As soon as the books of record are opened , and the eye of Jesus looks upon the wicked , they are conscious of every sin which they have ever committed . They see just where their feet diverged from the path of purity and holiness , just how far pride and rebellion have carried them in the violation of the law of God . The seductive temptations which they encouraged by indulgence in sin , the blessings perverted , the messengers of God despised , the warnings rejected , the waves of mercy beaten back by the stubborn , unrepentant heart--all appear as if written in letters of fire .
Above the throne is revealed the cross ; and like a panoramic view appear the scenes of Adam ' s temptation and fall , and the successive steps in the great plan of redemption . The Saviour ' s lowly birth ; His early life of simplicity and obedience ; His baptism in Jordan ; the fast and temptation in the wilderness ; His public ministry , unfolding to men heaven ' s most precious blessings ; the days crowded with deeds of love and mercy , the nights of prayer and watching in the solitude of the mountains ; the plottings of envy , hate , and malice which repaid His benefits ; the awful , mysterious agony in Gethsemane beneath the crushing weight of the sins of the whole world ; His betrayal into the hands of the murderous mob ; the fearful events of that night of horror--the unresisting prisoner , forsaken by His best-loved disciples , rudely hurried through the streets of Jerusalem ; the Son of God exultingly displayed before Annas , arraigned in the high priest ' s palace , in the judgment hall of Pilate , before the cowardly and cruel Herod , mocked , insulted , tortured , and condemned to die--all are vividly portrayed .
And now before the swaying multitude are revealed the final scenes--the patient Sufferer treading the path to Calvary ; the Prince of heaven hanging upon the cross ; the haughty priests and the jeering rabble deriding His expiring agony ; the supernatural darkness ; the heaving earth , the rent rocks , the open graves , marking the moment when the world ' s Redeemer yielded up His life .
The awful spectacle appears just as it was . Satan , his angels , and his subjects have no power to turn from the picture of their own work . Each actor recalls the part which he performed . Herod , who slew the innocent children of Bethlehem that he might destroy the King of Israel ; the base Herodias , upon whose guilty soul rests the blood of John the Baptist ; the weak , timeserving Pilate ; the mocking soldiers ; the priests and rulers and the maddened throng who cried , " His blood be on us , and on our children !" --all behold the enormity of their guilt . They vainly seek to hide from the divine majesty of His countenance , outshining the glory of the sun , while the redeemed cast their crowns at the Saviour ' s feet , exclaiming : " He died for me !"
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