the heaviest load which Jesus
had to sustain. By Charles Simeon, he was pierced
for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds
we are healed. – Isaiah 53.5 From his trial
before Pilate, Jesus was dragged away to execution. Laden with
the cross to which he was to be affixed, he sank under the
load, which another was compelled to bear to the place of execution. To this he was fastened with
nails through his hands and feet, and then he was raised as a naked
bloody spectacle to all his enemies. Ah, with what taunts was he then
assailed, assailed even by the thieves, who on either side of
him were suffering the same punishment. One would have thought that in
such a situation at least, Jesus might become an object of pity.
But no pity was found in the hearts of his bloodthirsty enemies. Their professed readiness to
assuage his anguish was only an impious mockery and a cruel
insult. They gave him gall and vinegar
to drink. Psalm chapter 69 verse 21 But
the heaviest load which Jesus had to sustain was laid upon
him by other hands than those of man, even by the hands of
his heavenly Father. Man could only touch his body.
The wounds inflicted on his soul proceeded immediately from God,
who was pleased to bruise him and to punish him for the iniquities
of his people. All of his other sufferings he
endured with lamb-like silence, but this forced from him that
heart-rending cry, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The darkness which at midday
veiled the whole land for the space of three hours, was a sad
emblem of his state under the agonies of expiring nature, and
the wrath of a sin-avenging God. At last, having drunk the very
last dregs of that cup of wrath which had been put into his hands,
he bows his head and dies. After this slight sketch of our
Redeemer's sufferings, let us proceed to consider that His
sufferings were substitutionary. That glorious person, whose sufferings
we have been contemplating, suffered not for himself, but for us. He was cut off, but not for himself. Daniel 9.26 Our Redeemer's sufferings
were for the sins of His people. In all that He endured, He was
our substitute. We had contracted the sin debt,
which He paid. God made Him who had no sin to
be sin for us. so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5.21 He himself
bore our sins in his body on the tree. 1 Peter 2.24 For Christ died for sins once
for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to
God. 1 Peter 3.18 Is any suffering
like my suffering that was inflicted on me, that the Lord brought
on me in the day of his fierce anger? Lamentations 1.12 What shall induce us to love
our Saviour if the contemplation of His substitutionary sufferings
will not? Can we think of this, I say,
and not have our souls inflamed with love and gratitude to Him?
Surely such unfathomable love must constrain us to admire Him,
to adore Him, to magnify Him, to serve Him with all our faculties
and all our abilities. The very stones would cry out
against us if we did not break forth, as it were, in continual
hosannas to our adorable Redeemer. I lay down my life for the sheep. John chapter 10 verse 15 Christ
loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering
and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5.2 Christ loved the
church, and gave himself up for her. Ephesians 5.25 The life
which I now live in, the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2.20