Jesus Christ has suffered and not just a little no no no it’s not that he has suffered a little taste of what is in our lives Jesus Christ has plumbed the depths of every dimension of human grief and of human suffering welcome to open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith I’m David Pick and Colin there are times when we feel alone with our suffering Jesus is God and because he’s God he can’t possibly understand all the pain and hurt and misery that I’m going through what are your thoughts on this while following the story of all that Jesus endured and all that he suffered really gives a very very different picture I mean he knows what it is to be alone he knows what it is to be abandoned he knows what it is to feel even that the comfort of God the Father’s love that he had always known from all eternity is far away and he could no longer feel the comfort of that love we’re going to look today in the scripture at the depth of what Jesus endured and I think folks will find that when you see what Jesus endured you’re not going to be saying he doesn’t know anything about my pain and my sorrow you’re not going to be saying oh you know God’s far away and it’s easy for him he doesn’t really know what it’s like we have a Savior who has come into the depths of human suffering and has endured it and has not been overcome by it and that’s the reason that we have hope in the Lord Jesus Christ he’s been there and he’s come through it and he’s able to help us when we’re in it so this is a story of great hope that we’re looking at as we look at all that Jesus has endured and why he did it for us let’s stay with those thoughts in the message it’s from Isaiah 53 in verse 4 we’re continuing the message restoration here’s Colin our world is filled with sorrow but here’s the second thing that I want us to see from this remarkable text that points to Jesus that Jesus carried our sorrow surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows now Isaiah has already spoken about grief and sorrow in verse 3 if you look at it there he tells us that Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief but now you see having said that in verse 3 he’s telling us why Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief here in verse 4 the reason that Jesus was a man of sorrows is that he carried our sorrows and the reason that he was acquainted with grief is that he bore our grief in other words Jesus took the weight of human grief and sorrow upon himself and Isaiah uses two words to describe this the first is the word born he has borne our griefs which literally means he lifted them up other translations say he took up our griefs as if he bent down in order to pick them up this was an intentional act on the part of Jesus he came into the world to do this he chose to take our griefs upon himself and then Isaiah tells us that he carried our sorrows in other words he took the whole weight of human sorrow on his own shoulders now what does that actually mean well it means that Jesus has entered into every dimension of grief and sorrow in human life and we identified seven dimensions Jesus Christ has entered into each and every one of them think about the physical sufferings of Jesus do you suffer physical pain Jesus has been there prophesying what Jesus would actually experience the psalmist in Psalm 22 says all my bones are out of joint have you ever had one bone out of joint and felt the agony of that on the cross every bone in the body of Jesus pulled out of joint not broken but pulled out of joint if you know what it is to suffer physical pain of any kind the Lord Jesus Christ knows that grief and he has carried that sorrow what about mental anguish do you suffer mental anguish Jesus has been there in the garden of Gethsemane he said this my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow overwhelmed if your mind has been troubled the Lord Jesus Christ knows that grief and he has carried that sorrow what about the emotional sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ have you ever been shamed abused hated by another person Jesus has been there too he was stripped of his robe and exposed to ridicule he was mocked and he was taunted by people who hated him if you have felt shame Jesus knows that grief and he has carried that sorrow too what about the personal loss that Jesus endured do you know what it is to feel alone to feel abandoned if he left Oh Jesus has been there one of his closest friends betrayed him and another of his closest friends denied ever knowing him the rest while they all forsook him and fled if you know what it is like to feel abandoned and alone Jesus knows that grief he has carried that sorrow too and then think about the social sorrows of Jesus have you known what it is to show love and patience and kindness that goes the extra mile towards another person and all of it is thrown back in your face Jesus has been there he came to his own and his own received him not he said on one occasion Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem how often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and were not willing you were not willing of your love your patience your kindness has been rejected Jesus knows that grief he has carried that sorrow too and think of the judicial sorrows of Jesus have you suffered injustice well Jesus has been there too he was think about this physically attacked in a courtroom the one place where a person ought to be absolutely safe and be able to present their case he was sent from one trial to another with the charges being changed repeatedly along the way was condemned to death by a judge who had pronounced him innocent on three occasions if you have ever suffered injustice Jesus knows that grief he’s carried that sorrow too what about the spiritual sorrows of Jesus have you ever felt that God himself may have abandoned you well if you’ve ever felt that Jesus has been there too when our sins were laid on Jesus God turned out the light the Sun shop stopped shining in the middle of the day the whole land was plunged into darkness and in that darkness Jesus could no longer feel the comfort of his own father’s love he cried out in a loud voice my God my God why have you forsaken me oh if you have felt that the love of God was beyond what you could reach or feel Jesus knows that grief he has carried that sorrow to Jesus could say in the words of lamentations look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was brought upon me which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger now friends here’s what I want us to try and take in from all of this today Jesus is God in the flesh and he bore our griefs and he carried our sorrows I have been greatly blessed to not have suffered very much physical pain in my life at all but a few years ago I suffered back pain for about a year and at the beginning of this year one of my daughters-in-law suddenly experienced very severe back pain I’m sure it was much worse than mine because it required an emergency surgery and thank God that has now given her relief but I had a deep deep feeling of empathy for her why because I knew something of what that was like I had the deepest sense of connection to what she was experiencing because I knew it myself now when you draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ bring this to mind you are coming to a Savior who knows what it is like whether we’re talking about the physical pain that Jesus experienced whether we’re talking about the mental anguish whether we’re talking about the terrible abuse the injustice that he suffered Jesus Christ has suffered and not just a little no no no it’s not that he has suffered a little taste of what is in our lives Jesus Christ has plumbed the depths of every dimension of human grief and of human suffering he took it up and he has taken it all on his own shoulders and he knows what it is like at its very worst when your heart is broken when you think nobody can understand my pain my grief my sorrow you can draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ why because he bore our griefs and he carried our sorrows and when you come to Jesus you are coming to a loving Savior who knows what it is like we’ve been looking at how Jesus carries our sorrow but when we come back in a moment we’ll see how Jesus promises a world in which sorrow will no longer exist you’re listening to open the Bible with pastor Colin Smith and a message called restoration it’s part of our series the gospel according to Isaiah which is a deep dive into Isaiah chapter 53 and you can find the whole series up to today on our website that’s openthebible.org.uk if it’s easier for you to listen to a podcast you can find pastor Colin Smith’s messages as a podcast on your regular podcasting site Apple Spotify Google or any of the others just search for open the Bible UK broadcast and look for the purple logo back to today’s message we’re in Isaiah chapter 53 here’s Colin our world is filled with grief and sorrow that’s why this verse speaks so powerfully and directly to us today our Lord Jesus Christ has carried our grief and our sorrow and that is why he is the Savior that we need and then here’s the last thing today that is so very wonderful Jesus promises a world where sorrow will be no more now the words of our verse Isaiah chapter 53 in verse 4 are quoted in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 8 and verse 17 and Matthew tells us there that at evening they brought to him that is to Jesus many who were oppressed by demons and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick this was Matthew says to fulfill what was spoken by the Prophet Isaiah he took our illnesses and bore our diseases and we saw earlier that the words translated griefs and sorrows include all of our illnesses and all of our diseases now this raises a very obvious and a very important and even wonderful question why does Matthew say that Jesus fulfilled these words of Isaiah in his life in the healing miracles when Isaiah very very clearly is pointing to Jesus bearing our griefs and our sorrows in his death and the answer to that question surely is this the Matthew is telling us that what happened to these people who were so wonderfully healed by the Lord Jesus Christ during his ministry on earth that their experience was a kind of taste a kind of sample of what one day every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ will enjoy what we have in the Gospels and in the wonderful healing miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ is a little glimpse of the big picture of why Jesus Christ came into the world here’s a sample of what one day he will bring to completion every demon cast out every sickness healed and this is what Isaiah prophesied why did Jesus come into the world well that’s about the most important question you could ask why did Jesus go to the cross and you can answer that question in so many ways you might say well Jesus went to the cross so that we could be forgiven that’s true but why you might say Jesus came into the world so that we could be born again that’s true but why oh Jesus came so that we could live lives of love and of service in this world yes that’s true but why Jesus came into the world and died on the cross to fulfill the great ultimate purpose of God which is to bring us into a glorious new world where grief and sorrow will be no more and Isaiah is a master teacher and before he takes us further into what happened at the cross he’s giving us the why he’s giving us the big picture what was all this about it was about a great restoration that Jesus Christ came into the world to bring about and one day will bring to completion when he returns in power and in glory to reverse all the effects of sin and to bring us into a glorious world where grief and sorrow will be no more Jesus tells us that we will go through a time of sorrow we will experience sorrow in this world truly truly I say to you you will weep not a question not an if you will weep you will lament you will be sorrowful but thank God he doesn’t end there but your sorrow will turn into joy and later Jesus adds you will rejoice and no one will ever take your joy from you this joy will be ours Jesus says when he comes again in power and in glory he’s going to bring us brothers and sisters into a new world where there’s going to be no more war no more violence no more hatred lies deception no more migraines no more cancer no more chemo no more depression no more fear no more anxiety no more temptations no more sin no more hunger no more thirst no more doubt no more pain no more wounds no more sorrow no more grief and no more loss God himself will be with us as our God he’s gonna wipe away every tear from our eyes and death will be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away Christian brother sister one day you will have shed your last tears because there will be no grief no sorrow in the presence of Jesus in heaven the more you know about grief and sorrow in your life the more interest you should have in Jesus he went to the cross so that grief and sorrow should never have the last word so that there should be a great restoration so that we would be brought one day in his kindness into a world that is freed from all of the ugly and horrible effects of sin a world of love a world of peace a world of joy a world in which grief and sorrow are no more and Jesus offers a place in that glorious world to every person who will follow him that leads us to the question have you followed him maybe you have questions about what it means to follow Jesus and to begin a relationship with him if that’s you we’d encourage you to talk to a trusted Christian friend or maybe family member go along to a local fellowship talk to the pastor or pray with other members of that church you’ll find many who will be able to answer your questions give you a warm welcome and pray with you remember if you ever miss one of our broadcasts or you want to go back and listen again you can find us on our website that’s openthebible.org.uk also as a podcast on all your favorite podcasting sites just search for open the Bible UK broadcast look for the purple logo and subscribe for regular updates and tell us about it write to us at hello at open the Bible .org.uk and tell us your story you can also find us on social media search for open the Bible UK open the Bible daily is a series of short two to three minute reflections written by pastor Colin Smith and read by Sue McLeish Sue was in the studio recently and I asked what people were saying to her about open the Bible daily well it’s early days but several comments I’ve received are encouraging one came from a young mother who’d recently given birth to her second child she’d been worried that she wasn’t finding time for her normal Bible reading and study but open the Bible daily had proved to be just the right length and content for her at this time oh yes and then I received an email a few weeks back from a much older person who’d started listening regularly to open the Bible daily and had already recommended it to several of her friends you can find open the Bible daily on our website open the Bible.org.uk and also as a podcast search for open the Bible daily UK for open the Bible and pastor Colin Smith I’m David Pick and I very much hope you’ll be able to join us again soon have you ever wondered why Jesus had to suffer on the cross find out next time on open the Bible