are the very men who with impious hands placed upon His form the purple robe , upon His sacred brow the thorny crown , and in His unresisting hand the mimic sceptre , and bowed before Him in blasphemous mockery . The men who smote and spit upon the Prince of life now turn from His piercing gaze and seek to flee from the overpowering glory of His presence . Those who drove the nails through His hands and feet , the soldier who pierced His side , behold these marks with terror and remorse .
With awful distinctness do priests and rulers recall the events of Calvary . With shuddering horror they remember how , wagging their heads in satanic exultation , they exclaimed : " He saved others ; Himself He cannot save . If He be the King of Israel , let Him now come down from the cross , and we will believe Him . He trusted in God ; let Him deliver Him now , if He will have Him ." Matthew 27:42 , 43 . Vividly they recall the Saviour ' s parable of the husbandmen who refused to render to their lord the fruit of the vineyard , who abused his servants and slew his son . They remember , too , the sentence which they themselves pronounced : The lord of the vineyard " will miserably destroy those wicked men ." In the sin and punishment of those unfaithful men the priests and elders see their own course and their own just doom . And now there rises a cry of mortal agony . Louder than the shout , " Crucify Him , crucify Him ," which rang through the streets of Jerusalem , swells the awful , despairing wail , " He is the Son of God ! He is the true Messiah !" They seek to flee from the presence of the King of kings . In the deep caverns of the earth , rent asunder by the warring of the elements , they vainly attempt to hide .
In the lives of all who reject truth there are moments when conscience awakens , when memory presents the torturing recollection of a life of hypocrisy and the soul is harassed with vain regrets . But what are these compared with the remorse of that day when " fear cometh as desolation ," when " destruction cometh as a whirlwind "! Proverbs 1:27 . Those who would have destroyed Christ and His faithful people now witness the glory which rests upon them . In the midst of their terror they hear the voices of the saints in joyful strains exclaiming : " Lo , this is our God ; we have waited for Him , and He will save us ." Isaiah 25:9 .
Amid the reeling of the earth , the flash of lightning , and the roar of thunder , the voice of the Son of God calls forth the sleeping saints . He looks upon the graves of the righteous , then , raising His hands to heaven , He cries : " Awake , awake , awake , ye that sleep in the dust , and arise !" Throughout the length and breadth of the earth the dead shall hear that voice , and they that hear shall live . And the whole earth shall ring with the tread of the exceeding great army of every nation , kindred , tongue , and people . From the prison house of death they come , clothed with immortal glory , crying : " O death , where is thy sting ? O grave , where is thy victory ?" 1 Corinthians 15:55 . And the living righteous and the risen saints unite their voices in a long , glad shout of victory .
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