"Despised and Rejected"

[Thompson, Darryl]

"Despised and Rejected" 

     He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not. Isa. 53:3.  

     How few have any conception of the anguish which rent the heart of
the Son of God during His thirty years of life upon earth. The path from
the manger to Calvary was shadowed by sorrow and grief. He was the Man
of Sorrows, and endured such heartache as no human language can portray.
He could have said in truth, "Behold, and see if there be any sorrow
like unto my sorrow" (Lam. 1:12). His suffering was the deepest anguish
of the soul; and what man could have sympathy with the soul anguish of
the Son of the infinite God? Hating sin with a perfect hatred, He yet
gathered to His soul the sins of the whole world, as He trod the path to
Calvary, suffering the penalty of the transgressor. Guiltless, He bore
the punishment of the guilty; innocent, yet offering Himself to bear the
penalty of the transgression of the law of God. The punishment of the
sins of every soul was borne by the Son of the infinite God. The guilt
of every sin pressed its weight upon the divine soul of the world's
Redeemer. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. In assuming the nature of man, He placed
Himself where He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our
iniquities, that by His stripes we might be healed.  

     In His humanity Christ was tried with as much greater temptation,
with as much more persevering energy than man is tried by the evil one,
as His nature was greater than man's. This is a deep mysterious truth,
that Christ is bound to humanity by the most sensitive sympathies. The
evil works, the evil thoughts, the evil words of every son and daughter
of Adam press upon His divine soul. The sins of men called for
retribution upon Himself, for He had become man's substitute, and took
upon Him the sins of the world. He bore the sins of every sinner, for
all transgressions were imputed unto Him. . . . "How shall we escape, if
we neglect so great salvation?" (Heb. 2:3).  

>From That I May Know Him - Page 66