"For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Heb. 2:18).
Posted : 21 Sep, 2011 02:15 AM
Devotional
Do you think, my reader, that it was no humiliation for the Son of God to be thus attacked by the prince of darkness? Was it no degradation that his dignity should be questioned? his authority disputed? his reverence for and allegiance to his Father assailed? his very purity tampered with by the fallen and corrupt spirit whom he had cast out of heaven? Ah! how deeply and keenly he must have felt it to be so the very moment he came into contact with this arch-fiend and subtle foe of God and man!
But, oh, what glory beams from beneath this dark veil of Christ's humiliation! How lovely and precious an object does he appear to saints and angels in this astonishing transaction! What holy sympathies and fond affections are kindled in the heart and rise towards him as we consider each particular�the appalling nature of the onset; the shock which his humanity sustained; the mighty power by which he was upheld; the noteworthy victory which he achieved; the Divine comfort which flowed into his soul as his vanquished enemy fled from the conflict, leaving him more than conqueror; and above all, the close and tender sympathy into which he was now brought with a tempted church! "For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Heb. 2:18).These features abound with thrilling interest and rich instruction. The renewed mind delights to dwell on them.
But our Lord's humiliation went even deeper than this! The clouds now gathering around him grew even darker and more threatening as he advanced towards the final conflict. Consider his bearing sin, the painful consciousness of which increased as the hour of its atonement drew on, as forming one of the most overwhelming demonstrations of that voluntary abasement to which he had stooped, and through which he was now passing.
Consider how the Holy Spirit declares it:
o "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities" (Isa. 53:5).
o "The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6).
o "He shall bear their iniquities" (Isa. 53:11).
o "He bore the sin of many." (Isa. 53:12).
o "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24).
o "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21).
There stood the eternal God in the closest proximity to the evil one. Never did two extremes, so opposite to each other, meet in such near contact and collision�essential sin vs. essential holiness; essential darkness vs. essential light; essential hatred vs. essential love; man's deadliest foe vs. man's dearest friend. What an hour of seeming power and triumph this was to the grand adversary of God and man! What an hour of deepening gloom and humiliation and defeat to God's beloved Son! How would this Lucifer of the morning exult, as with the swellings of pride he placed his foot upon incarnate Deity! And how keenly and powerfully conscious would Jesus be of the deep abasement and degradation into which he had now sunk!
But behold how this great transaction contributed to the deep humiliation of the Son of God. What must have been the revulsion of moral feeling, how his holy soul must have shrunk, the first instant it came in personal contact with sin! What a mighty convulsion must have rocked his human nature, pure and sinless as it was!
Saint of God! what is your bitterest cup? What is your keenest, deepest sorrow? Has a tender Father blown upon your blessings, removed your mercies, lessened your comforts, darkened your bright landscape, dried up your sweet spring? Is that why your brow is shaded, your look is anxious, your eye is tearful, your spirit is troubled and disconsolate? Perhaps you exclaim. "No! Rid me of this body of sin and you will chase the cloud from my brow, the tear from my eye, and the sorrow from my heart. It is my indwelling sin that distresses me." Consider, then, what the spotless Lamb of God must have felt. Meditate on how deeply must it have entered into his humiliation�the existence of an all-absorbing, ever present, and ever painful and humiliating consciousness of bearing our iniquity, transgression, and sin upon his holy soul!
by Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for
today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010)
Ah, holy Jesus, how have you offended
that man to judge you has in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by your own rejected,
O most afflicted.
Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon you?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, has undone you.
'Twas I, Lord Jesus, 'twas I who denied you!
I crucified you.
Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;
the slave has sinn�d, and the Son has suffered:
for my atonement, while I nothing heeded,
God interceded.
For me, kind Jesus, was your incarnation,
your mortal sorrow, and your life's oblation;
your death of anguish and your bitter passion,
for my salvation.
Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay you,
I do adore you, and will ever pray you,
think on your pity and your love unswerving,
not my deserving.
(Johann Hermann, 1630; tr. Robert S. Bridges, 1899; mod. LEW, 2006)
"For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Heb. 2:18).
Posted : 21 Sep, 2011 10:57 PM
aaawww, the suffering of Christ... and we can't even suffer or stand the pain of having a flat tire or a toothache... yet He carried th sins of the world on His shoulders and died a suffering sinners death to save underserving sinners like us...
How marbelous is His name!
Great post Dlj..:glow::applause:
BTW, when are you planing to sharing with us your name so we can stop calling you DLJ?...:laugh::glow:
