Isaiah 53:7-8 "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he
is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is
dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (8) He was taken from prison and
from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of
the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he
stricken."
I know these verses contain so much more than I am able to
bring out in our devotion, but I pray we can see our Saviour in the light of
His compassion and love for us. "He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted..." We cannot begin to fathom the depth of oppression that our
Saviour endured. The very fact that He was willing to leave the glory of heaven
to come to this earth is more than we will ever have to go through. The Living
Word, Jesus the Christ, left the glory that belonged to Him in order to be made
flesh was greater than we can imagine. We will not be able to understand it
until we arrive in that glorious place. If you will allow me to speak in human
terms, we might say something like this when we arrive in heaven: "He left
THIS to go THERE?!?"
But then when He arrived by way of the virgin birth, He
immediately was met with oppression. Herod wanted to kill him. Wicked men
plotted against Him. More than once, they picked up stones to try to kill Him.
"... yet he opened not his mouth." I remember one particular
time they took up stones and Jesus simply passed through the crowd and walked
away. When He was brought before Pilate, He could have set Himself free.
When the nails were being driven into His hands and feet, He could have refused
to allow them to penetrate His skin. But He opened not His mouth. Why did
He do that? Why was He so meek and lowly in allowing those things to happen to
Him? He never complained. He never questioned the oppression. Yes, I know He
asked the question while on the cross, "Why hast thou forsaken me?"
But I assure you, He knew the answer. He asked the question for you and me to
answer. Isaiah has given us the answer several times already in this 53rd
chapter. Why did Jesus endure all this? "... for the transgression of
my people was he stricken." He did it for you and He did it for
me! Let us all stop just now for a moment to say, "Thank you
Jesus!"