Countless angels gathered ‘round

                                    The balcony on high,

                                    Watching all the scene below

                                    Where God's own Son would die.

                                    All of heaven hushed in quiet,

                                    And gazed in silent awe;

                                    Hardly knowing what to think

                                    As Love fulfilled the Law.

                                    Far below, the maddened crowd

                                    Observed the lonely form

                                    Toiling ‘neath the heavy cross

                                    And bloodied crown of thorns.

                                    "Hope of Israel," They scoffed;

                                    "You said that you were God!"

                                    Never thinking that for them

                                    He bore the Father's rod.

                                    The angry mob could ne'er suspect

                                    What Holy Love had done—

                                    That, loving man so tenderly

                                    He sacrificed His Son.

                                    Who could guess that Love would pay

                                    To save man from the fall?

                                    Hear the sound of Love divine:

                                    "O, please forgive them all!"

                                    The scornful crowd was silent now,

                                    In awe of how He died.

                                    Once hate-filled eyes now wide with fear;

                                    Some even knelt and cried.

                                    A stifled sob, a muffled moan

                                    Came softly now with dread.

                                    They did not know the Living God

                                    Would raise Him from the dead.

                                    But listen now to heaven's throng,

                                    And hear them as they sing:

                                    "All glory and all honor

                                    To eternal King of kings!"

                                    The hallelujah choruses

                                    The saints and angels sound

                                    Are showered on the Holy Christ

                                    In whom no spot was found.

    There is one stark point in all the history of mankind which stands out from all the rest and gives meaning and weight to what went before as well as what proceeded afterward. It is the startling fact of Calvary, where God's dear Son, Jesus Christ, gave His all for the least deserving.

    Surely God's ways are not our ways. When all seemed lost, and a total wash-out, God triumphed over all His foes in what has to be the drama of the ages. It must surely have been something extraordinary to see the expressions of angels as the Lamb of God went meekly to our death, as they watch Him actually pour out His soul unto death, the great enemy of God and mankind.

   What they didn't know, nor anyone else except Jesus Christ for that matter, was that Jesus rested as securely and as safe from eternal loss there on our cross as when He lay a helpless babe upon the lap of Mary. When He hung there a spectacle, it was not only to men, but to angels and demons besides. This drama was intensified by the very stakes involved. The destiny of man-kind!

    It wasn't until He arose from the tomb that the matter of Universal Lordship, which is centered in Jesus Christ, was forever settled and laid to rest. Because He yielded His life completely to the Father, not holding to His rights; because He entrusted the keeping of His soul entirely to the Father without reservation, He is given the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee in heaven and in earth should bow.

   Shall you and I come into our inheritance through less obedience? Shall He, who spared not His own Son, who spared not the angels that sinned, who spared not the cities of the plain, spare us? No, it is the infinite love of God which delivers us to our cross for the destruction of that which destroys and hinders our communion with Him.