Like many another man, Christ had to strengthen Himself against calumny
and slander by turning to God, and finding comfort in the belief that
there was One who would do Him right, and as throughout this context we
have had the true humanity of our Lord in great prominence, it is worth
while to dwell for a moment on that thought of His real sharing in the
pain of misconstruction and groundless charges, and of His too having
to say, as we have so often to say, 'Well, there is one who knows. Men
may condemn but God will acquit.'
But there is something more than that here. The divine vindication and
acquittal is not a mere hidden thought and judgment in the mind of God.
It is a declaring and showing to be innocent, and that not by word but
by deed. That expectation seemed to be annihilated and made ludicrous
by His death. But the 'justifying' of which our text speaks takes place
in Christ's resurrection and ascension.
'Manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit' (1 Timothy iii. 16).
'Declared to be the Son of God with power, ... by the resurrection from
the dead' (Rom. i. 4).
His death seems the entire abandonment of this holy and sinless man. It
seems to demonstrate His claims to be madness, His hope to be futile,
His promises to be wind. No wonder that the sorrowing apostles wailed,
'We trusted that it had been He who should have redeemed Israel.' The
death of Christ, if it were but a martyr's death, and if we had to
believe that that frame had crumbled into dust, and that heart ceased
for ever to beat, would not only destroy the worth of all that He
spoke, but would be the saddest instance in all history of the
irreversible sway that death wields over all mankind, and would deepen
the darkness and sadden the gloom of the grave. True, there were not
wanting even in His dying hours mysterious indications, such as His
promise to the penitent thief. But these only make the disappointment
the deeper, if there was nothing more after His death.
So Christ's justification is in His resurrection and ascension.