PROPHECY & FULFILLMENT - Day 22 - March 19, 2016
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PROPHECY & FULFILLMENT - Day 22 - March 19, 2016 March 21, 2016 03:04PM |
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Isaiah 53:4, Matthew 8:16-17 - March 19, 2016 - Day 22
“Surely, He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].” Isaiah 53:4
“When evening came, they brought to Him many who were under the power of demons, and He drove out the spirits with a word, and restored to health all who were sick. And thus, He fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, He Himself took [in order to carry away] our weaknesses and infirmities and bore away our diseases.” Matthew 8:16-17
While meditating over this Scripture I wonder what it must have been like for Jesus to take our griefs upon Himself, to carry our sicknesses. I thought about Job and the trials he went through, the sickness that struck his body and how his very dear and close friends judged him as having sin in his life. Is that how many viewed Jesus as well when they saw Him in a weakened state, especially upon the cross? Human nature being what it is we can only suppose that they thought the same of Jesus. Scripture tells us that people mocked our Lord. The chief priests along with the scribes and elders said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him” (Matthew 27:41-42). What anguish did our Lord feel when He heard these words in this weakened state, feeling the depth of pain which came in feeling separated from His beloved Father? He Who knew no sin bore our sins and sicknesses upon Himself. What a sacrifice He made for you and me. But sometimes we forget what it must have cost Him, how much pain He must have endured for us.
As I was writing this, the Holy Spirit brought something to my remembrance. Several years ago my husband told me that he prayed to the Lord many, many years earlier that the Lord would allow him to carry the burden for our family, that he would carry the cross, so to speak, in order to spare his loved ones pain. When he told me this I wondered if that was why he had the brain tumor, if he was carrying an affliction that otherwise would have befallen on one of our children or myself. I now wonder how many others have given their lives in a sacrificial way, in a manner of servitude to our God and to our King. We look at Jesus and know what He suffered on our behalf. Nothing and no one can compare to what our Lord Christ Jesus did for mankind, restoring us back to our heavenly Father because of His sacrifice, His being a propitiation for our sin. Yes, He took our sicknesses and weaknesses and distresses upon the cross, praise be to God, and bore them gladly for our sake. Yet sacrifice did not end there. Look at the disciples and what it cost them to carry on the Good News of our Lord and Savior. Many were beaten and even killed for the sake of the Gospel. The world would look upon them as fools, suffering where they did not have to suffer yet it was their shed blood , their sacrifice in the name of our Lord, that brought hundreds upon hundreds into the kingdom of God. Glory! Glory! Glory!
Look at Paul, how many times was he beaten near unto death? Stoned, thrown into prison, his body wracked with pain. Yes, he knew the blessings of God and he also knew the sufferings of our Lord. And I believe it is through these sufferings many were saved for they saw the faithfulness of this man toward His Lord, Jesus Christ. We can only imagine how many came to Christ during Paul’s many imprisonments. In his beaten and weakened state He shared Christ with others, his heart filled with joy and gladness towards his Lord. This beloved saint of the most High God counted his life before Christ as dung! See what Paul says in Philippians 3:7-8, “But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [one combined] loss for Christ’s sake. Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving] and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs [dung]), in order that I may win (gain} Christ (the Anointed One)”. Wow! How many of us can say we have, or are willing to pay the price that Paul was, that the other followers of Christ paid? Jesus is our example, the author and finisher of our faith and what He did we are to do as His followers, as children of God for He lives in us!
What must have Christ suffered upon the cross, what pain assailed His body? None of us could know for none of us could bear the burden He bore. But we know it had to be intense and did not go without physical pain, feeling. When we read of the woman with the issue of blood when she touched the hem of His garment, Jesus felt virtue leave Him. The Youngs Analytical Concordance defines this virtue as “power”, dunamis. How much power must have left Him when He healed the multitudes if one healing took a noticeable amount of power from Him? How weakened must He have felt when He was upon the cross taking all our sicknesses and infirmities upon Himself, He Who knew no sin bearing the sins of the world upon His shoulders?
Lord, I cannot imagine what You must have felt upon the cross, the pain You endured and You did it out of love, love for the Father and love for us. I am so humbled before You, speechless of mouth but overflowing with gratitude within my heart. Thank You, Holy One, for Your sacrifice. Help me, us, to live our lives as a continuation of Yours, to honor You and the Father in Your name I pray. Amen.
“Surely, He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].” Isaiah 53:4
“When evening came, they brought to Him many who were under the power of demons, and He drove out the spirits with a word, and restored to health all who were sick. And thus, He fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, He Himself took [in order to carry away] our weaknesses and infirmities and bore away our diseases.” Matthew 8:16-17
While meditating over this Scripture I wonder what it must have been like for Jesus to take our griefs upon Himself, to carry our sicknesses. I thought about Job and the trials he went through, the sickness that struck his body and how his very dear and close friends judged him as having sin in his life. Is that how many viewed Jesus as well when they saw Him in a weakened state, especially upon the cross? Human nature being what it is we can only suppose that they thought the same of Jesus. Scripture tells us that people mocked our Lord. The chief priests along with the scribes and elders said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him” (Matthew 27:41-42). What anguish did our Lord feel when He heard these words in this weakened state, feeling the depth of pain which came in feeling separated from His beloved Father? He Who knew no sin bore our sins and sicknesses upon Himself. What a sacrifice He made for you and me. But sometimes we forget what it must have cost Him, how much pain He must have endured for us.
As I was writing this, the Holy Spirit brought something to my remembrance. Several years ago my husband told me that he prayed to the Lord many, many years earlier that the Lord would allow him to carry the burden for our family, that he would carry the cross, so to speak, in order to spare his loved ones pain. When he told me this I wondered if that was why he had the brain tumor, if he was carrying an affliction that otherwise would have befallen on one of our children or myself. I now wonder how many others have given their lives in a sacrificial way, in a manner of servitude to our God and to our King. We look at Jesus and know what He suffered on our behalf. Nothing and no one can compare to what our Lord Christ Jesus did for mankind, restoring us back to our heavenly Father because of His sacrifice, His being a propitiation for our sin. Yes, He took our sicknesses and weaknesses and distresses upon the cross, praise be to God, and bore them gladly for our sake. Yet sacrifice did not end there. Look at the disciples and what it cost them to carry on the Good News of our Lord and Savior. Many were beaten and even killed for the sake of the Gospel. The world would look upon them as fools, suffering where they did not have to suffer yet it was their shed blood , their sacrifice in the name of our Lord, that brought hundreds upon hundreds into the kingdom of God. Glory! Glory! Glory!
Look at Paul, how many times was he beaten near unto death? Stoned, thrown into prison, his body wracked with pain. Yes, he knew the blessings of God and he also knew the sufferings of our Lord. And I believe it is through these sufferings many were saved for they saw the faithfulness of this man toward His Lord, Jesus Christ. We can only imagine how many came to Christ during Paul’s many imprisonments. In his beaten and weakened state He shared Christ with others, his heart filled with joy and gladness towards his Lord. This beloved saint of the most High God counted his life before Christ as dung! See what Paul says in Philippians 3:7-8, “But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [one combined] loss for Christ’s sake. Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving] and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs [dung]), in order that I may win (gain} Christ (the Anointed One)”. Wow! How many of us can say we have, or are willing to pay the price that Paul was, that the other followers of Christ paid? Jesus is our example, the author and finisher of our faith and what He did we are to do as His followers, as children of God for He lives in us!
What must have Christ suffered upon the cross, what pain assailed His body? None of us could know for none of us could bear the burden He bore. But we know it had to be intense and did not go without physical pain, feeling. When we read of the woman with the issue of blood when she touched the hem of His garment, Jesus felt virtue leave Him. The Youngs Analytical Concordance defines this virtue as “power”, dunamis. How much power must have left Him when He healed the multitudes if one healing took a noticeable amount of power from Him? How weakened must He have felt when He was upon the cross taking all our sicknesses and infirmities upon Himself, He Who knew no sin bearing the sins of the world upon His shoulders?
Lord, I cannot imagine what You must have felt upon the cross, the pain You endured and You did it out of love, love for the Father and love for us. I am so humbled before You, speechless of mouth but overflowing with gratitude within my heart. Thank You, Holy One, for Your sacrifice. Help me, us, to live our lives as a continuation of Yours, to honor You and the Father in Your name I pray. Amen.
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