WE HAVE just seen the solemn end of the rebellious son. Now we have foreshadowed the place where the obedience of our blessed Lord Jesus brought Him.
"And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God)."
Surely we have committed sins worthy of death in the sight of God. And all those under the law are cursed by it too, since they have not kept it. But how great the wonder of it all, to think that the Lord Jesus, in obedience to the Father's will, came into this world, into the very place where we were under the curse, and suffered in our stead. He took the place of the curse on the cross, to bear our judgment in the sight of God! He knew what it was to be hanged on a tree.
Our hearts look back to see
The burden Thou didst bear
When hanging on the accursed tree,
For all our guilt was there.
Peter refers to His perfect pathway, to the reality and depth of His sufferings, when he says, "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." 1 Pet. 2:24,2524Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. (1 Peter 2:24‑25). It was our sins that led Him to the tree and now, we who have believed in Him to the saving of our souls, are dead to sins, but alive to God.
The Lord Jesus did everything right before God; it was we who went astray, but we are brought back to have to do with this blessed One, who is the Overseer, the One who takes care of our souls, the Shepherd who goes after the sheep.
May the Lord give us to delight more and more in Him, to follow Him, to learn of Him, to have His Word more as the daily joy of our souls, and to bring forth more fruit in our lives for His honor and praise.
Messages of the Love of God 8/17/1975