Suffering servant.
10 Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him; he hath [a]put him to grief: [b]when thou shalt make his soul [c]an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53:10.
Jesus Christ was literally filled with grief, but what does that mean? Why would the Messiah be sad, if He was God you would think that in his incarnation that He would be a happy man? In other words, why would the Messiah be filled with sadness?
Jesus came as a "suffering" servant to be filled with all kinds of sorrow. God allowed this so Jesus could relate to us in our deepest pain. Jesus' message isn't one that says; strength over weakness, in fact Jesus appeals to us as sinners, and the only way we can accept His free gift of Salvation is by humbling ourselves and admitting to God that we are sinners. This truth is not in contradiction to the Old Covenant.
In the Old Covenant, God had to make provision for the Israelite's "as sinners", because they were sinners (Psalm 51:5). In the New Covenant Jesus Christ is the only provision God made for our sins, forever. His was an eternal sacrifice, and it now becomes the Only Sacrifice that God will accept. It was done in History, but it is eternal. When we place our faith in the Sacrifice of the cross we are forgiven. The sacrificial system is done away with forever. (read the Book of Hebrews).
There are many other reasons why we would say that "God had to suffer." In his humanity, Jesus is still God, and part of God's mercy was to allow His Son Jesus Christ to suffer for us. Jesus took the penalty for our sins on the cross, his suffering was also spiritual, not just physical. Jesus needed to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins, in order to bring in the New Covenant. I suppose God could have made him go through suffering without actually feeling it, but can we really say the same for ourselves, when we humans endure hardship.
So in a real way, Jesus, who is God, wants to relate to our own suffering. Being that suffering is unavoidable in life, Jesus Christ wants to be our peace, or bring us peace "in" our suffering, and promises that one day, when He returns, God will wipe away all tears. (Revelation 21:4-6) 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
This is Mike.
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