Pain
Have you ever had a toothache? Up until three weeks ago, I had not, but pain signaled something was not right. The dentist quickly and surgically remedied the situation. Dr. Paul Brand has devoted his life to the study of pain. He began his work in India, at a leprosarium, and worked also at a Carville, Louisiana leprosarium. Mr. Brand discovered that one of the reasons that people with leprosy lose their body parts is because they lose the sensation to feel pain. It was not uncommon for some of his Indian patients to lose their fingers and toes, because they could not feel rodents biting them at night as they slept. Pain is a result of the fall of Adam and Eve. In Genesis 3:16, God told Eve that " I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth." The Hebrew root word is atsahv, and it means to worry, to be sorrowful, to afflict, to pain, to offend. We have physical pain, emotional pain and spiritual pain. David spoke of pain in Psalm 116:3 - the sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell got hold of me. Job experienced the pain of the loss of his children, his livestock, his servants, and his health - all in one day. But by far, the greatest pain that this world has ever seen was the pain that Yeshua bore for us on the cross. From Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 He was wounded for our transgressions He was bruised for our iniquities With His stripes, we are healed. He was oppressed He was afflicted yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint, My heart is like wax It is melted in the midst of My bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and My tongue cleave to My jaws and Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death. They pierced My hands and My feet I may tell all My bones; they look and stare upon Me. Yeshua Jesus experienced physical pain; He experienced emotional pain - as He looked out, He saw His mother, He experienced shame as He was crucified unclothed; He experienced spiritual pain when He exclaimed "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!" Yeshua Jesus became man to experience what we experience, He knows your pain, He knows your sorrow, He knows your griefs. He willingly laid down His life to identify with you. And in the pain, He opened not His mouth. He surrendered in the midst of His pain. He had no sin. The pain He suffered was not on account of HIS OWN SELF, it was for you and for me. God brought Him into the world to carry the pain for you, for me. It was our misdeeds that wounded Him, It was our blows that He took, It was our piercings that He bore, He took our punishment. Yeshua bore our griefs and pains. The word bore in Hebrew is nahsah, and it means to carry away a burden, as if to take the load off of another's back. Dr. Brand's work helps us to see that there are some benefits to pain. That which we cannot bear, Yeshua is there to take the load off. Yeshua wants us to give Him our burden. He carried them to the Cross, to the Grave, to the Empty Tomb. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things (things under the curse) are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW. Rev.21:4-5