"The spotless Son of God hung upon the cross, His flesh lacerated
with stripes; those hands so often reached out in blessing, nailed to the wooden bars;
those feet so tireless on ministries of love, spiked to the tree; that royal head pierced
by the crown of thorns; those quivering lips shaped to the cry of woe. And all that He
endured--the blood drops that flowed from His head, His hands, His feet, the agony that
racked His frame, and the unutterable anguish that filled His soul at the hiding of His
Father's face--speaks to each child of humanity, declaring, It is for thee that the Son of
God consents to bear this burden of guilt; for thee He spoils the domain of death, and
opens the gates of Paradise. He who stilled the angry waves and walked the foam-capped
billows, who made devils tremble and disease flee, who opened blind eyes and called forth
the dead to life,--offers Himself upon the cross as a sacrifice, and this from love to
thee. He, the Sin Bearer, endures the wrath of divine justice, and for thy sake becomes
sin itself." from the book The Desire of Ages
