My reader cannot too carefully ponder this subject. It is one of immense weight and importance. He has to remember two points in reference to this entire question, namely, that there could be no union with Christ, save in resurrection; and that Christ _only_ suffered for sins on the cross. We are not to suppose that incarnation was, by any means, Christ taking us into union with Himself. This could not be. How could sinful flesh be thus united? The body of sin had to be destroyed by death. Sin had to be put away according to the divine requirement; all the power of the enemy had to be abolished. How was all this to be done? Only by the precious, spotless Lamb of God submitting to the death of the cross. "It became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect _through sufferings_." (Heb. ii. 10.) "Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and _the third day I shall be perfected_." (Luke xiii. 32.) The expressions "perfect" and "perfected" in the above passages, do not refer to Christ in His own Person abstractedly, for He was perfect from all eternity, as Son of God; and as to His humanity, He was absolutely perfect likewise. But then, as "the Captain of salvation"--as "bringing many sons unto glory"--as "bringing forth much fruit"--as associating a redeemed people _with_ Himself,--He had to reach "the third day" in order to be "perfected." He went down _alone_ into the "horrible pit, and miry clay;" but directly He plants His "foot on the rock" of resurrection. He associates with Himself the "many sons." (Psalm xl. 1-3.) He fought the fight alone; but, as the mighty Conqueror, He scatters around Him, in rich profusion, the spoils of victory, that we might gather them up and enjoy them forever. Moreover, we are not to regard the cross of Christ as a mere circumstance in a life of sin-bearing. It was _the_ grand and only scene of sin-bearing. "His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." (1 Peter ii. 24.) He did not bear them any where else. He did not bear them in the manger, nor in the wilderness, nor in the garden; but ONLY "ON THE TREE." He never had aught to say to sin, save on the cross; and there He bowed His head, and yielded up His precious life, under the accumulated weight of His people's sins. Neither did He ever suffer at the hand of God, save on the cross; and there Jehovah hid His face from Him because He was "made sin." (2 Cor. v.)