HORRIBLE SIGHT

 

Good Friday, April 18, 2025

 

HORRIBLE SIGHT

 

Isa 52:14-15

14 As many were astonied [amazed and appalled] at thee; his visage [face and features] was so marred [disfigured] more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

 

Isa 53:2

… he hath no form nor comeliness; [his features were not outstandingly handsome but ordinary] and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

 

Isaiah 53:2

 "He hath no form, nor any beauty, that we should regard him; nor is his countenance such that we should desire him." Isaiah 53:2 Symmachus; the only one of the ancients that has translated it rightly.

(from Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

 

          Jesus hung there as any man and every man. He was not particularly winsome in appearance, but the horrors of the cross made him almost unrecognizable. Though many have tried, Isaiah describes the scene as indescribable. Words failed him.

 

          The cross has been so sanitized and bejeweled that we discount its impact. It is a charm, much like one of the game pieces in Monopoly. One must stand close enough to be “sprinkled” with Christ’s blood to understand its horrors. “Isa 53:2

we hid as it were our faces from him.”

 

          Not only the horrific sight but the tangible guilt is produced by the cross. It was for OUR griefs, OUR sorrows, and OUR transgressions. We not only know it to be so, we feel it deep in our souls. We did this!

 

Isa 53:6

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isa 53:8 for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

 

Ps 22:16

16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

 

Luke 23:47

 

47 Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.

 

Gal 6:14

14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

 

Thank you, Jesus, for the transforming power of the cross. AMEN