178 



LT.-COL. G. MACKIXLAY^ OX 



" Dost not tliou fear God, seeing thou art in the same 

 condemnation ? And we indeed justly ; for we receive the due 

 reward of our deeds " ; and then speaking to our Lord he said. 



Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy Kingdom " 

 (Luke xxiii, 40-^^2). 



Li his second saving our Lord again made no reference to His 

 own position, but, full of confidence. He graciously promised 

 the repentant sinner that he would be with Himself on that 

 very day in Paradise. Our Lord, dying on the cross the death 

 of a malefactor, and surrounded by a hostile crowd, spoke with 

 the dignity and authority of the Di^-ine King upon His throne. 



Lastly, we have the simple yet majestic statement that as our 

 Lord died He said, " Father, into thy hands I commend my 

 spirit " : in full assurance that His atoning Work was finished 

 and accepted (John xix, 30). 



God the Father was addressed in the fijst and last of these 

 sapngs, on which Dean Alford has remarked that our Lord " is 

 the Son of God, and He speaks in the fulness of this covenant 

 relation." 



The intermediate saying contained gracious words of blessing 

 spoken to a single repentant and beheving sinner — what a 

 contrast I 



This arrangement reminds us of the planning of some of the 

 Psalms, in which the praises of Jehovah come at the begin- 

 ning and end, while His pardoning love in removing our 

 transgressions from us, as far as the east is from the west," 

 is dwelt upon in the intermediate part (Ps. ciii, 12). 



(26) A triplet of triplications. 



Triphcations Xos. (21) and (22) both emjDhasize human 

 failure — of Peter's love and of Pilate's power respectively — to 

 succour our Lord in His dying moments. These two may 

 therefore be regarded as one. 



Similarly, Xos. (23) and (2-1) both testify to our Lord's 

 innocence ; they also may be regarded as one, doubled for the 

 sake of increased emphasis. 



Consequently we may regard Xo. (21) with (22), (23) with (24). 

 and (25) as forming a triplet of triphcations. The first component 

 shows human failure, notwithstanding the strong human 

 testimony to our Lord's faultlessness in the second, while the 

 third and last component emphasizes the greatness of our Lord's 

 atoning sacrifice upon the cross. 



