My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.Psalm 6:7
COMPLETE
I was recently asked a question about the extent of Christ’s sufferings: “How could the physical sufferings of Jesus be far greater than what any other has suffered?” This was a legitimate question, one which many a mind has pondered. While Jesus was beaten, spat open, brutalized by having His beard plucked completely from His face, and scourged until our Lord was disfigured beyond human recognition (Isa 50:6; 52:14; 53:5), it was not His physical sufferings inflicted upon the Messiah which paid our sin debt. Christ’s physical afflictions as sinless Man provides us these two insights: first, it shows us how sinful depraved mankind is— that when the precious Son of God came to earth as a flesh and bone human being, those who should have recognized Him from Scripture savagely ravished Him until He was reduced to human rubble. Second, Jesus, who was perfect Man, suffered God’s wrath for sins He did not commit when He was at His weakest possible state. It is to this second truth by which we can say, without any doubt, that Jesus Christ’s sufferings not only exceeded the sufferings of any man who ever lived, but His sufferings exceeded those by all men combined who ever lived, including all those who have rejected Christ and opposed YHVH God, whose eternal destiny is the hell of their own making and choosing. The great difference between Jesus’ afflictions and those of other men is that Jesus suffered the eternal, infinite, and unbridled wrath of God for sins He did not commit. Jesus refused the ancient anesthetic of His day, wine mixed with myrrh (Mark 15:23), so that He could be clear and unclouded of mind during this entire ordeal. The intimacy of fellowship Jesus enjoyed with the heavenly Father was closer than any man could ever know. Therefore, when He was forsaken of the Father when He suffered God’s holy anger (Psa 22:1; Mark 15:33-34), it far exceeded the torments any other human could ever know or realize. In this way, in that Day when Christ returns and all is revealed, no one could ever say that the offering of Christ’s soul (Isa 53:10), and its anguish (Isa 53:11), was incomplete or insufficient. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
In Christ alone we are complete, His sufferings purchased our Salvation by His wounds so deep, By love and grace and power.
“Then he shall kill the bull before the LORD, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” Leviticus 1:5 PRIESTHOOD The...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people. Genesis 49:33 CROWNED When Jacob breathed his last, he was gathered to his people. This expression was used of Abraham...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
“Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.” Genesis 27:42 REMEDY There are quite too many gospel pictures from the lives of Jacob and Esau to cover in a single devotional. Yet we should recall some...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:24 IMPOSSIBLE Absurdities, such as this one, were commonly used by rabbis before the days of...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9 HUMILIATION Certainly, we realize...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
His heart was courageous in the ways of the LORD. And furthermore, he took the high places and the Asherim out of Judah. 2 Chronicles 17:6 REMOVING the STUMBLING BLOCKS We may glean several lessons from Jehoshaphat’s life. Although he made a...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:42 CUP Matthew’s gospel records that the Lord Jesus prayed this three times. As perfect, sinless Man, Jesus...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from You, and of Your own have we given You.” 1 Chronicles 29:14 Every December 1st I read this verse, and with tears in my eyes,...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
“All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” 1 Peter 1:24-25 Peter quotes Isaiah 40:6-8, essentially expressing what the Lord...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
