2024-08-09 “a man of sorrows”

Isaiah 53:3  “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.

Our Beloved Lord Jesus Christ was “a man of sorrows”, for He “carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4) and “it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin” (Isaiah 53:10).  In context, our “sorrows” are His “sorrows”!  When the painful “sorrows” of our own sin strikes us, just remember He felt and fully experienced every pain of it and the penalty of it.  Our painful “sorrow is incurable [by man’s means] for the multitude of” our “iniquity: because” our “sins” are “increased” (Jeremiah 30:15); but, our Merciful and Gracious Lord tells us, “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 30:17).  We greatly sorrow, for our sin painfully and miserably plagues us with devastating shame, driving away all joy and peace.  But, when sin’s sorrowful pangs seem to overwhelm us, our Lord kindly and lovingly speaks in our hearts telling us that He alone is the “man of sorrows” and that “thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged” (Isaiah 6:7)!  And when some faithful minister with “beautiful … feet” (Isaiah 52:7; Romans 10:15) stands up and heralds, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18); then, we joyfully proclaim that our Beloved Lord “was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin” (I John 3:5).  It was the grievous sin of every Child of God that made Him sorrowfully cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34).  But then relief came when our Suffering Lord Authoritatively Declared, “It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” (John 19:30)!  Now, we greatly rejoice, for He “is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:34)!