The Lord of Glory was crucified by THE PRINCES OF THIS WORLD. They who did this deed were the best the world ever produced, and they were the willing and proud builders of the great world system, an edifice which is still in course of construction according to the plans of Satan, who is the architect of it as well as its god and prince. They could find no room in their system for the Son of God. He was the Stone that would not fit into their pretentious schemes, and He could not be tolerated. They could not ignore Him, so they heaped ignominy upon Him to the uttermost, and judged Him worthy of the most shameful exit from the world that their malice could devise. The crucifixion of the Son of God was the consummation of their wisdom and the exhibition of their inveterate hatred of God. This being the case it should be evident to all that there cannot be oneness of thought and action between those who owe everything to Christ, and are in the fellowship of the Lord's death, and the world that crucified Him. They stand on one side of the line and the world on the other, and every principle that governs the one must necessarily be opposed to and destructive of the other. "For what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion has light with darkness? and what concord has Christ with Belial? or what part has he that believes with an infidel" (1 Cor. 6:14-15).
The cross of Christ is the world's condemnation, it was tested by His coming into it, and by rejecting Him it has demonstrated beyond question the fact that it has not a single thought in common with God, and that it is in irreconcilable rebellion against Him. God's plan is to gather His saints out of it and bring them "into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." Every attempt at compromise with the world on the part of the Christian profession is spiritual adultery — unfaithfulness to the Lord. To be true to that fellowship into which God has called us means heart-separation from the principles upon which the world is founded and the wisdom and movements in which it boasts. Thence the call to all who belong to it: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you says the Lord Almighty" (2 Cor. 6:17-18).