Mark 14:62 Jesus said, "I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." 63 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "What further need do we have of witnesses? 64 You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?" And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death. 65 Then some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him, and to say to Him, "Prophesy!" And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands.
After Jesus responded in truth to the question of the high priest, He was blindfolded and beaten.
There will come a time when all will see, but for now the whole world is blind. Caiaphas, the high priest is blind. Jesus is saying, “Open your eyes!”
How horrifically fitting that in paying the price for sin Jesus would be blindfolded and beaten. This is what sin does to its unwitting victims. It blindfolds them and beats them unmercifully.
Isaiah 52:14 declares prophetically that Jesus’ visage, (His face,) would be marred more than any man. Consider what this means. It states emphatically a portion of the heavy price Jesus would pay for sin would be that He would be beaten with utter cruelty to the point He was more unrecognizable than any man who has ever been beaten.
Knowing this is the price, how can we allow ourselves excuses with our sin?
The substitutionary sacrifice Jesus paid for us is a revelation. When we choose to overlook and excuse sin we are blind to the truth. When we choose to overlook and excuse sin we are not only blinded, we are beaten by sin – to the point we can become completely unrecognizable to those who know us. Perhaps you have seen this in someone’s life who is close to you. Perhaps you have known this about yourself at some point in your past. Perhaps you are going through this process right now.
How thankful I am that Jesus did continue to bear this burden…He willingly took this beating, and He continued onward. Onward toward the cross…
You see, Jesus’ suffering over our sin – in the clear depiction of the ravages of sin – was only eclipsed by His continuing onward to not only depict what sin does, but to bear the full brunt of our punishment for it in the open shame of the cross.
- Pastor Bill
No comments:
Post a Comment