I've been reading in Matthew lately, and read about the crucifixion this evening. Two words: mind blown. And I hope every time I read this account my mind is blown. Why? I am amazed that Christ would willingly suffer, being ridiculed and humiliated, beaten and spit on, for a sinner like me... I had tears in my eyes as I read how my Savior suffered, taking the punishment for my sin. I don't deserve it. I don't want to lose my wonder of His grace toward us. It brings me back to Isaiah 52 and 53 as it talks about how He suffered:
Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you-- his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind-- so shall he sprinkle many nations' kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected y men; a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief; as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one-to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgement he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him...That last part always gets me: "Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him" ...essentially, it pleased God to crush His own Son. Only Christ's blood can redeem us. It had to be done that way. I am so thankful for what Christ has done for me. I never want to lose my wonder...
