Comfort in His Sorrow

The Man of Sorrows

Isaiah refers to Christ as the man of sorrows who is acquainted with grief in Isaiah 53:3.

I feel that often I shied away from focusing on this aspect of Christ. There’s part of me that reacts like Peter when I think of Christ’s suffering.

When Jesus told the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer and be killed, Peter took him aside and said, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” Then Jesus responded and he rebuked Peter. He said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:22-23 ESV)

The reason I can see myself identifying with Peter is there’s a part of me that believes the hero of the story should not die. This is one of the reasons we like movies that have a strong hero, or even a super hero. These leaders conquer their foe.

Christ Conquers Sin, Death & Satan on the Cross

At first glance it appears like Christ is losing, that he is being conquered when he is hanging on the cross of Calvary. And if the story ended on Friday it indeed would be a sad story. This story is different, the one who for a while seems to have lost is raised on the third day, so that we might have life.

This brings me great comfort and I hope it brings you comfort as well. This hero is different. He died so that we might live. He bore our griefs and he carried our sorrows. He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities as the prophet Isaiah foresees 600 years before the actual crucifixcion. His suffering brings us peace, healing and hope.

How could we make it in this world without hope.

Dawn and I along with David and Jonathan have become acquainted with grief when Hannah moved to heaven. Jesus does comfort us in our grief and he gives us hope. He walks with us in the journey. He truly is our savior, even though we’ve gone astray and went our own way. He runs after us in his divine grace and draws us in.

If you have yet to trust this Christ, the suffering one, who died on the cross for your sins I would encourage you to do it today. Then you will experience the true peace that Christ came to bring. He will make you more than a conqueror. There are so many good and wonderful promises in the Bible for those who do believe. These promises are all yes and amen!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org