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“Despised and Rejected”, March 1
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he
was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isaiah 53:3
.
How few have any conception of the anguish which rent the heart of
the Son of God during His thirty years of life upon earth. The path from
the manger to Calvary was shadowed by sorrow and grief. He was the
Man of Sorrows, and endured such heartache as no human language can
portray. He could have said in truth, “Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow” (
Lamentations 1:12
). His suffering was the
deepest anguish of the soul; and what man could have sympathy with the
soul anguish of the Son of the infinite God? Hating sin with a perfect
hatred, He yet gathered to His soul the sins of the whole world, as He trod
the path to Calvary, suffering the penalty of the transgressor. Guiltless,
He bore the punishment of the guilty; innocent, yet offering Himself to
bear the penalty of the transgression of the law of God. The punishment
of the sins of every soul was borne by the Son of the infinite God. The
guilt of every sin pressed its weight upon the divine soul of the world’s
Redeemer. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. In assuming the nature of man, He placed
Himself where He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our
iniquities, that by His stripes we might be healed.
In His humanity Christ was tried with as much greater temptation, with
as much more persevering energy than man is tried by the evil one, as His
nature was greater than man’s. This is a deep mysterious truth, that Christ
is bound to humanity by the most sensitive sympathies. The evil works,
the evil thoughts, the evil words of every son and daughter of Adam press
upon His divine soul. The sins of men called for retribution upon Himself,
for He had become man’s substitute, and took upon Him the sins of the
world. He bore the sins of every sinner, for all transgressions were imputed
unto Him.... “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?”
(
Hebrews 2:3
)
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1
The Review and Herald, December 20, 1892
.
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