Him. "Mine ears hast Thou
opened, or digged or pierced for me." And in the fiftieth chapter of
Isaiah,[6] revised version, are these words likewise prophetic of Jesus.
"The Lord God hath _opened_ mine ear, and _I was not rebellious, neither
turned away backward._ I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to
them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and
spitting."
And the truth is this. May the Spirit of God burn it deep into our hearts.
_Jesus was a surrendered Man._ Stop a bit and think into what that means.
Jesus is the giant Man of the human race, thought of just now as a man,
though He was so much more, too. In His wisdom as a teacher, His calm
poised judgment, the purity of His life, the tremendous power of His
personality in swaying man, He clear overtops the whole race of men. Now
that Master Man, that giant of the race, was a surrendered Man. For
instance run through John's Gospel, and pick out the negatives on His
lips, the "nots." Not His own will, nor His own words, nor His own
teaching, nor His own works.[7] Jesus came to earth to do Somebody's else
will. With all His giant powers He was utterly absorbed in doing what some
One else wished done. And now this giant Man, this surrendered Man, says,
"You do as I have done. Learn of Me: I am wholly given up to doing My
Father's will. You be wholly surrendered to Me, and so together we will
carry out the Father's will."
Some one of a practical turn says, "That sounds very nice, but is it not a
bit fanciful? The lobe of Jesus' ear was not pierced through, was it?" No.
You are right. The scar-mark of Jesus' surrender was not in His ear, as
with the old Hebrew slave. You are quite right. It was in His cheek, and
brow, on His back, in His side and hands and feet. The scar-marks of His
surrender were--are--all over His face and form. Everybody who surrenders
bears some scar of it because of sin, his own or somebody's else.
Referring to the suffering endured in service Paul tenderly reckons it as
a mark of Jesus' ownership--"I bear the scars, the _stigmata_, of the Lord
Jesus." Even of the Master Himself is this so.
And that scarred Jesus whose body told and tells of His surrender to His
Father comes to us. And with those hands eagerly outstretched, and eyes
beaming with the earnestness of His great passion for men, He says, "Yoke
up with Me, please. Let Me have the control of all your splendid powers,
in carrying out our Father's will for a w
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