Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

April 7– Morning

 by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“O, you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame?” 

—Psalm 4:2

 

When Jesus, the long-expected king of Israel, finally came to his people, they honored him in the strangest kind of way. First, they gave him a procession of honor in which Roman soldiers, Jewish priests, and the masses all took part, while they let him carry a cross. This is how the world rewards the One who comes to overthrow man’s worst enemies. Sinful man can only praise God with derisive shouts of hatred.

They also presented him with the wine of honor. But, instead of a golden cup of fine wine they offered him wine-vinegar mixed with gall, thrusting it to his mouth in a sponge. What kind of detestable lack of hospitality is that for the King’s Son?

He was, of course, provided with an honor guard, but they showed their esteem for him by gambling for his clothing while he died.

They also honored him with a special throne on which to sit, but this throne was unlike any other. The most restful place that sinful men had to offer the Lord of glory was a crude and splintered bloody tree.

In short, the cross was, in fact, the full expression of the world’s feelings toward the Son of God. It is as if they were saying, “There, Son of God; this is the manner in which we would treat God himself, if we could lay our hands on him.

In this way, his glory was turned into shame by the sons of men, but his glory will still gladden the eyes of saints and angels until the end of the world and far beyond. [M&E]