‘Himself He Cannot Save’

“He saved others, Himself He cannot save. …”

These were mocking words directed at Jesus as He hung on the Cross at Golgotha. Yes, these were words meant to wound the Son. These were also words most true.

Jesus possessed all power and all knowledge. He knew what was possible. This taunting was stirred by the devil among those jeering Him.

Satan pushed Jesus to take the power trip. In the wilderness, the devil tried to get Him to turn stone to bread and to take flight from the heights of the Temple (see Matthew 4, Luke 4).

Christ refused to play that game. He would not do for Himself what He did for others.

Blind men were made to see. A hunchbacked woman was made straight. Lepers got fresh, clean skin. Loaves and fish were multiplied to fill thousands of bellies. The Breath of Life was put back into a dead little girl, a widow’s son, and a dear, dear friend.

Yes, He saved others. His compassions never failed. These works were the works of the Good Shepherd.

“Himself He cannot save.”

Now He was in the midst of the Work of the Great Redeemer. The Shepherd was now the Lamb. The Priest was now the Offering.

This cup of the Cross He committed to drink in accord with the will of the Father. It had to be done. The finishing touches had to be accomplished. The Lamb was to be slain.

If not, others could not be saved from sin and death, from the wrath that abided upon every son and daughter of Adam.

Forsaken by All

Note what we see at the Cross in the Mark 15 description.

“He saved others. …” None could save Him, however.

The leaders of religion forsook the Son of David, one of their own, a descendant of Abraham. They dismissed His signs and wonders. They twisted His words against Him.

These Jewish officials bound Him and delivered Him to the custody of the empire. They did this in the midst of the high feast of Passover, the festival that commemorated Israel’s release and deliverance from the empire of Pharaoh and Egypt.

The leader of civil government took note of His innocence — “What has He done wrong?” said Pontius Pilate, as he understood the envy at work against the Savior. He tried to connive a way to set loose the Lamb. When all was said and done, this authority figure took the convenient route of perverted justice and so bent the rule of law to satiate the mob crying ever louder, “Crucify! Crucify!”

The guardians of Roman order, the military class, offered no protection or safe passage. Defend this “King of the Jews?” They would not. Instead, they ruthlessly pummeled Him with fists and rods. They spat at Him. They crowned Him with sharp thorns and His brow was torn. The soldiers spent their frustrations and anger upon Him.

Even the criminal element of the society refused and berated Him. Share on X

Even the criminal element of the society refused and berated Him. “And they that were crucified with him reviled Him” (Mark 15:32).

The worst was still to come, however. All the things that could be seen and heard on earth – religion, government, army, outlaws — rejected Him.

The bitterest fruit, He had yet to taste.

Made sin for all, He was forsaken absolutely and completely. Alone and naked, He was on His own.

The darkness stifled any sense that the Son of Man had of the Father and the Spirit. This was complete separation from what He’d known from eternity past. It was as if He was hearing from the Lord such words as these: “Depart from Me for I cannot know You.”

Colossal moments of cosmic loneliness came to the Lamb: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” His cry tore the sky. Creation thundered and shuddered. At the center of the Temple, the great veil hanging before the Holy of Holies was rent in two, top to bottom.

The Turning Point

But wait. What is it that remained?

In that blackened, heavy atmosphere, we hear His still, small voice. His words are the revelation of the faith of the Son of God. To His Father — our Father — He committed His spirit. The Son cast Himself into death, entrusting Himself to the purpose of Heaven. He believed the very Word that He embodied though all feelings had been removed.

There and then, “Himself He could not save.’’ All of the world’s justice was to be paid upon His very body. It was bruised and battered till it was practically bloodless, as we read of the water that sprang from His pierced side (see John 19:34).

To save us, He had to stay there, lifted up for all to see. And it is at that moment, we see a turning point.

The soldiers who’d taunted and tortured Him were dumbfounded then. From them came the first testimony of Truth about His Person. “And when the centurion, which stood over against Him, saw that He so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39).

Christ’s courage, poise, and fulfillment of His Mission touched them and they saw Him for who He really is. They now knew Him. They testified that this Son of Man was more than just a King on earth for He’d faced death like none they’d ever known.

At last, some honor was bestowed upon Jesus. He came from Heaven to Earth. He went to the Cross. He dived into the grave. The sting of death He felt to the full. He came down and went below. He descended below to hallow out the ground of judgment.

Jesus made an arrival in the realm of death, but that realm could not exercise dominion. Share on X

Jesus made an arrival in the realm of death, but that realm could not exercise dominion. “The Holy One” would not see corruption (see Psalm 16:10). His perfect life offered in substitution for us satisfied every debt of sin. A collapse came to the gates of Hell.

“Himself He cannot save.” Jesus became captive to the sins of the world in order to imprison captivity once and for all (see Ephesians 4:8).  No longer can the chains of death shackle those who believe on Him.

Mark 15 concludes with a religious man of the Jewish council, Joseph of Arimethea, seeking to care for the corpse of the Son. He wanted to provide some dignity in His burial. His body was taken from the Cross, wrapped in linen, and laid away in the tomb. Nicodemus, another one of the Jewish leaders, brought spices to administer to the body.

Hearts were heavy with grief that day. Women who followed Him wept as they made plans to return to the tomb on the third morning, after Sabbath had ended.

“Himself He cannot save.” That was the reality of the moment. He handed Himself over to the fulfillment of all things. He satisfied all righteousness. He was lifted up in order to draw all men to Himself.

To the Father went the spirit of the Son. The sun set on that Friday. It was dark and cold and quiet.

Sunday would dawn, however. And nothing would ever be the same.