Who Struck Christ?

Have
you ever read the account in the gospels of the trial and crucifixion
of Christ and tried to actually picture it in your mind as if you
were really there? Luke tells us of something that happened on that
occasion that we ought to consider. In
Luke 22:63-65 "And the men that held Jesus mocked him and smote
him. and when they had blindfolded him they struck him on the face,
and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? And many
other things blasphemously spake they against him."

Doesn't
it make shivers run up your spine to think of this scene in the house
of the high priest? It was here in the home of a religious leader
that Christ received his most shameful treatment! They seemed not to
realize that they abused their only hope of eternal life! There was
none left to defend him or even to sympathize with him. Peter was the
last of the disciples to leave, but now even he is gone out into the
dark before the dawn to pour out his bitter tears for having denied
the one he had vowed to follow even to death. Christ has truly placed
himself into the hands of wicked men! The prophecy of Isaiah is
becoming only too real. Isa.
50:6 "I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that
plucked off the hair, I hid not my face from shame and spitting."
Consider how absurd
are these who think that a cloth around his eyes will hide their
actions from him who knows even the thoughts of their hearts! How
typical is this of the whole human race! This folly began with Adam
as he tried to cover his own sin and shame with the fig leaves. Adam
and Eve were unable to even hide their shame from themselves.

Cain
slew his brother and hid him in the earth, but God said "The
blood of your brother Abel crieth to me from the ground!" Aachan
was a man in Israel who thought that to hide his sin from the eyes of
man was to hide it also from God. It nevertheless brought defeat to
Israel in battle and death to himself and his family! In the early
Church we have a record of a man and wife that tried to hide
something from God, but He made it known and they suffered the
consequences! Men still think that to do something in secret is to
fool God.

The
men who held Jesus covered the eyes of the Lord but he knew. He knew
not only those who struck his face and those who spit upon him, but
even those who stood by and watched! After all, here is one who knows
even the thoughts of the heart! In the sixth chapter of Luke we see
him confounding the Pharisees with a question because as it is stated
in the eighth verse, "But
he knew their thoughts!" As
he sat at meat in the house of Simon the Pharisee, Luke records that
Simon spake within himself, v.39, and immediately we are told in v.
40 Jesus answered him! Here is one who knew Nathaniel before he ever
approached him and had even seen him as he rested under a fig tree a
great distance away. You'll find the record of it in John 1:47-50.

In
Mark 5:25-30 we are told of the woman with an issue of blood who only
touched the hem of his garment, and IMMEDIATELY he knew it! Yes, He
knew the hand that struck each blow and the mouth from which each
blasphemous word came, and it is still true today that he knows all
about us. He has warned us in his Word, "Be
sure your sins will find you out!

Is
there one alive today who would join in such cruel activities and
foolish actions as those in which they engaged on that night? We like
to think that in our times such things wouldn't happen, but Christ IS
still being slapped and scorned by sinful men!

A
life of rejecting Christ as Saviour is as a blow to his cheek!
Remember, Isaiah said he was bruised for OUR iniquities. Paul said he
died for OUR sins. Though you might be so ever tender hearted and
gentle that the thought of participating in the beating of Christ is
an abomination to you, yet the rejection of such a love as his is an
act of cruelty. They only did it because they didn't want him as
saviour and king. Man still rejects him and grieves the Holy Spirit
for the same reason. Don't add your scorn to the blasphemers of that
day, but rather accept him and the life that he offers you.

To
accept Christ as saviour but then refuse to follow is an insult to
him who died for you. Yet there are those who claim that they have
been saved but who will not serve him. These fine folks wouldn't
think of saying a cross word about Christ, they would shrink back in
horror from the suggestion that they join those who scorned and spit
upon him, and yet their lives tell the world, `He died for me, but I
don't think he's worth living for!'

If
you have ever professed Christ as your saviour then why not separate
yourself for all time from those who hate him. Show the world that
the one who thought you worth dying for is worth your living for!

There
was a man who was a laborer with Paul named Demas who was worthy to
be mentioned as Paul wrote the letter to the Colossian Church. Later,
however, Paul wrote concerning him, to his everlasting shame, "Demas
hath forsaken me, having loved this present evil world." He
was as those in Galatia, to whom Paul wrote in Gal.
4:9, "but now, after that ye have known God, or rather, are
known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements,
whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?"

This
is the kind of individual about whom the Lord spoke in Luke
9:62, "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking
back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Little
do these people realize the insult to the Lord when they say, "Oh,
I used to serve him, but I quit!" This is to say to him, I've
tried walking with you, but I would rather have the world! How sad to
see one who starts out with such joy and promise in the Lord's
service, to falter and turn away. There are many in the world today
who aren't happy and don't know why. Maybe it's because you've been
looking for happiness in the wrong place!

Shall
I turn again and shake the hand

of
the fiend who drove the nails,

and
have the hand that plucked his beard

laid
in friendship on my shoulders?

When
the devil and his crowd assails

the
cross, where will I stand?

Beside
the saints who never feared;

Or
with men whose hatred smolders?

To
turn my back on him, my Lord

and
bow to sin's dread reign

is
but to join the ones who mocked

and
lift the sponge with bitter gall

that
adds new sorrow to his pain.

He
died for sin's vast captive horde

that
heaven's gates might be unlocked!

Away,
Vile Hand! He loved me more that all!

Will
you take your stand for Christ today? If your are lost you need only
come repenting of your sins and receive the free pardon he offers
you. If you have been saved but haven't started your life of service,
or you started out but fell by the wayside, will you say even now,
"I'll not strike a blow to his cheek nor will I stand any longer
with those who do, but I'll live for him who died for me!