Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The severity of “the shame” that our Lord “endured” on “the cross” is beyond our human comprehension. We can know about it, but only the Lord could know its awful depths. Indeed, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” (Galatians 3:13). It was a “shame” to be crucified; for, there was a presumption that the person being crucified was guilty of the most heinous crimes. Furthermore, He experienced the “shame” of our sin-guilt; “For he (God the Father) hath made him (Jesus Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (II Corinthians 5:21) and He “his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (I Peter 2:24). It was “Cursed” for those being crucified, because it was a combination of grotesque physical sufferings, devastating feelings of dark doom, and an overwhelming experience of evil. Crucifixion was a hateful act of unimaginable cruelty, yet our merciful and gracious Lord despised “the shame” of it; that is, He looked upon it with great disdain; but He was not intimidated by it, He was not stopped by it, and He was not hindered in His purpose by it. As a matter of Biblical fact, He came into this world to suffer, He was born to die a miserable death, He was sent to suffer in our place, He came to pay our sin-debt, and to redeem His people by His Sacrifice. He told His disciples, “for this cause came I unto this hour” (John 12:27) and those who crucified Him came together “For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” (Acts 4:28). Furthermore, He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8); that is, our Almighty God, knowing that all of mankind would fall in sin, “determined before” to send His Beloved Son to Sacrifice Himself to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Oh, how horrifyingly sweet is the blessed knowledge that our Loving Savior suffered these things to accomplish His Father’s will (John 6:38), to “save” us “from” our “sins”. Let no man say to me, our Lord only made a way for us to be saved to Eternal Heaven or that our Lord simply offers us Eternal Salvation, or even worse that our Lord is pleading with us to get saved. Such notions are a demeaning abomination to the very Holy Name and Being and Character of our Lord God. The blessed truth is that our Lord “hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Timothy 1:9). Knowing that our Lord has so wonderfully suffered His awful sacrifice for our benefit, let us wake each morning prayerfully crying out to our Lord, “What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?” (Psalms 116:12)!