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A Suffering Friend
`No
child of humanity will ever be called to live a holy life
amid so fierce a conflict with temptation as was our Saviour.'
(DA71)
`He
would bear iniquity and scorn, and but few would receive Him
as the Son of God. Nearly all would hate and reject Him . .
. finally, after His mission as a teacher would be
accomplished, He would be delivered into the hands of men
and endure almost every cruelty and suffering that Satan and
his angels could inspire wicked men to inflict; . . . He
would die the cruelest of deaths, hung up between the
heavens and the earth as a guilty sinner; . . . He would
suffer dreadful hours of agony, which even angels could not
look upon, but would veil their faces from the sight. Not
merely agony of body would He suffer, but mental agony, that
with which bodily suffering could in no wise be compared.
The weight of the sins of the whole world would be upon
Him.' (SR43)
`Bearing the weakness of humanity, and burdened with its
sorrow and sin, Jesus walked alone in the midst of men. As
the darkness of the coming trial pressed upon Him, He was in
loneliness of spirit, in a world that knew Him not. He had
dwelt amid the love and fellowship of heaven; but in the
world that He had created, He was in solitude.' (DA422)
`So
Jesus, the heavenly Saviour, went forth to sow. He left His
home of security and peace, left the glory that He had with
the Father before the world was, left His position upon the
throne of the universe. He went forth, a suffering, tempted
man; went forth in solitude, to sow in tears, to water with
His blood, the seed of life for a world lost.' (COL36)
And so
we nailed Him to a cruel cross . . .
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`Jesus had now given three
years public labour to the world. This was as long as the world could
endure the presence of it's Redeemer.' (DA541) |
He
`was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He
deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no
share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in
which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours,
that we might receive the life which was His. With His
stripes we are healed.' (DA25)
`The
spotless Son of God hung upon the cross, His flesh lacerated
with stripes; those hands so often reached out in blessing,
nailed to the wooden bars; those feet so tireless in
ministries of love, spiked to the tree; that royal head
pierced by the crown of thorns; those quivering lips shaped
to the cry of woe. And all that He endured - the blood drops
that flowed from His head, His hands, His feet, the agony
that racked His frame, and the unutterable anguish that
filled His soul at the hiding of His Father's face - speaks
to each child of humanity, declaring, It is for thee that
the Son of God consents to bear this burden of guilt; for
thee He spoils the domain of death, and opens the gates of
Paradise. He who stilled the angry waves and walked the
foam-capped billows, who made devils tremble and disease
flee, who opened blind eyes and called forth the dead to
life, - offers Himself upon the cross as a sacrifice, and
this from love to thee. He, the Sin Bearer, endures the
wrath of divine justice, and for thy sake becomes sin
itself.' (DA755)
`As
their cruelty degraded His torturers below humanity into the
likeness of Satan, so did His meekness and patience exalt
Jesus above humanity, and prove His kinship to God.' (DA734)
`Satan's rage was great as he saw that all the abuse
inflicted upon the Saviour had not forced the least murmur
from His lips. Although He had taken upon Him the nature of
man, He was sustained by a godlike fortitude, and departed
in no particular from the will of His Father.' (DA735)
`With
amazement the angels beheld the infinite love of Jesus, who,
suffering the most intense agony of mind and body, thought
only of others . . .' (DA752)
`It
was not the spear thrust, it was not the pain of the cross,
that caused the death of Jesus. That cry, uttered "with a
loud voice", at the moment of death, the stream of blood and
water that flowed from His side, declared that He died of a
broken heart. His heart was broken by mental anguish. He was
slain by the sin of the world.' (DA772)
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