July 20

Luke 9:20‑22
“He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. And He straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day” ―Luke 9:20-2220He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. 21And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; 22Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. (Luke 9:20‑22).
UNTIL we know the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, we do not know Him at all. He is truly the Son of Man, for He has taken our humanity in grace, apart from sin, into union with His Deity. But He is also the Anointed of Jehovah, the Eternal Son of the Father, who became Man without ceasing to be God, in order that He might redeem sinful men from the judgment that their iniquities have righteously deserved. So the second great truth of divine revelation is that “the Son of Man must suffer.” Only by His sacrificial death could expiation be made for iniquity. And no one could make propitiation for sinners but one who was Himself sinless Man and absolute God. He had to be who He was in order to do what He did.
“Thou art my Portion, Lord, Thou art my Rock,
Thou the Good Shepherd who loveth the flock.
Thou art the Life, and the Truth, and the Way,
Sun of God’s righteousness, turning to day
Night and its shadowing. Thou art the Vine,
Pouring Thy strength into weakness of mine.
Thou art the Comforter, Healer of strife;
Thou art the Lord, and the Giver of life,
Death’s Overcomer, and Saviour from sin,
Victory, Peace, and the Dweller within.”
—Bertha G. Woods.