Word of Salvation – Vol. 21 No.19 - February 1975

 

Man Of Sorrows

 

Sermon by Rev. R. O. Zorn, B.A., B.D., M.Th. on Lord's Day 15

Scripture reading: Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Psalter Hymnal: 259, 286, 355, 381, 487

 

Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

The Lord Jesus was a man of sorrows.

This is Holy Scripture's own testimony of Him.

Isaiah 53 not only calls Him a man of sorrows, but also goes on to describe His sufferings in detail, telling us why this name fits Him so well.

In Handel's immortal oratorio, "The Messiah", a tenor aria is dedicated to this truth, "Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow." (Lam.1:12).  No one in this world can be a stranger to suffering.  For this old world is full of suffering.

Think of the suffering to be found upon the battlefield, in hospitals, in the homes of bereaved, with those who are hopelessly sick, with those who are victims of disasters – examples could be multiplied.

Can anyone really comprehend the extent of this world's suffering?  Suffering's not just something physical, bad enough as this is.  It includes mental and spiritual anguish of the deepest sort.

Yes, this old world bleeds with seemingly incurable wounds of suffering.

Lord's Day 15 of our Catechism brings the Saviour's suffering to our attention

            (Read Lord's Day 15)

We cannot read this Lord's Day without being reminded that our Saviour's sufferings were unique, both as to their nature and purpose.

Let us therefore see what the Scripture exactly means in calling the Lord Jesus a man of sorrows.  We will notice that Jesus was a man of sorrows:

            1.  Because He bore the wrath of God;

            2.  Because He bore the judgement of God;

            3.  Because He bore the curse of God.

I.  JESUS WAS A MAN OF SORROWS
            BECAUSE HE BORE THE WRATH OF GOD AGAINST SIN.

            (Read Q. and A. 37)

In the answer to this question, our Catechism calls attention to the redemptive factor in our Saviour's suffering.  "He bore the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race...!"

When we remember just who the Lord Jesus was as the incarnate Son of God, we can understand that He would already have suffered in this capacity, quite apart from bearing the wrath of God as the sin-bearer.  For in His humiliation to become as one of the children of mankind, He would have had a share in the common human lot of bodily suffering.

We know what it is even in good health, to suffer hunger, or sleeplessness, or weariness of the flesh when we are overtaxed physically.  And Jesus in His humiliation and poverty underwent all of this.

The Catechism, however, does not place the emphasis of His suffering upon this particular aspect.  Now, of course, bodily suffering can be terrible.  And we will do almost anything to avoid it or obtain relief from it, as the case may be.  And Jesus, being fully human as well as Divine, was thoroughly acquainted with this.

But bodily suffering is by far not the whole story to suffering.

There is a more intense side to suffering.  Suffering which we might term spiritual suffering, and with which perhaps we have less understanding, though in some ways we have definite experience of it too.

Suffering of this kind can be intensely personal.  We know all too well, how we feel, for example, when our pride is wounded, or when our character has been attacked, or when we are personally looked down upon or despised.  Are we aware of the fact that others, too, can be hurt in this way?  Are we perhaps even guilty at times of being the cause of such suffering by others?

Jesus was a holy personality.  As such He did not possess a fallen nature like ours that is as prone to sin as a duck is inclined to water.  Hence, we can only faintly imagine what it must have been like for Jesus, as a holy personality, to suffer under repeated contact with sin in others.  Someone has compared Jesus' life to someone who walks upon a bed of thorns with each step that he takes.  This is hardly an exaggeration!

He came to be the Bread of Life.  Did people want this kind of Bread that not all the money in the world can buy, and yet that He offered freely as the gift of His grace?  No, people only wanted bread for their stomachs, and multitudes abandoned Him when He refused to give them more of the ordinary bread they were seeking.

He came to gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel into the fold of God.  But though He came unto His own, His own did not receive Him.

And so we find Him weeping over the inhabitants of the capital city, who rejected Him.

He came to reveal the loving heart of God for lost sinners.  And yet His soul was repeatedly wounded by the gainsaying of sinners against Himself.  Yes, He was indeed a man of sorrows!  Is there any sorrow like unto His sorrow?

But we have not yet probed the deepest aspect of Jesus' suffering.  The most intense and unfathomable aspect of His suffering was with respect to sin.  For God's reaction against sin is one of holy indignation and wrath.

Can this statement, which is so uncongenial to the modern mind, be proved?  As a matter of fact, in the Netherlands a theologian, Dr. H. Wiersinga, has written a controversial doctoral thesis in which he tries to show that Jesus' death on the cross was not a propitiation of God's wrath against sin.  In fact, "Jesus does not give his blood to God, but to men.  It has a voice and it calls men to repentance (it is they who shed that blood) and converts them" (p.206, "De Verzoening in de Theologische Diskussie").

This view is quite in keeping with the modern mind of man today which, if it believes in God at all, believes only in a God of love even if it is at the expense of His justice and holiness.  The God of wrath notion is supposed to belong to the primitive ideas of the Old Testament.  In the modern view all men are considered as being in one way or another the children of God.  The Gospel is then no longer the good news about salvation from sin and the gift of eternal life through faith in Christ, but only an announcement of God's love together with the plea to recognise that relationship which God is supposed to have established with all men by means of Christ.

It is not hard to see that such a view cuts the nerve of missionary endeavour.  For if men are not really lost outside of Christ, is it necessary to bother bringing them a gospel they don't really need at all?  Moreover, from this point of view, can Bible reading, prayer, and church attendance still be regarded as important?  Doesn't such a view mean in the end, the decline of Christianity, and death to the Church of Christ?

God's Word, however, teaches something quite different to this destructive view.  Its message is that of the Catechism.  Think of Matthew 10:28; "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."  Or John 3:36; "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."  Or Romans 1:18; "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness."

The Bible's message, whether quoting the Lord Jesus, or the Apostle John, or the Apostle Paul, is clear: outside of Christ men are lost, under the condemnation of sin, and doomed to suffer the wrath and curse of God in ultimate judgement!

This helps us, then, to understand and appreciate what the Lord Jesus went through in order to be His people's Saviour.  Not just at His life's end, but already during the whole of it Jesus bore the wrath of God against sin.  Of course it was not like the way we experience the wrath of God upon our sins in the sense of loss of fellowship with God, the torment of guilt and the dread of deserved punishment, for Jesus was perfect and sinless.

But the ultimate purpose of His coming into the world, which was to die to redeem His people from everlasting condemnation, was an unremitting pressure upon His soul.  Once, with real anguish He could say, "I have a baptism to be baptised with: and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" (Luke 12:50).  That baptism which awaited Him was a baptism of blood!  Yes, the shadow of the cross hung like a pall over the whole of His life.

What must the suffering it caused Jesus have been like?  We all know what a brief period of suffering can be like.  And a person can, for example, endure the agony of a long night of suffering if there is some expectancy of relief in the morning.

With Christ, however, the night of unrelieved, constant pressure caused by His suffering remained and intensified as the day of His death neared.  And He endured it because of His love for us — to take away the penalty of sin which is everlasting death, and to give us the gift of God's grace, righteousness, and eternal life.  Yes, He was a man of sorrows that we might have eternal joy!

But now we must see in the second place that

II.  JESUS WAS A MAN OF SORROWS
            BECAUSE HE BORE THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD UPON SINNERS.

            (Read Q. and A. 38)

The question might be asked, why does the name of Pontius Pilate appear in our confession?  Is it only that we take notice of the historical record?  About this, of course, God's Word gives us a clear presentation.

Pilate, the Roman governor, was guilty of condemning an innocent man to death.  It was against his better judgement for, repeatedly, he asserted that Jesus was innocent.  He saw all too clearly the jealousy of the Jewish religious leaders, and saw right through their trumped-up charges against Jesus.  Moreover, the Bible records that Pilate made repeated efforts to deliver Jesus from the bloodthirsty mob that was crying for His death.  So Pilate had Jesus scourged.  A Roman flogging was a terrible thing, but Pilate's design in this case was to arouse sympathy for Jesus.  When this failed he offered the mob the choice of Jesus or a murderer, Barabbas.  Surely, he thought, they will choose an innocent man!  But in this also he judged wrongly.

How could Pilate, in the end, condemn an innocent man to death?  For it was not only against his better judgment, but it was also against his nature as a proud judge of a Roman court.  Rome had built an empire upon a system of law that has endured to the present day.  And Pilate represented that law.

But Pilate's earlier, miserable misrule of the Jews now caught up with him.  When they therefore threatened to blackmail him with the charge that they would report him to the emperor for releasing a supposed claimant to Caesar's throne, Pilate in cowardly fashion buckled under and delivered Jesus into their hands.  What an example of the Scripture's warning, "Be sure your sins will find you out!"

Though Pilate lives on in infamy, the confession's purpose here is not to glorify Pilate even in this negative way.  To be sure, he is in the same category as Judas of whom the Lord Jesus said, "Better it were for that man if he had never been born."  For, one day, when the books are opened at the last judgment, the roles of Pilate and Jesus will be reversed.  Then the Lord Jesus will be the Judge, and Pilate will stand in the dock as the accused one.  Accused, not by a rabble-rousing mob, but by his own sins.  And what a fearful penalty the guilt of his sins will demand!

But the confession's purpose in mentioning Pilate's historical action in condemning Jesus is of greater significance than this.  For as the Catechism makes clear, Pilate's judgment upon Jesus was God's judgment upon sin.

It is true that Pilate saw only an innocent man before him and yet he condemned Jesus to death.  For this, of course, he is without excuse.

But in Pilate's action we see a higher, Divine activity.  For God saw Jesus as a sin-bearer, laden with our sins.  And the wages of sin is death.  Therefore Pilate unwittingly, as God's temporal judge, pronounced the death penalty upon God's provided sin-bearer for us, Christ.

Do you appreciate the fact that it was your sins and mine that nailed Christ to the cross?  The question, therefore, of who killed Jesus has a wider implication than that it was Pilate, or the Jewish leaders, or a Jewish mob.  It is we who killed Jesus.  Our sins nailed Him to the cursed tree!

But now do you see the glorious truth that our Catechism seeks to bring to our attention?  If already in this life the sentence of death for sin has been pronounced and carried out, then we have been freed from the penalty of God's severe judgment.  For, "there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).  What good news the Gospel is!

We all realise what a terrible thing it must be for someone to go through life with a sentence of death hanging over his head.  Can there be any peace, any rest for someone like that?  But God's Word says that that's just the way it is with all unforgiven sinners.  They are going through this life with a sentence of death upon them.  Death, not simply in the physical sense, but including everlasting punishment as well.  What a sword of Damocles to have hanging over one's head!  Is life worth living in such circumstances?  Is there any sense in looking to the medical field for a reprieve from the sentence of physical death with improved prospects for a longer life, when behind this life lurks the far worse penalty of eternal death?

Thank God, we may have assurance already in this life that the sentence of death against us has been lifted.  Christ has removed our condemnation by paying the penalty of our sins with His death in our stead.  Physical death has therefore lost its sting.  For it is now the gateway to glory!  For "being justified by faith in Christ, we now already have peace with God." (Romans 5:1).

This brings us to our third point which is that:

III.  JESUS WAS A MAN OF SORROWS
            BECAUSE HE BORE THE CURSE OF GOD AGAINST THE CONDEMNED.

            (Read Q. and A. 39).

Our catechism reminds us that there is something more that we get as a result of the Lord Jesus' crucifixion.  And that is that we are delivered from the curse of God upon sin.

The curse of God is not only the absence of His blessing.  It is also the punishment which He inflicts already in this life as a penalty upon sin.  We see, for example, the consequences of God's curse as pronounced in Eden after the fall.

The man must now wrest his living from a reluctant earth that in the end reclaims him in death.

The woman's sorrows are multiplied in child-bearing.

The serpent is forced to go upon its belly in life-long degradation.  But the consequences of the curse go even deeper.  The Divine curse upon the breaker of God's law means that he suffers from the miseries of sin as a consequence.  For example, a desecrator of the Lord's Day loses the rest that he might otherwise receive in a proper hallowing of this day.  A teller of lies is inevitably deceived himself.  The one who sows to the wind ultimately reaps the whirlwind.

But what about the redeemed people of Christ?  Must they still bear the curse of God upon sin?  No, says our Catechism, in reminding us of the teaching of Scripture.  Christ took the curse of the broken law away by His death upon the cross, for having borne the curse of the broken law, He has freed us from it.  While it is true that the final removal of God's curse upon nature awaits the glorious transformation which will take place at Christ's return, when Christ's people will receive their glorified bodies and nature will be renewed so that "Paradise Lost" will become "Paradise Regained;" the believer's present state is already to experience in a measure the transformation of the curse into blessing.

To some extent, of course, all alike, believer and unbeliever, experience the effects of the curse in a yet unredeemed world, for a certain amount of suffering and sorrow are the portion of all so long as they live in this vale of tears.  But since the actual curse is gone because of Christ's redemption, what remains is merely the effects.  And these, too, are destined to pass away when Christ returns and makes all things new.

In the meantime, even the lingering effects of the curse are changed into blessing by our God who "Works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).  Think, for example, of Paul's thorn in the flesh.  In his torment from it he could call it a miserable messenger of Satan to buffet him (2Cor.12:7).  But in the end he learned to glory in this affliction, for in his weakness he trusted Christ the more and so experienced the all-sufficiency of God's enabling grace for the fulfilment of his calling in life.

What a blessing it is to know that Christ suffered to the uttermost in order to give us the peace and joy of a full 0salvation!  This means that we don't have to worry about our salvation's being dependent in whole or in part upon our works, or prayers, or piety, or sighs, or tears, or suffering, or whatever else the sinner might seek to put up as a means of gaining merit before God.  No, Christ has done it all for us.  Therefore, His salvation is complete and all-sufficient.

But now we must ask ourselves the personal question, what has my response been to this so-great salvation wrought for me by Christ?

Have you noticed the intensely personal note of the Catechism?  In Question 37 we recognise that Christ bore the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race.  Hence, there is no sin that His blood cannot cover, nor any repentant sinner whom He cannot forgive and receive.  Think of the repentant thief upon the cross whom Christ took with Him to Paradise that same day.  In Question 38 we understand that all who are justified in Christ are delivered from condemnation and now already have peace with God.

And in Question 39 we see once more how the benefits of Christ's salvation come right down to the individual person.  He doesn't save man in mass, nor even just anyone.  Remember, one of the thieves was saved that none might despair.  But only one was saved that none might presume.

We cannot, therefore, take false refuge in a "we" group.  For "we" is too general and may include some who are not really in the group at all.

I must acknowledge that Christ saves me as I repent of my sins, put my trust in Him and confess Him to be my Saviour.  All such who thus come to Him He will in no wise cast out (John 6:37).  What an incentive to come!  What a comfort received in coming!

Let us then, as did the Apostle Paul, glory in the cross of Christ.  For it is the bridge between heaven and earth, the meeting place between God and His people in Christ.  With the hymn-writer we too would pray:

"Jesus keep me near the cross;
 There a precious fountain,
 Free to all, a healing stream,
 Flows from Calvary's mountain.
 In the cross, in the cross,
 Be my glory ever,
Till my raptured soul shall find
 Rest beyond the river."                   (Psalter Hymnal 354:1)

Amen.