be?"[206] And on to the bitter end, marked by the expiring though triumphant cry "It is finished," the incarnated God held in subjection within Himself the power to thwart His murderers, had He so willed. [204] John x, 17-18. See "Jesus the Christ," pp. 22, 23, 81, 418. [205] John v, 26-27. [206] Matt. xxvi, 53-54. =11.= The motive inspiring and sustaining Him through all the scenes of His mission, from the time of His primeval ordination to the moment of victorious consummation on the cross, was two-fold; first, the desire to do His Father's will, in accomplishing the salvation of man; second, His love for humanity, of whose welfare and destiny He had assumed charge. Far from cherishing the least feeling of vindictiveness against those, who, in defiance of the laws of God and man, put Him to ignominious death, He entertained for them compassion to the last. Hear Him in the hour of supreme agony, praying aloud, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."[207] Not less is the Father's love, as shown by His accepting the Son's offer, and permitting Him whom He delighted to call His Beloved, to suffer as only a God could suffer:--"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved."[208] And further, we hear the teaching of the apostle, whom the Savior loved so well, "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him."[209] [207] Luke xxiii, 34. [208] John iii, 16-17. [209] I John iv, 9. See "Jesus the Christ," chs. ii and iii.