God Glorified in Christ’s Death

Human beings are naturally self-centred and are always inclined to see themselves the centre of everything; it is therefore little wonder if when surveying the death of Christ we view it from our own standpoint, instead of seeing the glory of God in it.
The death of Christ was an act between the Father and the Son, by the Spirit, and while it was for man’s good, we must never forget that it was also for God’s glory, and that the great aim of God in Christ was not only the reconciling of the world to Himself but His glory in it.
Through Christ’s obedience and death God magnified His LAW, Isa. 42. 21. The Lord Jesus kept the law of God in a world of sin, which made Him as conspicuous as a fire burning in mid-ocean. Even in the midst of all the suffering He never deviated but was obedient to the very last letter and thereby honoured God’s law more than it was dishonoured by Adam’s fall.
God magnified His love by sending His only begotten Son to save rebellious men; and when men treated Him so wickedly God did not withdraw Him from this scene but gave Him up to death, because He had set His heart on fallen man to redeem him to Himself. It is love unchangeable, incomprehensible, and unfathomable.
God magnified His justice inasmuch as when the Lord Jesus made Himself responsible for our sin, God called upon the sword to smite Him, Zech. 13. 7. Justice and judgment are the foundation of God’s throne, Psa. 89. 14, r.v., not love and mercy, as many would have us believe. Mercy follows justice but docs not exist without it.
God magnified His holiness. It has been said that God manifested His love to the sinner at Calvary, and we might add that He showed His hatred of sin more completely in the death of His Son than He ever will in eternal judgment.
God magnified His truth by fulfilling all His promises and prophecies concerning Christ, so that not one failed but all were fulfilled as touching that great event. He will yet magnify His truth by fulfilling the whole of His promises to His Son, while at present the Son is waiting till the right time comes for His enemies to be put down, Psa. 110. 1.
God magnified His wisdom by proving to the universe His ability to deal with the question of sin in justice, and yet in love and mercy. Apparently Michael the archangel did not fully understand how this was to be, Jude 9, but today it is clearly demonstrated and thereby God is magnified.
God magnified His power by proving to our wondering eyes that His Son could endure all the judgment that was meted out to Him as the result of our sin. How great was His sustaining power!
God magnified His grace by condescending to touch poor fallen man and to allow His Holy Son to have the iniquity of us all laid upon Him, Isa. 53. 6.
God magnifies His MERCY by receiving sinners on the ground of that work. Even in the intensity of His suffering the Lord said to a criminal who was being put to death for his crime, ‘Today shalt thou be with me in paradise’. ‘O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judge-ments, and his ways past tracing out’, Rom. 11. 33, R.v.