John 12:27
Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
A great doctrine indirectly proved.
That doctrine is the imputation of man’s sin to Christ. We see the Savior of the world, the eternal Son of God troubled and disturbed in mind–”Now is my soul troubled.” We see Him who could heal diseases with a touch, cast out devils with a word, and command the waves and winds to obey Him, in great agony and conflict of spirit. Now how can this be explained?
To say, as some do, that the only cause of our Lord’s trouble was the prospect of His own painful death on the cross, is a very unsatisfactory explanation. At this rate it might justly be said that many a martyr has shown more calmness and courage than the Son of God. Such a conclusion is, to say the least, most revolting. Yet this is the conclusion to which men are driven if they adopt the modern notion, that Christ’s death was only a great example of self-sacrifice.
Nothing can ever explain our Lord’s trouble of soul, both here and in Gethsemane, except the old doctrine, that He felt the burden of man’s sin pressing Him down. It was the mighty weight of a world’s guilt imputed to Him and meeting on his head, which made Him groan and agonize, and cry, “Now is my soul troubled.” Forever let us cling to that doctrine, not only as untying the knot of the passage before us, but as the only ground of solid comfort for the heart of a Christian. That our sins have been really laid on our Divine Substitute, and borne by Him, and that His righteousness is really imputed to us and accounted ours–this is the real warrant for Christian peace. And if any man asks how we know that our sins were laid on Christ, we bid him read such passages as that which is before us, and explain them on any other principle if he can. Christ has borne our sins, carried our sins, groaned under the burden of our sins, been “troubled” in soul by the weight of our sins, and really taken away our sins. This, we may rest assured, is sound doctrine this is Scriptural theology.
J.C. Ryle 1816 – 1900
HT:Grace Gems
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How beautiful and yet how terrible are these words when we stop and consider them? I’ve linked to a wonderful sermon our pastor preached a couple of weeks ago on this very subject, what Christ actually suffered on our behalf. The point that he labours most is that of being separated from the Father, as does the Scripture quoted in the article above. Obviously the physical pain of the cross was terrible, but it was a pain that could be borne by any sinful man. However the deepest pain of all for Jesus is that of being separated from the Father in Heaven. Never before that point in the whole of eternity had this happened, or will do again. Yet He suffered this so that we should never have to. How thankful we should be!
I highly recommend taking the half hour to listen to this message: (Sermon no longer available) Click here for mp3 audio.
HI Andy
Thank you for sharing this with us. I can only echo what John has shared with you.
Do either of you remember the Vid called The Cup? By CJ MAhaney (We might have it here on our videos). It relates to this very thing and is very straightforward too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGXRgA75czE
I think it was Paul Washer who asked I think a group of kids what was in the cup that Jesus was about to take, and one girl stood up eventually and said, “The wrath of God.” Like the words you have shared, that video also left me feeling both utterly bereft and utterly grateful.
Our beloved Lord Jesus took God’s wrath upon Himself in place of us. The fact that we can grasp this in any measure, is a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit.
Bless you bro