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The Gospel Observer
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the
nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you,
and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age"
(Matt. 28:19,20).
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January 10, 2016
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Contents:
1) Jesus -- A Man of Sorrows and Acquainted with Grief (Tom Edwards)
2) News & Notes
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-1-
Jesus -- A Man of Sorrows and Acquainted with Grief
Tom Edwards
It is in the Messianic chapter of Isaiah 53 where Jesus is described
as the above title shows. The verse declares, "He was despised
and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And
like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did
not esteem Him" (v. 3).
It can also be pointed out, however, that it was not for himself
that the Lord was sorrowful, as if in having a pity party.
Rather, as the passage goes on to show, "Surely our griefs He
Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed
Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted" (v. 4).
Yes, so much the Lord was willing to undergo for us -- and even
though we could never earn nor deserve His great concern. "But
He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for
our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And
by His scourging we are healed. All we like sheep have gone
astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has
caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him" (v. 5).
When on trial for His life, following Judas' betrayal, Jesus did not
defend Himself to try to avoid the sentence of death. "He was
oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like
a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent
before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth" (v. 7).
After false charges were made against the Lord, the High Priest said
to Him, "...'Do You not answer? What is it that these men are
testifying against You?' But Jesus kept silent..." (Matt.
26:60-63). It was not until the High Priest then adjured the
Lord by the living God to tell whether He was the Christ, the Son of
God, that Jesus then spoke up, saying, "You have said it yourself;
nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN
SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF
HEAVEN" (vv. 63,64).
The Lord's sorrow and grief over others, due to His divine knowledge
in knowing where they were heading, can clearly be seen in Luke
19:41-44: "When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept
over it, saying, 'If you had known in this day, even you, the things
which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your
eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will
throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on
every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children
within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another,
because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.'"
So just as God the Father and the Holy Spirit can be grieved over
the sins of man (Gen. 6:6; Isa. 63:10), even so can Jesus the Son of
God (Mk. 3:5).
The apostle Paul speaks of the "great sorrow and unceasing grief"
that he had in his heart for the lost (Rom. 9:2-4) -- and how much
more the Lord must have experienced that! Not only had He wept
over the city of Jerusalem, as noted above, but Jesus had also
greatly longed for their salvation -- but they refused. The
Lord's desire to have saved them can also be seen in Luke 13:34: "O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones
those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children
together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you
would not have it!" This also corresponds with 2 Peter 3:9,
that "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count
slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish
but for all to come to repentance."
Jesus' heart truly went out to people. He could
sympathize. He was greatly moved by their troubles, by their
lost state, and by their helplessness: "Seeing the people, He felt
compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited
like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, 'The
harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore
beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His
harvest'" (Matt. 9:36-38).
Another form of grief that Jesus underwent pertains to those
emotions in facing the torturous death on the cross at Calvary, as
He acknowledges: "...'My soul is deeply grieved to the point of
death...'" (Mark 14:34). Here "deeply grieved," from the Greek
word "perilupos," is defined as "1) very sad, exceedingly
sorrowful 2) overcome with sorrow so much as to cause one's
death" (Thayer). In the setting, Jesus is in the Garden of
Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal by Judas. It was a
time in which He was "very distressed and troubled" (v. 34), with
the Greek word for "distressed" meaning, "to throw into terror...to
alarm thoroughly...to be struck with terror"; and "troubled" being
not only "to be troubled," but also "great distress or anguish..."
(Thayer). It was also during this time in the garden that Luke
says of the Lord, "And being in agony He was praying very fervently;
and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the
ground" (Luke 22:44).
What a terrible ordeal the cross was to face, yet Jesus willingly
submitted to it as part of His Father's will and through which an
atonement could be made for every lost soul. As the Lord
Himself points out: "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I
lay down My life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away
from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to
lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This
commandment I received from My Father" (Jn. 10:17,18).
We have seen in this article that God the Father, Jesus the Son, and
the Holy Spirit can all be grieved over the sins of humanity.
Is this not another reason for why we should all become Christians
and ever strive to live for the Lord, so that we will not be
bringing any grief to the Almighty God? And by serving Him, instead
of grief, it will then be quite the opposite that our God will have
for us, as seen in these following verses which I have emphasized:
"For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify
the afflicted ones with salvation" (Psa. 149:4) and "honor"
those who serve His Son (Jn. 12:26). "The LORD favors
those who fear Him..." (Psa. 147:11), and "...the blameless in their
walk are His delight" (Prov. 11:20). The righteous are
certainly not a grief to God.
Especially in view of all that Jesus was willing to go through for
us, including its sorrow and grief, we should be even more motivated
to live for Him -- and to do so joyfully! For "...He died for
all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but
for Him who died and rose again on their behalf" (2 Cor.
5:15). In that sacrifice, Jesus tasted death for everyone,
which required His being made "a little lower than the angels" by
taking on the body of a man that could be put to death (cf. Heb.
2:9). And in entering this world, born of the virgin, what a
great sacrifice that was in itself! "For you know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He
became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich" (2
Cor. 8:9). The spiritual wealth obtained through Christ is of
far greater value than all the material wealth of the world
combined! How humble Jesus was to willingly leave the blissfulness
of heaven and the glorious state of His heavenly body in order to
come to earth to dwell in human flesh, as a man, yet still retaining
His Deity. As Paul writes, "who, although He existed in the form of
God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but
emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made
in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:6,7). Jesus was God incarnate
(Jn. 1-3, 14). "For in Him all the fullness of Deity
dwells in bodily form" (Col. 2:9). While on earth, Jesus
declared, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also;
from now on you know Him, and have seen Him. ...He who has
seen Me has seen the Father..." (Jn. 14:7,9). Jesus was and is
"the radiance" of His
Father's "glory" and "the exact representation" of His Father's
"nature" (Heb. 1:3).
Christ had been "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."
But because of His life and sacrificial death, we can have joy and
gladness for all eternity by simply accepting God's plan of
salvation and striving for that heavenly goal where all the redeemed
will dwell and where there will be no death, no mourning, no crying,
nor pain (Rev. 21:4). For "...the kingdom of God is not eating
and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit" (Rom. 14:17). And how much more so that will be
experienced in the eternal kingdom of heaven itself, which we are
now striving for. As Peter exhorts, "Therefore, brethren, be
all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing
you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never
stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you"
(2 Pet. 1:10,11).
Looking to Jesus and what He went through on our behalf can help us
in our striving against sin and keeping on the right track. "For
consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against
Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (Heb.
12:3).
Jesus' becoming "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" also
indicates the great love that He has for humanity -- a love that
prompted Him to be willing to undergo great difficulties,
sacrifices, and sufferings on our behalf. So we should never
doubt His great concern for us. And let us also remember that that
which led to our Lord being that "man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief," and having to endure all the suffering in which he did, can
be summed up in one word, and that being "sin"; but not because of
His own sin -- for He had none -- but because of the sins of others.
All of us -- as well as all who had ever been or ever will be -- who
have transgressed God's word are each the reason for why Christ had
to come to this world and do what He did.
May we, therefore, ever live to never more be a cause of grief or
sorrow to the Almighty God who has always loved us more than we can
even fully realize, but do see supremely expressed in the giving of
His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who willingly went to that
terrible cross in order to make the great and only atonement that
can set man free from the bondage of sin!
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-2-
News & Notes
Barbara Darsey, Anita Young's sister-in-law, had to spend
longer time in the hospital than first expected. For though
she received two stents, following her heart attack, there was later
also the need for a pacemaker, which was installed.
Judy Daugherty was recently admitted back into the hospital,
due to congestive heart failure, but is now back home.
Misty Thornton is to continue wearing her Life Vest for 3
more weeks. She also says that she seems to be doing well with
her cardiac rehab, but her heart rate still gets too high too
quick.
Rex Hadley had been down to Express Care on the 5th, due to
bronchitis. After the Z-Pak, prednisone, and CoughGels had not
seemed to clear things up, he began also taking Brotapp on the 10th,
which has been helping to make some improvement.
Let us also continue praying for Danielle Howard (swelling
in arm), Anita Young (healing from hip surgery that removed
the bursa), Shirley Davis (hip trouble), Deborah Medlock
(pain around shoulder area), Mary Vandevander and Sue Wooten
(shut-ins), Andra Johnson (difficulty in pregnancy), and Michelle
Rittenhouse (heart trouble).
WordPress version of this week's bulletin:
https://thegospelobserver.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/the-gospel-observer-january-10-2016/
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The Steps That Lead to Eternal Salvation
1) Hear the gospel, for that is how faith
comes (Rom. 10:17; John 20:30,31).
2) Believe in the deity of Christ (John
8:24; John 3:18).
3) Repent of sins (Luke 13:5; Acts 17:30).
4) Confess faith in Christ (Rom. 10:9,10;
Acts 8:36-38).
5) Be baptized in water for the
remission of sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3,4;
Gal. 3:26,27; 1 Pet. 3:21).
6) Continue in the faith; for, if not,
salvation can be lost (Heb. 10:36-39; Rev. 2:10; 2 Pet.
2:20-22).
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Tebeau Street
CHURCH OF CHRIST
1402 Tebeau Street, Waycross, GA 31501
Sunday services: 9:00 AM (Bible class); 10 AM
& 5 PM (worship)
Wednesday: 7 PM (Bible class)
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (912) 614-8593
Tom@ThomasTEdwards.com
http://ThomasTEdwards.com/go
(Gospel Observer website)
https://thegospelobserver.wordpress.com/
http://ThomasTEdwards.com/audioser.html
(audio sermons)