60. Is there pardon possible for Jesus' executioners?

Jesus' words, "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do," were spoken as his executioners were completing their dread task.

But the prayer was not limited to them alone, but included all who had a hand in it, for the apostle could afterward say, with truth, "had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory."

In a still wider sense the prayer was a fulfilment of the Messianic prediction in Isa. 53:12. The world, in every age, owes much to these few words.

We have no right to question the validity of Jesus' prayer, that what these fanatical and misguided men did in their ignorance and anger should not be laid to their charge in the final account.