Unutterable Depths of Wondrous Woe

"One day, in my wanderings, I heard a cry, a groan; methought ‘twas not a cry such as came from mortal lip, it had in it such unutterable depths of wondrous woe. I turned aside, expecting to see some great sight; and it was indeed a great sight that I saw.

"Lo, there, upon a tree, all bleeding, hung a man. I marked the misery that made his flesh all quiver on his bones; I beheld the dark clouds come rolling down from heaven; I saw them clothe his brow with blackness, and I perceived that his heart was as full of the gloom and horror of grief as the sky was full of blackness. Then I seemed to look into his soul, and I saw there torrents of unutterable anguish, wells of torment of such an awful character that mortal lip dare not sip, lest it should be burned with scalding heat.

"I said, ‘Who is this mighty sufferer? Why doth he suffer thus? Hath he been the greatest of all sinners, the basest of all blasphemers?’

"But a voice came forth from the excellent glory, and it said, ‘This is my beloved Son; but he took the sinner’s sin upon himself, and he must bear its penalty.’

"O God! I thought, I never saw sin till that hour, when I saw it tear Christ’s glories from his head, when I saw him covered with his own blood, and plunged into the uttermost depths of oceans of grief."

- Charles Spurgeon

HT: Of First Importance