Deliverance from the Cross — Page 49
of deliverance left open for him, and yet God had promised him deliverance and he wondered whether anything that he had done or had left undone since the divine promise had served to cause offence to God. Stretched, as he was, on the cross he might have felt that the strain of the proceedings of the day and the ill treatment that he had undergone at the hands of the multitude were about to overcome his physical senses. He could not, at that moment, have imagined that his loss of consciousness and his perception of his approaching end were the very means that God in His Wisdom, had designed for his deliverance. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. ' (John 19:28-30) It is noteworthy that all four Evangelists use the same expression with regard to the termination of the tragedy upon the cross. It is not said that Jesus died, but that he yielded or gave up the ghost. Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost'. (Mark 15:37) 'And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, 49