Living the Resurrected Life Day 3: See Him suffering for you

“The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?””

‭‭Acts 8‬:‭32‬-‭34‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I was in fourth or fifth grade and we were outside on the playground playing softball (as an aside, back then there was very little supervision of recess yard activities). Taking my turn at bat, having swung at the ball, I let go of the bat which hit a nearby metal building, causing the bat to bounce back and hit one of my best friends in the head. Now, she did not lose consciousness; but she immediately sported a big “egg” sticking out on her forehead.

I can still remember how devastated I felt, knowing that I had done this to her. In fact, I was so far beyond consolation, that (sadly) she ended up trying to comfort me.

Why was I so bereaved? Because this was my fault. In this scenario—although I felt very sorry that she must suffer—my primary response was that of the guilt and remorse of knowing I had done this to her. Making it worse, I didn’t know any way to make it right. Saying I was sorry, asking for forgiveness, just didn’t seem to be enough.

Now, many well-meaning ministers, in describing the death of Jesus Christ, seem to be aiming at provoking sympathy for the Lord. However, a while back the Lord instructed me that He is not looking for sympathy. He is King of kings and Lord of lords and does not need, or want, our sympathy. What the vision of His suffering should provoke, is what I experienced having been responsible for hurting my dear friend’s head: extreme guilt and remorse, and ultimately, repentance. And praise be to God, He accepts our remorse, our repentance; it is enough.

“He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross [willingly offering Himself on it, as on an altar of sacrifice], so that we might die to sin [becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin] and live for righteousness; for by His wounds you [who believe] have been healed.”

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭24‬ ‭AMP‬‬

As we shared yesterday, there are some truths we must grasp as we look at our Lord, in order to truly see and know Him, and come to a full understanding of what He has done for us.

The first of those truths we consider today:

When we see our suffering Lord, we must know that He is suffering for our sin. We are responsible for His suffering. That suffering should have been mine!

Now obviously, as the Creator of the universe, no one made Him suffer; He chose to suffer, as it was the only way for our salvation.

In our opening scripture, we see that the Ethiopian eunuch is asking Philip who was being referenced in the scripture about the lamb to the slaughter. This, of course, is from Isaiah 53, giving a prophetic picture of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as the “Suffering Servant.” Indeed, it is this very passage that renders one of our most beloved scriptures:

“But [in fact] He has borne our griefs, And He has carried our sorrows and pains; Yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken, Struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]; The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him, And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Yes, in order to rightly see our Lord, and understand what He did for us, we must see that He suffered for OUR sins. You see, our sin made us worthy of punishment, the ultimate punishment: death.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Soon after His resurrection, the Lord appeared to the disciples and instructed them to look at His hands and feet (Luke 24). The point He was making was that He had truly returned from the dead and was flesh and blood, not a spirit.

When we consider the piercing in the Lord’s hands and feet, we must see that He—in the flesh—suffered for our sins. The crown of thorns pressed into His precious head, should have marred our head. The spear in His side, should have plunged into our side. The horrific Roman beating to which He was subjected, should have been our beating.

Ownership of the Lord’s suffering (in terms of causality), is the first step toward seeing Him clearly and understanding what a terrible price was required to buy our pardon. As the Lord expressed to me several years ago, “In order to have a Savior, you must know you need one.”

Indeed, the end of days (in terms of the fallen world system), will be triggered by the Jewish people seeing and crying out to the One they now realize was pierced at their own hand.

“Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. The sorrow and mourning in Jerusalem on that day will be like the great mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddo.”

‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭12‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If you are suffering today, look at Him, willingly suffering on the cross for your sin, for your peace, for your healing. Let His suffering, eclipse whatever you are feeling, and let that ultimately lead you to the relief and deliverance only He can give. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. And that made all the difference.

Next time, we continue to consider our Lord, looking for all the truth that sets us free.

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!