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Yet He did not open His mouth…So He did not open His mouth…Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

(Isa 53:7,9 NASB)

Verses 3-6 says much about the people through their treatment of Jesus.  The next three verses say as much and more of Jesus in His response to that treatment.

Much of this chapter presents itself as the standard of injustice. It would be foolish to think that Jesus was not hurt by all the things said of Him and how most folks felt toward Him, after all, He was truly and fully human.  He did not have a super hard heart or a beyond human thick skin.  No, every mean spirit, every cruel word, every biting criticism, every insensitive mocking all were felt to the core of His being.  It was His own creation, His own people whom He loved that had despised Him causing Him great grief.

To such Jesus was silent.  Silence in suffering and in the unfairness of injustices is prescribed by faithfulness.  What could He have said?  “I’ll get you for this.” “You better stop or I’ll get mad?” “If you don’t knock it off, I’ll destroy the whole lot of you.”  The silence is not only of a human mouth, but also of a godly character. The silence is a part of knowing one’s appointment. For Jesus it was to come as the Savior.  Silence comes from knowing one’s calling.  For Jesus it was to receive the punishment and death for lost man.  Silence comes with knowing the reward.  For Jesus it was that man would be saved through His atoning death.

Oppression, affliction, judgment, assigned with wicked men…yet He suffered it all in silence till giving up His spirit.  I could afford to learn much from Jesus.  If  He remained silent to that which He did not deserve, most certainly I should be as well for what I do deserve.  Before the world I in silence yes but not before the Lord. For me to be silent is not why Christ suffered in silence.  He did so that my voice could be heard – before the Father. I will not remain silent for what I deserve.  I, for whom the stroke was due will cry out to Jesus my Redeemer cut off out of the land of the living. I will cry out the name of Jesus before the accusations of the Law against me.

 Jesus, while I might suffer in silence before this world, may I never fall victim to thinking I need bear affliction in the silence of loneliness, for I have you.  Thank you.

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken…Isaiah 53:4

I just took my old Jeep to the shop expecting a cheap remedy to the mournful howl coming from I believed to be simply a worn U joint wanting out.  The mechanic dispelled my wishful underestimation of the problem. Similarly, a few of us have sought a doctor’s help for a minor affliction only to be stunned by a diagnosis revealing a far more serious condition than we had assumed or felt.  That’s how Isaiah 53:4-6 strikes me. It’s obvious that just by the response Jesus received our own assessment of our spiritual condition is far, far short of reality. If we truly appreciate our spiritual blight, we would be more like the woman who sought to just touch the hem of His tunic.  If we could grasp our condition, we would pursue Him with everything we had for even just a morsel of His time or a touch of His hand. Give me Jesus would be our soul’s constant pursuit and our heart’s cry if we saw our desperation.  We would have offered Him the dignity, reverence and honor He deserves if He would afford us the grace to receive it from such sinners.

After all, whose griefs did He bear?  Whose sorrows were His load?  Yet we thought there was something about Himself that God took issue with.

Whose transgressions were the cause of His wounds? Whose iniquities were those carried upon His back?  For whose well-being did He endure?  Look again oh my arrogant heart. For whom did the scourging He endured bring remedy and why?

Who was it that abandoned God and who was it that remained faithful and true? Who was it who turned his back toward God in rebellion and who turned to give His back to the whip in obedience?

Surely by now it is obvious that this was not some mistake or because of some wrong He had committed?  This was God’s plan to bridge the divide of sin between myself and Him. Not in spite of my ignorance and pride, but because of my ignorance and pride He came and all this took place.  Yes, this all by God’s predetermined plan willed for Him on my behalf.

Now on this side of His cross, on this side of faith’s shore I can see how desperately marooned in sin I was.  Praise be to God I can see that now and rejoice to know I have been set free, my penalty paid, my account cleared by the Blood of the Lamb.

Thank you Jesus that I can look back now and not be blinded by shame and crumbled in guilt.  Thank you that I too can testify at the altar of grace of my own sinful treatment of You and know that by my own testimony I will not be  condemned for You have already stood in my behalf.  Thank you for such confidence.  Thank you for faith. Thank you for peace of soul. I am a witness granted immunity by Your blood.

He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.   (Isaiah 53:3 NASB)

The 1985 movie, Back to the Future tells the story of a young man accidently sent back 30 years in time.  He noticed his presence in the past interfering with what was to take place in the future which was already the present from which he had come.  So he had to fix the damages to history while finding a way to get back to his future. Isaiah 53 is a prophetic word of Christ’s reception into this world told as from the future looking back to the past. Note the person(s) through whom the Lord chose to tell this…we.  Much of Isaiah 53 reads like witnesses testifying on the witness stand of a courtroom where all humanity is on trial for a hate crime.  The witnesses’ are in agreement because all are guilty. Their manner of speaking is an ‘after the fact’ realization of the truth of the past.

God’s Word is the truth. I am bothered by the truth of the life my Jesus experienced during His stay on earth.  Our ancestors were a tough crowd, whether Jewish or Gentile. His adult life was one of being treated with contempt and as someone beneath any respect from society.  He was cast aside as useless, never mind not needed. He was not wanted and abandoned like garbage.  Never mind not being revered as God, even by standards afforded man, He was treated as subhuman. We have an idea what that is like when taken for granted of at work, at home, or in the church. To coin a popular phrase, welcome to Jesus’ life.

His life characterized Him as a man of sorrows well experienced in the school of grief.  The Son of Man was not afforded any relief or privilege that even some of us are granted when sick or weighted down under life’s burdens. The witnesses confess, “We blew it.” With good intent we might want to change that if we could.

If able, we would be willing to go back from today to correct this travesty of history.  I thank God we cannot. This is history that must not be changed, even though unbelieving revisionists try otherwise.   To change the people’s reception of Jesus, would do us harm by interfering with God’s plan for our redemption. Jesus has come to give us a future in spite of our past. The nature of His Person, His reception by His fellow humanity and His work were all God’s plan to take us to the cross where our redemption was purchased.  We look upon Jesus’ life and we see two things, our horrible sinful nature and His unwavering faithfulness to a world that did not ask for Him, want Him or believe Him. He has come for everyone of us who has blown our past also. Because of that, by faith in Him I have been given a future, an eternal one, and a hope for today. 

Lord while my heart breaks from hearing of Your past on earth, it makes me all the more want to worship and serve You. Thank You for believing I was worth it all. May I not ever treat You again as I too once did in my unbelieving past.

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.                                                      (Isaiah 53:2 NASB)

Do you ever struggle to fully comprehend the ways God works?  I know I sure do.  Take our verse for today and what it says about the Savior of the world.  I wonder if I will ever or am even capable of appreciating in full what is known as the humiliation of Christ (His conception to His burial); in understanding that God Himself exposed Himself to it all.

He grew up like a tender shoot…a root out of parched ground. This vulnerability about Jesus makes it difficult to see Him as the Christ.  I must remember this was intentionally predetermined by God who had foreknowledge of what this vulnerability would bring His one and only Son (Acts 2:23). Oh the things that lie ahead for His Son who was intentionally left vulnerable to man the sinner and what he is capable of perpetrating.

If Jesus were to have come into today’s world, someone would suggest He hire a personal manager to groom a proper image of a conqueror/leader before the public.  God however would have none of that. His Savior-King would overcome by grace through faith in the hearts of His subjects, not by force.

The question has already been asked, ‘Who has believed our message?’  While my hindsight would be biased to judge the Pharisees of Jesus’ day for not recognizing Jesus as the Christ, I can appreciate why they missed identifying Him.  God chose that the means by which He would come and the manner by which He would work as Savior, could only be recognized by faith. He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

I am reminded today, to recognize the simplicity of Jesus and the commonality of His ways.  This is because He was truly man…God in the flesh.  His work in and through the church should be the same. 

Lord, may I and may Your church be of Your same character, vulnerability and commonality that any appeal before men would be upon You the now glorified Savior and not upon us.

Note from Pastor Peter: In the second week of Lent our focus switches from the Challenge of the Cross to the Christ of the Cross.  May you be blessed in the truth.

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

(Isaiah53:1 NASB)

If you are willing, please take note of the number of occurrences there are of the third person singular pronouns speaking of Jesus in chapter 53 of Isaiah.  How many do you find?

Depending upon the translation, we should note there are over forty. Without question, the Lord is intentional about revealing the Savior to mankind.

But there is a question with which the chapter begins: ‘Who has believed our message?’ There is a sense of wonder, if not bewilderment in the question.   It speaks into the future about the human heart’s response to the One described in the verses that follow. Any mystery to the question would be clarified in years to come when the same question would be quoted twice again in Scripture. First John offers it as a reference to the Jews of his day and their reaction to Jesus’ miraculous works (John 12:38).  Then later the Apostle Paul harkens back to it as he explains Israel’s refusal of God’s repeated attempts to reveal their Messiah to them (Romans 10:16). From our vantage point of today in Scripture, we now know why Isaiah wonders out loud with the question.  The reaction of unbelief was foretold.

The question in light of the revelation that follows it reminds me of the depths of my own unbelief from which the Lord Jesus saved my soul.  It reminds me I could do nothing toward my own salvation, but only Jesus.  I could not even muster a faith to believe in order to receive the Good News offered by God’s mighty right arm to save. No, the Holy Spirit had to do that through the Message.  What a dependent I am upon the grace of God in Christ.  What a debtor I am.

We should also be reminded of another truth. Every worker of the Gospel must come to appreciate this question if he or she is to go on through the cloud of disappointment and the fog of frustration inherent to faithful service.   In spite of the Lord’s clear revelation of the Savior and the incredible Good News offered by His work, many do not believe.  In serving the Gospel of Jesus, we have to ask ourselves another question: If the Lord’s Good News cannot break through the unbelief and heart hardness confronting His work of salvation, then can any servant of His devise a greater means and produce a better plan to bring about greater reception?  No we cannot.  This truth should provide insight into the focus of the church’s work.  Romans 1:16 tells us what is sufficient.

There is one other question asked in verse 1.  The answer is to all, but one…the One and only Son.  As Jesus would suffer man’s brutality and suffer the anguish of Calvary’s cross, God reveals no power…none of His mercy to save.  He must not.

Lord, as I ponder You, may I not only be concerned with Your work on the Cross but overwhelmed by Your love that led You to do so – for helpless me. I pray, conquer every hint of unbelief in my heart with Your grace. May I never refuse any of it, ever.

…to bear His cross.

(Matthew 27:32 NASB)

The word ‘bear’ has the connotation of work.  For Simon of Cyrene, it was physical work…demanding work…tiring work. A work he wanted to end and soon.  He welcomed arriving at Golgotha to have the burden removed and to flea the spectacle he had been thrust into.  His load increased that Friday from a work he had never done before.  It was new and of a different kind.

That’s the challenge of bearing a cross to us.  It’s a different kind of work foreign to our nature and something not done before for Jesus.  If we do not have the right perspective of work, then we will dread cross-bearing.  The Lord’s, inspired Apostle wrote, ‘And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.  (Colossians 3:17 NASB)  Most surely, this would apply to bearing the cross would it not?  Just as Jesus did all for the Glory of the Father, would we not also for the Glory of Jesus?

Bearing the cross is not a load carrying work for our backs, but a load conflicting with our will.  The challenge to cross-bearing is not what it asks me to do, but what I am no longer allowed to do.  Like Simon, I prefer other things to do.  Bearing the cross stymies habitual sins. God tells us that our bodies belong to the Holy Spirit.  As the cross is born, it tills the heart’s soil into which the Spirit produces fruit. Cross bearing not only discourages doing evil, but even things good in and of themselves are left on the dock of life so that we can bear the cross.  They can present themselves as excuses for not joining in and bear the cross.  We need to be mindful to not fall into this trap and confessing with repented hearts if we have.

Simon must have been a man of enough stature in order to bear the cross.  The Lord had prepared his shoulders to bear the load and his back to drag the beam.  So too, the Lord Jesus equips each of us to bear the cross.  Because its nature is foreign and its load so imposing for the flesh, our old nature must first be crucified.  Only when crucified with Christ are we then able to bear the cross.  We cannot bear it for our own salvation, but we are qualified to do so through salvation.  Cross bearing is a privilege we have in Jesus Christ.  We are able to share in His sufferings. 

Friend.  When we are cross-bearing we are working alongside of Jesus.  Is there a greater honor we could enroll ourselves in?  Satan says, ‘Don’t do it.’ Our old self says ‘I don’t want to do it.’ Our weak spirit says, ‘I am unable to do it.’  Jesus says, “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.”

Jesus, this is our prayer today.  Give us faith to see ourselves carrying the cross You have for each of us.  Not by our strength Lord, but only of that found in You. And Lord remind us we bear it not to Golgotha, but to Eternity’s shore..

Simon, whom they pressed into service

Matthew 27:32

As Jesus’ time of his earthly humiliation was drawing to an end with His upcoming death on the cross, for Simon of Cyrene, his being made low was only to begin.  Jesus’ humiliation would end on the cross, Simon’s, like ours would begin at the cross. The cross came to Simon, unexpectedly, unsolicited, undesired and unattractive.

The cross is unattractive because it offers nothing appealing.  The challenge is that  there is so little for our flesh to glory in.  In fact, to the flesh it is shame.  The old nature’s lingering influence in the believer’s life exerts itself in one’s reaction to cross-bearing.  The cross exposes the true character of the old nature. The old nature cannot appreciate the cross, nor does it want to.  This is what the Apostle Paul means when he wrote that the cross is foolishness.  Who needs the cross anyway, never mind having to bear one for Jesus?

The cross is foolishness because our flesh is attracted to the marvelous and the miraculous.  Even among the ranks of the redeemed, we are more easily impressed by the marvelous then we are by the unspectacular work of cross-bearing. The work of Jesus’ cross works quietly in the heart, but we tend to be impressed by what our eyes see or our reason can measure.  It’s not that we’re against cross-bearing; it’s just that most of us are more content if someone else would do that menial task. We won’t admit it, but we might even consider ourselves above it. We can involve ourselves in the things more associated with glory and awe.  My how my flesh is selfish, wanting to steal glory from Jesus for myself.  How immature I can be.

Something has to overcome our natural reaction to the cross.  It is Jesus Himself.  The task before Jesus is to use something the flesh opposes and overwhelm the heart.  The Romans used threat of violence toward Simon to get him to bear the cross of Christ.  Not so the Lord.  He uses love.  First that life sacrificing love drew me to the cross.  There my eyes were opened as I was born again by the One who bore my sins on the cross.  Then He smothers me with more of His love, daily. To bear the cross of Christ to His glory is to bear it in the spirit of gratitude in a heart won over by the fact that Jesus loved me on that cross. 

“Lord Jesus. I confess that I have harbored shame toward Your cross.  Forgive me. May the glory of Your cross be sufficient for me.  May Your love be adequate enough to inspire me to not only appreciate Your cross, but to bear my own with honor.”

…Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.  Matthew 27:32 NASB

Simon’s day began as an uneventful day.  Now around mid-day he’s heading into Jerusalem from the country, as a mere passer-by Mark tells us.  He was just a common guy with two sons living his life.  That would all change this Friday.  Simon was not the man who coined the acronym T.G.I.F., ‘Thank God It’s Friday’.

Look at Simon and we find one of the first issues of why cross bearing is such a challenge to human flesh – it interferes with daily life.  The cross isn’t something just reserved as a religious symbol mounted in a sanctuary or hanging around one’s neck as a piece of jewelry.  No, the cross interferes with life as you or I had it planned.  And it does so every day.

This challenge of cross bearing delineates superficial faith and weak faith.  A weak faith can bear a cross, but a superficial faith will not.  It seems too much of Christianity today is filled with superficial faith misdiagnosed as weak faith.  Weak faith can be strengthened; superficial faith must be repented of.  It is much like the lukewarm faith Jesus promises to vomit out of His mouth.

A weak faith is often a new faith yet untried.  Cross bearing will change that. Superficial faith is most often that found in those who have dabbled around the church for some time, although it has its new adherents as well.  It looks upon cross bearing and sees nothing but inconveniences.  Superficial faith comes up with excuses but the one it often hides itself behind is, ‘my faith is too weak’.  The blame is laid upon weakness when it’s really the resident resistance of the uncommitted heart of superficiality.  It shows up in others areas of one’s life ‘having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.’

It’s a character of the unregenerate flesh carried into the religious realm, but not surrendered to the power of Christ’s life giving blood.  And so while some decry anything interfering with the visibility of the cross at the front of a sanctuary, they avoid its display in life. It interferes, it’s inconvenient, it dictates life, it draws attention away from the bearer and onto itself, and frankly it’s embarrassing. 

Superficial faith does not love its neighbor as itself.  Only love inherited from Christ reciprocated back will overcome the interference of the cross.  You see, cross bearing ultimately is for the sake of my neighbor.  Like for Simon of Cyrene, cross bearing wasn’t just for the tired Jesus, it was for lost humanity.

Lord, I praise You everything changed for Simon that Friday. Teach me I pray to love my neighbor that the cross I bear would yield blessedness for him as Simon’s doing so ultimately did for me.

And as they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon…Matthew 27:32 NASB

They found a man.  Why didn’t those Romans carry it themselves when Jesus was no longer able to endure the weight of His cross? We know why.  It would be unbecoming of a Roman soldier to carry such an undignified tool of punishment as a cross.  It was reserved for losers – certainly not a Roman soldier. Are we not all like the Roman soldiers in this regard?  Who would want to carry the instrument of a death sentence imposed upon another man? 

So Simon of Cyrene was pressed into service.  Did anyone ask him if he wanted to become involved? No. Simon was perhaps the first mortal ever to come face to face with the challenges of Christ’s cross.  He was literally between a rock and a hard place, thrust into having to make a choice. Like Simon Peter earlier watching Jesus on trial, Simon of Cyrene had the opportunity of sorts to deny Jesus. He could have denied the Roman’s demand and probably die by the sword or he could spare his own life and carry Christ’s cross. Neither one a pleasant option.

Simon was in the wrong place at the wrong time, at least to our way of thinking.  While he could do nothing about paying for his own sin, he was recruited into God’s plan for man’s salvation.  As awkward and unwanted as it may be, cross bearing is life giving. His involvement was a menial task, unsolicited and unpleasant.  Simon becomes representative of all cross bearing.  Cross bearing means following Jesus…following Jesus means bearing a cross.

The hymn writer Thomas Shepherd poses a question in the title of his hymn, Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone?  Well, must He? Each of us has to answer that haunting question.  As with the Roman soldiers, so too other matters present themselves to me as challenges to carry a cross…that cross. We’ll consider three of these challenges over the next three days.

“Lord, must You bear the cross alone?  My humanity wants to say yes, but my heart now owned by You says, no.  This is a hard battle within me. While only You were qualified and called to die there for me, cross bearing is something I am called to do. In a way, I even want to, but there is that resistance.  Precious Jesus, overcome that resistance daily for me.  Equip me for the cross you have called me to bear so that I would do so not complaining but as a witness to the power of Your love and to the display of Your glory.

And after they had mocked Him, they took His robe off and put His garments on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.        (Matthew 27:31 NASB)

 Ever wonder what determined how long the whole Roman cohort would mock Jesus as their king?  Did someone tell them to knock it off?  Had it became boring to them?  Maybe.  Was it because some were not wanting to delay lunch any longer? Perhaps, but Scripture tells us Jesus had an appointment to get to – Golgotha and the cross were awaiting Him.

One thing we do know, it was not because of conscience or concern or compassion for Jesus that they stopped the drama.  This whole scene coming to an end is a reminder of what took place to bring an end to the hardness of my own heart. It wasn’t something I decided or did that would bring an end to my own life of abuse toward the Lord.  No, it was the working of the Holy Spirit that awakened my heart to its sinfulness.  What did He use? The Word of God – the Law and the Gospel, but definitely the Law first. The hardness of the human heart needs God’s hammer…the Law.  It has to be crushed under the weight of the Law’s demands. Without the Law first my response would be the same as the Romans’ if you could imagine Jesus telling those scourging Him, “God has a wonderful plan for your life?”, or to those who mocked Him, “If you just pray this prayer to accept Me, I’ll fill that hole in your heart.”  They probably would have put the robe back on and mocked Him all the more. Just like I used to.

No.  Hard hearts need a harder hammer to break them.  The Lord does so with His Law.  The Law is our tutor to lead us to Christ, writes Paul.  The challenge of the cross is that we struggle to accept that we must first be prepared to see our own need for what Jesus did on it.  We must all be made to bend low in grief over our sin.  That humbles our pride as much as the cross seems foolishness to the unrepentant of heart.  Praise God for His Word not returning void.

Lord, I thank you for bringing to an end my life of rebellion and unbelief.  Thank you Jesus for your Spirit bringing me to see the depravity of my condition through the Law. Thank you Lord for making me to see I could never measure up to its demands of perfection.  Most of all, thank you Jesus that this is exactly why You lived a sinless life to fulfill the Law’s demands and the went to the Cross to pay for my falling so short.  This is Good News.  Praise be to God for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.