Jesus' Suffering...Our Redemption

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I'm studying through Matthew during my quiet time and, early last week, I read the chapters on Jesus' arrest, torture, and crucifixion. I sat in despair at the horror these chapters described.

I was drawn to Isaiah 53 - words written hundreds of years before Jesus' birth. Jesus knew the agony that faced Him and yet He came.

• Despised
• Rejected
• Esteemed not
• Stricken by God
• Afflicted
• Pierced
• Crushed
• Oppressed

God's judgement poured out on His Son; His forgiveness and grace poured out on us. 

I remembered the words Jesus spoke to Peter in the garden as He stood in front of the soldiers who came to arrest Him:

"Do you not think that I can call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more that twelve legions of angels?" Matthew 26:53

Jesus had deliverance within His grasp, but He refused to reach for it.

With a spoken word, He could escape the agony to come, but He remained silent.

He chose to walk the path to the cross. He willingly sacrificed His life for mine.

I can't describe the grief, amazement, and gratitude I felt. How can we stand in the face of such love? To fall to our faces is the only acceptable response.

Why? Why would Jesus suffer this way? Hebrews 12:2 says, "...for the joy set before him endured the cross..."

I'm sure Jesus was eager to experience the joy of returning to Heaven to become one with His Father once again. Did Jesus rejoice to know He would soon hear the praises of the angels instead of the scorn of the world around Him? His eyes were focused on the glory awaiting Him rather than the agony He experienced.

But I think there was an even greater joy that filled His heart: the joy of knowing you and me - all of us who love and believe in Him.

He died to cleanse us of the hopelessness and despair that tries to destroy us.
He rose to give us eternal life with Him.

What joy!

15 Amazing Verbs

I wasn't going to blog today. I finished the 8 Colors of God's Grace and hadn't decided what to do next. Then I read Isaiah 53:3-7

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on

him the iniquity of us all. 

I read the verbs in these verses and they affected me like never before.

Despised                         Rejected                       Man of Sorrows

Suffered                          Ignored                         Dishonored

Took my infirmities      Carried my sins           
Stricken

Smitten                           Afflicted                       Pierced

Crushed                          Punished                      Wounded

These are just any old verbs. They describe the horror that Jesus endured for me - for you!

And the most astonishing thing of all is the last part of verse 7. Look at it again and let the words soak in:

And the LORD has laid on

him the iniquity of us all.   

The LORD - the great I AM - allowed this suffering.! In fact, He planned it. It was His sovereign will. Why??

His love for us was greater than saving the life of His Son. 

Does that fact astound you?
How does it give you total assurance of His love?