d cannot look upon sin: and
so when even His own Son was bearing our sins in His body, God could
not look upon Him.

I think this is what bore heaviest upon the Savior's heart in the
garden when He prayed:

"If it be possible, let this cup pass from me."

He could bear the unfaithfulness of His friends, the spite of His
enemies, the pain of His crucifixion, and the shadow of death; He
could bear all these; but when it came to the hiding of His Father's
face, that seemed almost too much for even the Son of God to bear.
But even this He endured for our sins; and now the face of God is
turned back to us, whose sins had turned it away, and looking upon
Jesus, the sinless One, He sees us in Him.

In the midst of all His agony, how sweet it must have been to Christ
to hear that poor thief confessing Him!

He likes to have men confess Him. Don't you remember His asking
Peter, "Whom do men say that I am?" and when Peter answered, "Some
people say you are Moses, some people say you are Elias, and some
people say you are one of the old Prophets," He asked again, "But,
Peter, whom do _you_ say I am?" When Peter said, "Thou art the Son
of God," Jesus blessed him for that confession. And now this thief
confesses Him--confesses Him in the darkness. Perhaps it is so dark
he cannot see Him any longer; but he feels that He is there beside
him. Christ wants us to confess Him in the dark as well as in the
light; when it is hard as well as when it is easy. For He was not
ashamed of us, but bore our sins and carried our sorrows, even unto
death.

When a prominent man dies, we are anxious, to get his last words and
acts.

THE LAST ACT OF THE SON OF GOD

was to save a sinner. That was a part of the glory of His death. He
commenced His ministry by saving sinners, and ended it by saving
this poor thief. "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the
lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord: Even the captives
of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible
shall be delivered." He took this captive from the jaws of death. He
was on the borders of hell, and Christ snatched him away.

No doubt Satan was saying to himself: "I shall have the soul of that
thief pretty soon. He belongs to me. He has been mine all these
years."

But in his last hours the poor wretch cried out to the Lord, and He
snapped the fetters that bound his soul, and set him at liberty. He
threw him a passport into heaven. I can imagine,