Many people despised the affliction of the afflicted Lord Jesus, in numerous ways.----Jesus was acquitted by Pontius Pilate after he carefully and publicly questioned him. -I find no fault in this man at all-- he declared to the wicked leaders of Israel.----And yet, the crowd that day demanded that Christ be crucified. When Pilate suggested that he release Jesus, the people demanded he release Barabbas instead. But Barabbas was a seditionist and murderer-----Strange to say, the leaders accused Jesus of sedition in that He claimed to be a king instead of Caesar, but Pilate had cleared Him of those false charges.----The very people who claimed they had no king but Caesar, then tried to save Barabbas, who was opposed to Caesar.----But saddest of all was this- in order to satisfy the crowd that day, Pilate suggested a compromise- that he flog Jesus, and then release Him.----Pilate was willing to afflict the innocent Savior to placate the people. He thought that if he savagely beat Jesus, maybe the crowd would be satisfied.----Pilate thought that a little injustice could be used to divert a greater injustice.----The willingness to commit injustice in this manner is common to all sinful men. We believe that we can accomplish some good thing by doing evil. As Paul the Apostle warned, those who argue in that manner will be justly condemned by God-----Pilate revealed that he was, at heart, an unjust ruler, when he proposed to torture Jesus even when he knew Jesus was innocent.----But the crowd wouldn't be satisfied with just a little injustice, a little affliction.----No, the crowd demanded the full measure of affliction of Messiah- They demanded that He be murdered by Pilate.

Men despise the afflictions of Jesus whenever they disregard them, or treat them as of no importance. The saints embrace those afflictions, as does God, because they were the means by which the Savior died to save His loved ones.----But some go further then simply ignoring them, or treating them as a tragedy. Indeed, our society is full of a cynical mocking and derision of the afflictions of the helpless.----Thus, the mocking crimes against Jesus are repeated today, because they are a part of the broken character of sinful mankind.----This is the heart of the hard pragmatists and cruel cynics, who look on Jesus with scorn, because He should have known what would happen. He brought it all on Himself. What did Jesus think would happen-----We see this accusatory despising of the afflicted in our own time. Rather than blaming the oppressors, we tend to shift the blame off onto the victims. If only they had planned better, or kept their heads down, or left well enough alone, or not been so principled, or stood silent in the face of immorality and oppression, nothing bad would have happened to them.----This view despises the afflicted, because they should have acted in their own best interests, instead of standing out of the crowd for justice and ethics and right.----What do you expect the rulers and leaders and powerful to do when they are rightfully challenged- Savvy people know they will reach out to destroy anyone who challenges them, and therefore avoid doing so.----These are the people who smugly rejoice that they didn't make the same -mistakes- that the afflicted people made.----Thus, they will not stand with the afflicted, lest they be tainted themselves.

The Psalmist David's prophecy of the sufferings of Jesus on the cross were all fulfilled at Calvary. The wicked rulers and people mocked Jesus and reviled Him as He hung there. They despised Him for the suffering that He bore to save lost sinners.----In their despising of Jesus, there was a streak of hatred and revenge.----Sadly, the term -despise- has another meaning as well - to count as nothing, to disregard, to treat as having no lasting significance.----This is the manner in which the whole lost world despises the travails of Christ. Isaiah foretold that Jesus would be -despised and rejected of men ... He is despised, and we esteemed Him not.-----The world's attitude is mostly, -what a shame that they did that to such a good and harmless man.- But the suffering of Jesus means nothing more to them. It has no lasting purpose, and they quickly move along to other matters.----If that's all you can say about the affliction of Jesus at Calvary, then you don't understand the true significance of the crucifixion.----Many may even weep when they see Christ's passion portrayed on the big screen, and still not trust in Him for salvation.----If we never grasp its significance and purpose - to pay the awful price for our redemption - then we too are despising the affliction of Jesus.----But God never despised the afflictions of Jesus- In fact, the Psalmist recorded that promise- that God would not despise or abhor the affliction of His afflicted Son, the Lord Jesus-----God did not hate Christ's suffering. He did not ignore it. He did not disregard it.----No, God heard Jesus when He cried out. God knew all about the awful price Jesus was paying to save us, and God accepted it.

Nowhere in the Old Testament is a darker prophecy of Jesus' suffering at Calvary portrayed than by David in Psalm 22.----Some poetic symbolism and metaphor is used, but much of the psalm describes literally the horrors of the cross for the Savior.----When the Spirit of Jesus in David cries out that there is no one to help Him from trouble, and He is surrounded by many strong bulls of Bashan, that is a cry against the power of Rome and the wicked Jewish leaders that is arrayed against Him.----This reminds us of the powerlessness of people against the cruelty and implacable strength of tyrants. Humanly speaking, all the powers of the world were arrayed against Jesus as He hung on the cross, in oppression and cruelty against Him.----He describes those who gaped upon Him, stared and pointed and humiliated Him in His nakedness and exposure before them as a ravening lion, which was fulfilled when they sat down and watched Him there, and speculated what would befall Him, as they waited expectantly for Him to die, as if pounce upon Him in His dying.----Being poured out like water, with bones pulled out of joint, and a heart that melted like wax, and extreme thirst and weakness, all describe the peculiar death by crucifixion, in which the body is strung up by the wrists in such a way as to suppress breathing and the action of the diaphragm. Positional asphyxiation takes hold, and the poor heart pumps harder and harder, desperately trying to circulate de-oxygenated blood, the body growing weaker and weaker, until it finally gives up after a slow death.----Evil surrounded Jesus there like a pack of dogs, as they drove the horrible spikes through His hands and feet into the cross.

Another Old Testament prophecy that nobody remembered or understood is found in Psalm 16. David describes his hope in the resurrection, and endless joy in the presence of the Lord in glory. His flesh rested in hope, because God would not leave his body in the grave.----But intruding into his rejoicing is this promise- God will not permit Messiah to see corruption-----No doubt the saints wondered, why would David say such a thing- Everybody knows that Messiah lives forever, reigning over the whole world, as promised by God. So isn't this promise to Messiah meaningless, since obviously He won't rot in the grave since He never dies.----But it was a promise hidden in plain view, and the promise of No Corruption could only have meaning if Messiah was promised to die.----Christ's disciples missed the promise, even when Jesus Himself articulated it in different words- that He would die, and rise again the third day.----The women who went to the tomb that Sunday morning certainly thought Jesus would rot in the grave. They brought spices and ointments to anoint His body, to stave off for a moment the decay that destroys all dead bodies.----Jesus had already intimated that they would not be able to anoint Him after His death, because Mary unwittingly did so before His burial at the celebration given for the raising of Lazarus.----The public certainly forgot the promise of Psalm 16. When Jesus, at the end, spoke of being lifted up on the cross, and dying like a kernel of wheat buried in the ground, the Jews objected that He must not be Messiah after all, because Messiah could never die.----But God hadn't promised Messiah would never die - only that He wouldn't stay dead long-

Peter described how the prophets of old foresaw the sufferings of Christ, but did not grasp their true meaning. They were told of these things by the Spirit of Christ that was in them, that same Spirit that quickens poor dead sinners and causes us to understand what those prophets could not.----In reviewing the Old Testament testimony to Christ's suffering, we noticed that Psalms 40 and 69 both address the unsatisfactory nature of animal offerings, and the Lord Jesus being brought in by God to make the perfect sacrifice in the place of sinners.----Our sins were laid on Jesus and He was treated as guilty in our place. He preached righteousness, and yet He was treated shamefully and full of reproach. He was smitten by God in our place, and wicked men persecuted Him on the cross.----These Psalms also predict that Jesus would be lifted up as God's salvation - both on Calvary's tree, and at the right hand of God-----They also told of how Messiah would be despised for His Gospel preaching, how He would be forsaken by His own brethren.----The zeal of God's house would eat Him up- The disciples connected this prophecy with Jesus' cleansing of the temple, which won Him powerful enemies who ultimately would put Him to death.----The Lord Jesus knew this perfectly well, for when they objected to His temple cleansing, He told them they would try to destroy His body, but He would rise again the third day-----Jesus knew that His zeal for God's house would result in their murdering Him on the cross.----In His thirst on the cross, the Psalmist had predicted they would insult Him with vinegar to drink.----It was the Lord Jesus Who made sure God's Word was fulfilled to the last letter.

Peter describes how the sufferings of Jesus were revealed to the old testament prophets, but they didn't fully understand what they were being told.----It was the Spirit of Christ Himself that was in the prophets predicting His Own suffering to them- Indeed, there are a number of old testament texts which record the Holy Ghost revealing Christ's sufferings many centuries before Jesus was born.----The prophets did not understand who the sufferer was to be, nor what the timeline or order of events involving Messiah would be.----There was a seeming conflict between numerous prophecies of Christ's glory and absolute rule as King -e.g., Psalm 2-, and Christ's suffering and dying for sin.----How could the prophets resolve these seeming contradictions- They searched and studied and prayed and sought the Lord, but the matter remained opaque to them.----This reminds us of Jesus' revelation to His disciples, that many kings and prophets had desired to see the things they saw, and hear the things they heard, but never did.----Peter goes on to state that it was revealed to the prophets that their writings were meant to minister, not in their own times, but to us who have received the full Gospel after the death and resurrection of Jesus-----That is because what they wrote without understanding it, was exactly what happened to the Lord Jesus- The predictions made by the Holy Ghost to them were fulfilled in the life and death of Jesus-----Therefore, it is not possible to claim that the Gospel was somehow made up after the fact by disappointed followers of the Savior. Paul and Peter did not make up what the dying of the Lord accomplished.----No, it had all been laid out before-

The dissatisfaction of God with animal sacrifices is well known, described both in the old and the new testaments.----In Hebrews 10, the dissatisfaction is described as due to the fact that animal offerings could never take away sin, or make the offerer perfect. Since God willed to save His loved ones, the Lord Jesus declared His willingness and delight to do God's will, to be clothed in human flesh, and to become the sin offering that purges guilt and forever perfects those who trust in Him.----In Psalms 40 and 69, the same willingness is described- Jesus acknowledges the dissatisfaction of God with animal sacrifices, and Jesus steps forward, willing to do God's will. In both psalms, Jesus acknowledges our sins being laid upon Him, and His owning them, and being treated as guilty for them in our place.----Several verses specifically describe circumstances at Calvary, making it clear the texts refer to the crucifixion of Jesus for sinners.----Christ describes the anguish He suffered, and the reproach that was heaped upon Him. Wicked people -persecute Him Whom Thou has smitten------This reminds us of Christ's teaching in John 12, that His death would bring both sorrow to Him, and yet glorify Him and His Father. Only by dying, like a kernel of grain, could Christ bring forth an abundance of life for those who trust in Him.----Jesus proclaimed that when He was lifted up, He would draw all men unto Himself. This principally described the lifting up on the cross, but the double meaning is that Jesus would be exalted as savior by dying.----Lifted up on the cross, and lifted up to glory as our redeemer- That was the sad, and yet joyous sacrificial work He finished-

Jesus prays for His people, and His prayers are effective.----He told us He prays that our faith won't fail. Faith is God's gift to His people, and as such, He is interested that we never lose it, but cherish and marvel over it.----Jesus also prayed the Father to send us a Comforter, while He is gone back to Heaven to intercede for us. The Holy Ghost indwells us, knitting us unto the Father, and changing our hearts and minds toward love for Jesus.----Jesus also prayed the Father that His glory would be revealed to us, and that His people would be united together with God in love and glory. Jesus reminded the Father that He gave to Jesus all His people, and that we all are knit together in that gift-giving. Jesus prayed the Father would keep us safe, and from the devil's reach.----Indeed, Jesus prayed that believers, Himself, and the Father would be all entangled together in oneness and love and joy. In His high priestly prayer, Jesus prayed to establish the union of His people with the Father and the Son for all time.----Christ prayed we would all be entangled together in the love of the Father for the Son, and the love of the Son for the saints.----Jesus' prayers for us are necessary, and a guarantee that nobody can condemn us. He died in our place, He rose again, He is exalted, and He makes intercession for us.----In our salvation, Jesus leaves nothing undone, including all prayers for us.----May we never fall into the trap of thinking that somehow Jesus isn't praying for us in all the ways that are necessary and good for us-----Jesus doesn't need to be reminded to pray for us, and nobody dare suggest that He is slack in His prayers for the good of His loved ones-

As an encouragement for the new year, recall that Jesus made a promise in the face of the blackest of nights.----The very night He was betrayed, Jesus promised that He had prayed that His disciples' faith fail not.----Jesus addressed His promise directly to Simon Peter, but His use of the plural showed the promise was for all His people.----Satan had desired to destroy Peter in the next 48 hours, as Jesus was taken out and murdered by His enemies.----But Jesus had already prayed for Peter, that Peter's faith would not fail.----The disciples were about to be tried in a way that no other believers have ever been tried, before or since. The Messiah that they had trusted in was going to be destroyed by wicked rulers and priests.----They would see, or so they supposed, their whole hope come crashing down at Calvary. How could Jesus save anybody if He is dead-----All their hopes of a political savior would be broken. The One they had believed seemed to them to be defeated in the end.----But Jesus had prayed for them, that their faith fail not.----No doubt Jesus addressed Peter directly because, of all the disciples, Peter seemed the most self-confident. He was, as the saying goes, -often wrong, but never in doubt------Peter had great confidence in the famous -water walking incident,- but then his faith failed, and Jesus lifted him up from the waves.----After Peter had pronounced that Jesus is Messiah, the Son of God, he then went on to rebuke Jesus for His promise to die and rise again.----And on the night of betrayal, Peter expressed confidence that Jesus was wrong, that he, Peter, would never betray the Savior.----In all these ways, Peter failed, but Jesus' prayer did not-