I once saw a coloured
illustration of the three crosses on Calvary. One cross was painted black,
the other was white, and the middle one was red. Now if we look at those
three crosses on Calvary from the Divine standpoint, it seems as if one
cross which was black at first is now white. It is the cross of the
penitent thief; all his sins have been transferred to the Sin-bearer, so
now there is not one sin on him; he has been washed "whiter than snow."
The cross of the impenitent thief is black, and remains black, for he dies
with all his sins on him and goes into the blackness of darkness for ever.
The middle cross is red: Jesus the Holy One has no sin in Him, but the sin
of the whole world is _on_ Him, because He is the atoning sacrifice for
sin.
"O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head,
Our load was laid on Thee.
Thou stoodest in the sinner's stead,
Didst bear all ill for me.
A victim led, Thy blood was shed,
Now there's no load for me."
In the writings of an American Evangelist we meet with this quaint
illustration, "God uses bright red to get pure white out of dead black."
It is just the same truth as we have seen shining out from the three
crosses. There we see Jesus "in the midst," the God-appointed
Sacrifice for sin, and we see the penitent thief washed whiter than snow
in the precious Blood. We see Jesus again "in the midst," three days
after. It is in the Upper Room at Jerusalem, on Easter Sunday.
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