Morning By Morning #101

When they were come to the place,
which is called Calvary, there they crucified him.

Luke 23:33 KJV

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

Calvary is the hill of comfort, while the wood of the cross is used to build the house of comfort. And Jesus, the Rock split in two by the spear that pierced His side, is the foundation of the temple of heavenly blessing. Thus, no scene in sacred history can gladden the soul like the tragic scene of Calvary.

Is it not strange, the darkest hour

That ever dawned on sinful earth,

Should touch the heart with softer power,

For comfort, than an angel’s mirth?

That to the cross the mourner’s eye should turn,

Sooner than where the stars of Bethlehem burn?

John Keble, 1792 – 1866

A great Light shines from the midday midnight of Golgotha, and every lovely “flower of the field” (Isa. 40:6 KJV) blooms beneath the shadow of the once accursed tree. From Jesus’ place of thirst, grace dug a fountain that forever gushes with water pure as crystal—each drop capable of alleviating the woes of man.

Dear believers, each of you has had your times of conflict, but you must confess it was not on the hill of the Mount of Olives, Mount Sinai, or Mount Tabor that you ever found comfort. No, it has been “Gethsemane” (Matt. 26:36), “Gab-batha” (John 19:13), and “Golgotha” (John 19:17) that have been used to comfort you. Often the bitter herbs of Gethsemane have taken away the bitterness of your life, the scourge of Gabbatha often has scourged away your worries, and the groans of Golgotha have produced unthink-ably rich comfort for you. We would never have known the full height and depth of Christ’s love if He had not died, nor would we have even been able to guess of the Father’s deep affection if He had not given His Son to die.

The common everyday blessings of life we enjoy all sing of Christ’s love, just as a seashell held to the ear whispers of the deep sea from which it came. Yet if we desire to hear “the ocean itself,” we must not look at everyday blessings, but at the event of the crucifixion. One who truly desires to know love must go to Calvary and see the “man of sorrows” die (Isa. 53:3).

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

“The Old Rugged Cross” was written twenty-one years after Spurgeon’s death, by George Ben-nard (1873 – 1958) in 1913. Yet with Spurgeon’s preaching always so centered on the cross, surely he would have loved this beautiful hymn:

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

The emblem of suffering and shame;

And I love that old cross where the dearest and best

For a world of lost sinners was slain.

Father, “may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).