Isaiah 53:10a

As Christians, there are some things that make perfect sense. There are some things, like the Gospel, which make perfect sense (especially through Romans!). There are some things which are hard to understand, but make sense (even if we can’t fully understand it), like Jesus being both fully man and fully God. Then there are things which we can’t comprehend, and for all our knowing they are true and good, seem to be even counter-reasonable. We can’t grasp them because they defy our logic. Such is the mystery of Isaiah 53:10.

‘Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.’ (Isaiah 53:10a)

Why? We can ask ourselves this question a million times and never come up with an adequate answer. That should have been us there upon that cross. No questions asked. It should have been us. And yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him? Instead of us? Instead of us, who, far from loving Him and being semi-faithful servants, had on the whole rejected, slandered, mocked, ridiculed, made war against, hated, ignored or cursed Him? And yet it pleased the LORD to bruise His one and only Son, whom He knew before the foundations of the world.

This type of love is not only beyond our understanding, but it defies our understanding. It is counter-intuitive. It is the love of God. Let us never despise it!