroy the work of God, and to persuade the Christ to come down from the cross, He will surely refuse. For the work of God must be finished. The temple must be built!

The temple as to its idea and essence is not that building made with hands that adorned Mount Sion. It was but a shadow. The true temple is the dwelling of God with His people. The essence of the temple is the spiritual bond of fellowship and most intimate communion of friendship between God and men, the relation in which God blesses His people with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, and they know Him, enter into His secrets, taste His grace and loving kindness, and forevermore behold the beauties and pleasures there are at His right hand. It is the relation according to which God walks among them and talks with them, and calls them His sons and daughters, and they love Him with all their heart and mind and soul and strength, and serve and glorify Him forever! That temple once existed in earthly form in the first paradise. For man was made after the image of God, and placed in covenant relation of friendship to His Maker. God revealed Himself to him there, and he knew his God in the wind of day and tasted the goodness of God's house in the fruit of the tree of life. But man proved himself to be the destroyer of the temple of God. He sinned. He opened the house of God to the devil. He made it even then a den of robbers. But God, Who gives His glory to no other, had provided some better thing for us, and purposes to rebuild His house in Christ, and that, too, in greater beauty than it ever could have attained in the first Adam. Of this new, heavenly, eternal house of God the building of Jerusalem was but a shadow. God dwelt in the Most Holy Place, between the cherubim and over the mercy seat, while the people were represented by the candlestick, the altar of incense, and the table of shewbread in the Holy Place. That temple of God, that most intimate fellowship of friendship between God and His people, is centrally realized in the incarnation of the Son of God, in Immanuel: God with us. For in Him God and man are united in the unity of the divine Person of the Son. That temple is further realized in the Church, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, through Whom God dwells in Christ with His people spiritually. And that temple will be finished and revealed in all the heavenly glory and beauty of its everlasting perfection, when in the new heaven and earth the tabernacle of God shall be with men, and God will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Rev. 21:3,4.

The realization of this heavenly temple would involve the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. What reason or place would there be for the shadow after reality had come? But still more. The building of the eternal house of God would require, too, the destruction of the temple of Christ's body. For the house of God must be founded on God's eternal righteousness: He can have no fellowship with sin. And, therefore, the justice of God with respect to sin must be satisfied, and satisfaction for sin is the voluntary suffering of death as an act of perfect obedience. He that would lay the foundations of the tabernacle of God with men in righteousness must lay down His life for God's sake. Through the veil, that is through His own flesh, broken and rent on the cross, Christ would forever open the way into the inner sanctuary of God!

And so, the words Jesus had spoken three years before His death, and which were changed into a taunting challenge by those that passed by the cross, are perfectly clear and full of meaning. "Destroy ye this temple", He had said, and had referred to the temple of His body. Yet, as is evident from the connection in which these words were spoken, reference to the temple of Jerusalem was not altogether absent. The destruction of the one implied the tearing down of the other. And both, the temple of His body and the temple of Jerusalem they, the enemies, were destroying at this moment, as they were destroying the temple of Christ's flesh on the accursed tree. No, they did not intend to destroy the temple of Jerusalem. They had no idea that they were instrumental in the realization of the eternal temple of God. They merely desired in cruel hatred and furious anger to destroy Jesus of Nazareth. Yet, even so this is just what they were doing, fulfilling the counsel of God. For when the body of Jesus was destroyed, the temple of Jerusalem had no more significance and reason to exist. And while they were destroying the temple, Jesus on the cross was already busy rebuilding it. Already He was fast becoming the chief corner stone of the house of God. Even while they are mocking and distorting His words, He is willingly laying down His life before the face of God, laying down His life for His sheep, that He might forever open for them the way into the house of God's everlasting covenant of friendship. And presently He will appear through the resurrection as the central realization of the glorious temple of God. For, they may destroy this temple, but in three days He will rebuild it!

And so, He will not come down from the cross! Even though all hell break loose and come to Golgotha to mock and jeer, and to challenge Him to save Himself, He will not come down. O, indeed, in that first period of the crucifixion, when God still caused His sun to shine upon the righteous and the wicked alike that were present there on Golgotha, it appeared as if He were, indeed, powerless to take up their challenge; as if He were held to the cross by the power of the enemies, rather than by His own will. Or who would endure such contradiction of sinners against himself, as our Savior did on the cross, if he were not utterly in their power? Everybody mocked! The chief priests, the scribes and elders, the theologians of those days, sarcastically suggested that He saved others, but now could not save Himself; mockingly they shouted that they would believe that He was the King of Israel, if He only would come down from the cross; cruelly they reminded Him that He trusted in God as the Son, and that even God would not deliver Him in this hour of His agony! And even the malefactors that were crucified with Him, or at least one of them, appealed to Him in bitter mockery to save Himself and them! And the passers-by took time to stop and to wag their heads, and to challenge Him to come down and destroy the temple and rebuild it! Even the Roman soldiers heaped contempt upon a king that was so utterly in the power of his enemies! Who would endure all this, if he were not powerless to escape it, or to overcome the mocking mob? Indeed, in this hour there is no name left to the Son of man! There is no beauty that we should desire Him! The impotent victim of the powers of darkness He appears to be! He cannot come down from the cross, even if He would!

But at this hour, we remember His Word, and the many incidents that took place on His way to the cross, and believe that even now He has power to lay down His life and to take it again; that, as far as His power is concerned, He could descend from that cruel cross and put to shame the mockery of the enemy; and that, therefore, it is because He wills to suffer and to die, that He endures even this contradiction of sinners against Himself! We remember that He spoke of Himself as the Good Shepherd, that lays down His life for the sheep, whose life no one could take from Him, but who laid it down of Himself, that He might take it again. We recall His prayer, when His soul was troubled in anticipation of this hour, that the Father might glorify His name through Him; and the earnest supplication in the garden that the Father's will might be done. We bring back to our mind the dismissal of the traitor in the upper room, the act of His power in the garden, whereby He laid His would-be captors prostrate in the dust before Him, His refusal of all human or heavenly help to prevent His being taken by the enemy. All this we now recall, and we know, that even in this hour of the cross He is the mighty Lord of life and death. The fact that He did not come down from the cross is no proof of His impotence, of the triumph of His enemies over Him, but rather of the certainty of the atonement by His willing sacrifice. But no, we do not even need to recall the former manifestations of His power, for we may now look at the cross in the light of His glorious resurrection. That resurrection is God's seal on the sacrifice of Christ and on the perfection of His obedience. "It is finished" -- thus announced the Savior from His cross just before He gave up the ghost. "It is finished!" -- such is the testimony of God from heaven in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! And by faith we receive that Word of God, and though all things of our present experience testify against us, we respond: "Indeed, finished forever!"