I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting. Isaiah 50:6
The New Testament writers of the Gospels recount the suffering of the Lord Jesus, how He was whipped, how the cruel soldiers tore the beard from His face, how Jew and Gentile alike punched Him with their fists and spat in His holy face. We shudder at such shameful treatment of our Saviour, bitterly regretting that it was our representatives who heaped such shame and abuse on Him, and it was to deliver us from our sins that He was there. But it is in the Old Testament, in the writings of the great prophet Isaiah, where we find the reason why such inhumanity was visited on Christ. When we gather to remember Him, we will probably hear this verse quoted as we consider His sufferings.
What thoughts passed through Isaiah’s mind as the Holy Spirit guided him to pen this verse? Most of the Old Testament writers reflected their own experiences in the things they recorded. But Isaiah had never seen anything like this! He was a good prophet and lived during days of some bad kings, and had undoubtedly been mistreated at times. If he had encountered the mistreatment recorded in this verse, he had surely not done so willingly. So he was not writing about himself, but of Another. Just as Isaiah must have been, our hearts are touched today to realize that the Saviour was to willingly offer His back as a smiting place, where the stripes were to be received for our healing. With Isaiah, we wince today to think of facial hair being yanked out of Jesus cheeks. How extremely painful! And we cringe with Isaiah at the thought of spittle on those cheeks. How disgustingly shameful! And yet we read that the Lord Jesus freely and willingly gave His face to receive that shame and spitting.
We think today of the words of Galatians 2:20 -the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me. He gave Himself, all of Himself. To save you and me. -Jim MacIntosh