Suffering Servant (Part Three)

By Clifton Angel   Jesus as the "suffering servant" included numerous other paradoxes. Consider how: 1. He gave up equality with God (Philippians 2:5-8; albeit, He is still 100% God) because of man’s desire to have equality with God (Genesis 3:5-6)! 2. He gave up the unpronounceable “YHWH” (Psalm 33:6,9; John 1:1-3,14; “Jehovah” in ASV; “LORD” in KJV) for the lowly man-pronounced “Jesus” (Matthew 1:18-25)! 3. He Who created the angels (Colossians 1:16) “was made a little lower than the angels” (Hebrews 2:9)! 4. He Who is not bound by time (Isaiah 57:15) became bound by time (Matthew 26:18)! 5. The God Who “cannot be tempted with evil” (James 1:13) was tempted with evil (Matthew 4:1-11)! In fact, He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). 6. The Giver of all “riches and wealth” (Ecclesiastes 5:19) was sold for a mere thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15)! 7. He Who said “I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) experienced being restless (Luke 6:12)! 8. The Judge of all (2 Timothy 4:1), Who pronounces acceptation and rejection (Matthew 25:31-46), was rejected (Mark 8:31; 12:10; John 1:11)! 9. He Who is “the Life” (John 14:26), the Giver of eternal life (Romans 6:23), Who dwells in a place where there is no death (Revelation 21:4), tasted death (Hebrews 2:9)!     Jesus was a walking paradox. Because He is God means He does not have to serve, and He certainly should not have to suffer; yet, Jesus did, and He did it in such a fashion that no man could ever fathom to formulate such a plan. At Isaiah 53:4–6, we read: 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.

- Clifton Angel preaches for the Coldwater Church of Christ in Coldwater, MS. He may be contacted through that congregation's website: http://www.coldwatercofc.com/