Bearer of Our Afflictions

[Thompson, Darryl]

Bearer of Our Afflictions 

     That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet,
saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. Matt.
8:17.  

     Christ alone was able to bear the afflictions of the many. "In all
their affliction he was afflicted" (Isa. 63:9). He never bore disease in
His own flesh, but He carried the sickness of others. With tenderest
sympathy He looked upon the suffering ones who pressed about Him. He
groaned in spirit as He saw the work of Satan revealed in all their woe,
and He made every case of need and of sorrow His own. No multiplicity of
numbers distracted Him. No anguish overwhelmed Him. With a power that
never quailed He cast out the evil spirits that possessed mind and body,
while the pain of the sufferers thrilled through His whole being. The
power of love was in all His healing. He identified His interests with
suffering humanity.  

     Christ was health and strength in Himself, and when sufferers were
in His immediate presence, disease was always rebuked. It was for this
reason that He did not go at once to Lazarus. He could not witness his
suffering and not bring him relief. He could not witness disease or
death without combating the power of Satan. The death of Lazarus was
permitted that through his resurrection the last and crowning evidence
might be given to the Jews that Jesus was the Son of God.  

     And in all this conflict with the power of evil there was ever
before Christ the darkened shadow into which He Himself must enter. Ever
before Him was the means by which He must pay the ransom for these
souls.... When He raised Lazarus from the dead He knew that for that
life He must pay the ransom on the cross of Calvary. Every rescue made
was to cause Him the deepest humiliation. He was to taste death for
every man. . . . Of the suffering multitudes brought to Christ it is
said, "He healed them all" (Matt. 12:15). Thus He expressed His love for
the children of men. His miracles were part of His mission. . . . He
knows how to speak the word "Be whole," and when He has healed the
sufferer He says, "Go and sin no more."  

>From That I May Know Him - Page 48