The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
“The Depths and the Darkness”
The flaming sword of God’s fiery wrath against sin plunged deeply into the heart of His eternally beloved Son, leading the Lord Jesus Christ to cry out in the keenest agony ever known by a conscious being…
“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
Having known only the boundless love of the Father and the Holy Spirit “from everlasting,” our Savior experienced utter abandonment on the cross of Calvary as He “bore our sins” and was “made to be sin for us” (John 17:24; I Peter 2:24; II Corinthians 5:21). How deep would have been the agony of His very being ? How sorrowful His pain of soul? How lonely His spirit? How forsaken His heart?
“He hath put Him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10).
Never will we know, as the hymnist beautifully, but solemnly expressed…
“But none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed, nor how dark was the night the Lord passed through ‘ere He found His sheep that was lost” (“The Ninety and Nine,” Elisabeth Clephane).
Indeed, if God allowed more than the merest realization of how deep the waters and dark the night of our Shepherd’s travail, insanity would immediately ensue. Our soul could not bear the awareness of the Lord’s “exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” measure of grief. However, knowing that we cannot know the depth and the darkness of the Lord Jesus’ suffering for us perhaps serves as the clearest revelation of the extent of His sacrifice. “Thy fierce wrath goeth over Me. Thy terrors have cut Me off” (Psalm 88:16).
The prints of nails and a spear remain on the glorified body of Christ, said by some to be “the only imperfections of Heaven” (John 20:27). In truth, they may be the most telling indication of all regarding the perfection of God’s character, nature, and way. At the highest cost to Himself, our Lord experienced that which seemingly could and should never have been. He did so to make possible what seemingly could and should not be, namely, the eternally abiding presence of God in those who sins led to the cross of forsakenness. The horror of “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? “ made possible the promise of “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). Our Lord’s lonely abandonment, never to be fully known, purchased for us His freely given presence, never to be fully realized because of its infinite “hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Forever, however, its growing measure of grace and joy will be experienced by those to whom God has drawn so near because He moved so far away in the depths and the darkness of Calvary.
“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. 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.”
(Isaiah 53:46)
Weekly Memory Verse
We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
(II Corinthians 4:7)
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