8. The Sacrifice of Messiah Voluntary.--Unbelievers delight to represent God, the great Law Giver, as unspeakably cruel in demanding such an atonement as Christ made for the salvation of the children of men. But let it be borne in mind that he who made the atonement did so voluntarily. Testifying to his disciples respecting the matter, he says:
Therefore doth my father love me, be cause I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.[113]
When his enemies gathered about him--a former friend betraying him with a kiss,--and Peter prepared to defend him with the sword, he chided him for his rashness, commanding him to put up his sword, and added:
Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?[114]
Thus down to the very last moment, it appears that Jesus could have been delivered from the sacrifice had he so willed it. But the principle which was the guiding star of his life--"Father, not my will, but thy will be done"--influenced him in this instance, and he drank of the cup given him of his Father, and wrung out the dregs in agony; but he did it voluntarily, and that, too, out of his great love for mankind.
{ 89} 9. The Love of God Made Manifest in the Atonement.--By this atonement of Messiah's there is especially one fact thrown out in bold relief, that is, the great love of God and Christ for mankind. When one thinks of the unspeakable agony, of the anguish of heart, of the pains that racked the body and distressed the mind of the Savior at the time of his betrayal, and during his trial and crucifixion, he may see how great the love of the Father for mankind must be, when he would consent for his only begotten Son to pass through this great humiliation and affliction, in order to redeem mankind from the bonds of death. On such contemplation increased emphasis will be given to the passage--
In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.[115]