Christ Crucified Between Two Malefactors

    And is not the cross itself sufficiently disgraceful? Must Christ on the cross be a companion of malefactors? Yes, so is the will of God. And that it was designed for wise purposes is evident from the fact, that the thing was predicted by the Spirit of prophecy. It was, then, no accidental thing. It is a matter adjusted by Divine wisdom. When he died between two malefactors, " The Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors." And great wisdom appears in the fact. It not only served to increase the humiliation of Jesus, but afforded him, in the very depth of that humiliation, an occasion of manifesting his almighty power, and his sovereign grace. One of the malefactors he saved through the blood which was then shed ; the other, in his sovereignty, he overlooked, and suffered to perish in ignorance and sin. By the occasion now providentially offered, he manifested himself in some of the most awful characters of God. Even while suffering on the cross, he exercised almighty power, and displayed sovereign grace. Here he gives hope to the guiltiest of mankind who believe on him. Here he gives hope to the guilty even under the very grasp of death. If they now believe, like the Israelites stung with the fiery serpents, they are saved from the most deadly sins. When they look on this Saviour, their wounds are instantly healed.