Anchor Devotional

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The Man of Sorrows

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isaiah 53:3

The story is almost beyond belief. It is one thing for God to care about or offer comfort for our sorrows. It is quite another for the very Son of God to bear them. He is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief who has “borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (v. 4). He was “despised and rejected by men.”

What cuts to my heart is that He not only identified with us in every way (except sin), but we also did this to Him: We “esteemed him not … yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted” (vv. 3-4). He not only suffered for sinners, but suffered at the hands of sinners, for all those who, “like sheep, have gone astray” (v. 6).

He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities (v. 5). He not only suffered with us; He not only suffered because of us; He suffered for us! The Lord “laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (v. 6). And with a phrase that sums up the whole of this devotional, “with His wounds we are healed” (v. 5). Praise God for this unending truth which sees us through to the other side of our sorrows!

SCRIPTURE FOCUS
Isaiah 53:1-6

INSIGHT
Behold your Soul Healer, beloved. He met our wounds with His own. This is where healing is found.

THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Ezra 1-2
Psalm 26
Mark 5

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