Divine Sufferer, May 5

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.—Isaiah 53:5JNN 136.1

As humanity’s substitute and surety, the iniquity of men and women was laid upon Christ; He was counted a transgressor that He might redeem them from the curse of the law. The guilt of every descendant of Adam of every age was pressing upon His heart; and the wrath of God, and the terrible manifestation of His displeasure because of iniquity, filled the soul of His Son with consternation. The withdrawal of the divine countenance from the Saviour, in this hour of supreme anguish, pierced His heart with a sorrow that can never be fully understood by humanity. Every pang endured by the Son of God upon the cross, the blood drops that flowed from His head, His hands, and feet, the convulsions of agony which racked His frame, and the unutterable anguish that filled His soul at the hiding of His Father’s face from Him, speak to men and women, saying, It is for love of thee that the Son of God consents to have these heinous crimes laid upon Him; for thee He spoils the domain of death, and opens the gates of Paradise and immortal life. He who stilled the angry waves by His word, and walked the foam-capped billows, who made devils tremble, and disease flee from His touch, who raised the dead to life and opened the eyes of the blind—offers Himself upon the cross as the last sacrifice for humanity....JNN 136.2

Satan, with his fierce temptations, wrung the heart of Jesus. Sin, so hateful to His sight, was heaped upon Him till He groaned beneath its weight. No wonder that His humanity trembled in that fearful hour. Angels witnessed with amazement the despairing agony of the Son of God, so much greater than His physical pain that the latter was hardly felt by Him....JNN 136.3

Inanimate nature expressed a sympathy with its insulted and dying Author. The sun refused to look upon the awful scene. Its full, bright rays were illuminating the earth at midday, when suddenly it seemed to be blotted out.... The dense blackness was an emblem of the soul-agony and horror that encompassed the Son of God. He had felt it in the garden of Gethsemane, when from His pores were forced drops of blood, and where He would have died had not an angel been sent from the courts of Heaven to invigorate the divine sufferer, that He might tread His blood-stained path to Calvary.—The Spirit of Prophecy 3:162-164.JNN 136.4

Further Reflection: What more must Jesus suffer to convince me to surrender to Him?JNN 136.5