JESUS his cruel and shameful death

JESUS his cruel and shameful death

The sun shone out beautifully over the magnificent city on the morning of that terrible day. 

Could it be possible that a deed so atrocious was about to be perpetrated?

Yet it continued to pour down its beams on the crowds that thronged all the ways leading to the place of death, the Hill of Calvary, where the sent of God was hung up as a spectacle for the world to gaze at. 

But the cruel process of crucifixion had not long been enacted when the heavens were overcast and all Nature became black as if a pall had been flung over the whole sky. 

The sun, ashamed, hid its face in thick clouds. 

The forked lightning darted athwart the dark expanse and the thunder rolled fearfully, north and south, east and west. 

We felt the earth quaking beneath our feet. 

The Roman guards stood motionless, gazing in silence at the fearful scene, while the crowds of Jews slunk away in consternation towards the city.

Among those who continued to stand by, a number of the followers of the beloved Master drew together, keeping close to the cross, on which He hung in agony. 

While He lived, he continued to look down on them, while now and again, they heard words of comfort coming from his lips. 

Although some, even of the Twelve, had timidly deserted him, not one of the women who had so devotedly followed him was absent, and some of those who stood firm to the close were strangers. 

These were trying, painful hours to them who looked on. 

To see one whom they esteemed as the chosen of God for the world's good crucified in pain and shame and set up between two criminals! 

But even these two dying men, amid their own grievous agonies, praised him who hung between. 

They had witnessed his childlike submission, they had heard his words of love and deep compassion, his prayer for his murderers, and being near to death, their eyes were opened to discern the thousands of the spirit world hovering round. 

That mailed host was there, too, who had our dying Master but whispered to them could have swept Jerusalem and its inhabitants into utter destruction. 

But no—such was not his way of overcoming enmity.

He prayed to the great Father to forgive them. But he died with the words of forgiveness on his lips for the thousands of bitter enemies that had nailed him to the tree.

Some of those men who stood looking at him whom they had thus treated imagined that he would miraculously free himself from the cross, and who had he done so would have bent the knee to him and acknowledged his messiahship, but he would not—the work had to be done and that was to sacrifice himself—to die for the truth he had been sent to proclaim. 

During the great darkness, it was said that the spirits of men who had long passed away appeared to many in Jerusalem. 

There were some so silly as to say that they had resumed their old bodies that had lain for ages in the grave. If they appeared at all, it must have been in bodies materialised for the occasion.

As night drew on, the company left the place of crucifixion, but others, with the women, still knelt around the cross. 

They were thus kneeling when the soldiers approached to break the limbs of the crucified before the Jewish Sabbath began. 

Finding that Jesus was dead, they did nothing. 

The blessed Spirit was away to Paradise whence he would return to impart comfort and instruction to his sorrowing followers. 

The two malefactors who still lived were quickly put out of their dreadful agonies by the soldiers. 

These men entered into the third sphere and are now blessed evangelists, labouring amongst the denizens of the dark caverns.

He, too, had gone there, and traversed the dreary mazes of the great prison-house because he desired to pass through all the experiences of man so that he might better accomplish the work of redemption. 

And yet, though coming through all such experiences, he ever remained pure and unblameable. 

In whatever place he was—Greece, Egypt, Persia—or elsewhere, it was the same, He conformed to the laws of the people, but worshipped God, the great Spirit.

A number of his followers met on the evening of that sad day in the house of one of the brethren. You can imagine the heavy hearts they had. But it was a night of prayer, and as the Sabbath came on, they felt as if Jesus himself were there in spirit.

When it was told to them in the morning that Joseph of Arimathea, who had so boldly defended him in the Council had got possession of the body of their Master, they rejoiced greatly. But this did not banish the thought that He who had loved them was now taken away from their mortal sight. 

It was while they were in this condition that the venerable form of Issha appeared to Hermes and told him not to be disquieted—that Jesus would soon be with them again and that the angelic host would watch over them until He returned to give them the power, which He had promised.

All Jerusalem was now in commotion because of that which had taken place the day before. 

The priests, pondering on the few words that had fallen from the lips of Jesus, regarding his rising again, got a guard of soldiers to watch the tomb where Joseph had laid the body, lest, as they said, they should steal it away and say He had risen again. 

And when the Sabbath was past and the morning light came on, did the great Deliverer burst out upon these soldiers in the greatness of his power? 

No—He quietly passed through the doorway, and in the sight of the trembling guards who bowed before him, He left them to watch an empty tomb. 

The soldiers, on recovering from their astonishment at that which they had seen, went and reported to the priests all that had taken place. 

And what did these evil-hearted men do? 

It was said that they attempted to bribe the poor soldiers to say that while they slept the body of Jesus was taken away by his disciples, only do this, and we shall make it all right with your commander, for well they knew that it was death by the Roman law for a soldier to sleep while on guard. 

Such were the men who crucified our Master. 

Chief Priests in the Temple of God! 

Dastards! to tempt poor soldiers with a bribe. 

It would not hide. 

They had but to look at the rent veil of their Temple to see Heaven's condemnation of their accursed deed. 

The fire of Heaven cleft it in twain, and the word went forth—

Away with all these mummeries! 

The day of symbols is past. 

Not now by these may man approach his Maker. 

Man's heart is the true Temple of God. Conscience will guide man, the lesser intelligence, to serve God, the great Intelligence. 

And Jesus, the Light of the World, shall in spirit destroy the corrupt systems of men.

All that Sabbath-day, we were continually coming and going, we could not rest. 

The room in which we met was never without some of us on our knees in prayer. 

At last, on the morning after, we were astonished when it was reported to us that some of the brethren had seen the Master, and thereafter, when we met with some others in the house where I lodged, my venerable father Issha appeared before us, and as distinctly visible as one of ourselves.

 

Issha put forth his hands over us as we sat, and at once, before our wondering eyes, stood Jesus in bodily form. 

He stretched out his hands, and thereon, we saw the wounds the nails had made. 

And then he spoke to us—

I have been away and have seen my kingdom, and now I will be with you for a short time before I finally depart.

There were some who thought it was a vision. But I knew it was a reality. I saw that it was the same body on which I had so often looked before the crucifixion, and yet there was some difference, not easily described. 

But when grasped by the hand, the feeling was the same, as when we grasped the hands of each other. 

He appeared to be sadder now than formerly, though he rarely ever smiled. When a boy, he was joyous and laughed like the rest of us. 

But now he spoke with solemnity.

He alluded to the opposition that would be made to our work, but told us not to be afraid, for he would be with us—that when persecution set in against us because of the truth, we were to watch lest we should be tempted to fall away.

Be ever bold and faithful in the work, which I have given you to do—never withhold your hands from the great work. 

A structure will be raised, but a time will come when my doctrine will be trampled underfoot by men professing to be my true followers, but hypocritical worshippers, wearing a cloak of truth to cover their iniquity.

Again, and again, he met with us and spoke of the necessity of prayer and watchfulness on our part in view of the mission we were undertaking. 

These interviews with our beloved Master were held in various places when we came together, during three or four weeks, but none of us knew where he went to when he left us. 

He had been seen by some of the brethren who were fishermen, walking on the sea—by others, on Mount Olivet—while I and others had seen him surrounded by the heavenly host. Indeed, it may be said that he met with the brethren by day and with the angels by night. I had seen these holy ones in their mortal form, but with Jesus, they appeared in spirit with brightness beyond that of the sun at noonday.

As the day drew nigh when he should leave us, he gave each of us directions about the work we had undertaken. 

Although the Jews had cut him off, we were not to cast that in their teeth and refuse to deal with them—on the contrary, we were to hold forth his truth to the people of Jerusalem. 

If they should revile us because of our faith in him, we were to submit, answering them not. 

And there were some of us who needed this advice of the Master.

I know I had a fiery temper, but bearing his words in mind, I succeeded in curbing it, even though in doing so, I had to bite my lip.

Better to do that than give the enemy anything to say. 

We went out that day with him into the country, but even then, as we journeyed onwards, the country people drew near to us and he put forth his power, as he had done before and healed those who were sick among them.

At length, we came to the spot whence he was to be taken from us. 

We stood around him while he prayed for us, and just as he was in the act of blessing us, he was gradually lifted up before our eyes. 

Gazing longingly upwards, we beheld a host of bright beings overshadowing us amongst whom I knew my beloved father Issha. 

As the form of our Lord and Master rose, it seemed slowly to dissolve and a cloud came down and shut out the view. 

We saw no more of Jesus, our beloved Master, but we knew we would meet him in the Heavens, into which he had gone, and that though no longer with us in the body, he would be with us in spirit to direct and guide us. 

It was a foretaste of Heaven. 

We went back to Jerusalem, as he had bidden us, to wait on his promise, the fullness of the spirit.

Did you eat and drink with Jesus after his resurrection?

On several occasions, he ate and drank with the assembled brethren. 

Was there not something different in his bodily powers, something greater than before his crucifixion?

No—there was then no greater power. 

He did not at all times put forth his power. 

On some occasions, during his ministry in Judea, he disappeared from the sight of his enemies—

In these cases, he merely operated on their eyesight. By the exercise of the same power, he appeared to us and vanished away. 

Had our beloved Master wished to escape at Calvary, do you imagine that nails could have held him to the tree? 

No, and there were those about him who had he but said the word could in an instant have swept his murderers from the face of the Earth. 

But the Cross was his final sermon, for on it he showed to all men that truth and righteousness must be maintained by the sacrifice of life itself. 

On that dark day, Nature herself preached to many men of thought. 

Some tried to get over it by saying it was an eclipse of the Sun, but wiser men knew that that could not take place at the time. 

Truth and righteousness must be maintained by the sacrifice of life itself.

Do you have any idea how the Revelation was given to John—was it in vision and afterwards written out in his normal state?

If the Revelation was made to John, and written by him, he would, I think, be controlled to write in his normal state, and in doing so, the vision and words would be brought before him. 

But I doubt whether he wrote it. 

I think I saw it though not exactly in the same form before John's time.

Hafed, Prince of Persia—His Experiences in Earth Life and Spirit Life

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