October 11

We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. — Isa 53:6 BSB

What heart can fully grasp, what words can express, the suffering of Christ’s holy soul when “the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all?” In the garden of Gethsemane, Christ bore an unimaginable burden of guilt and sin, along with the unbearable weight of God’s wrath. The sorrow and agony were so intense that His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground. His human nature recoiled from the cup of suffering placed before Him. His body was nearly crushed by the weight, and His soul sank under the waves of God’s wrath, sinking into deep waters, where there was no foothold (Ps. 69:1-2).

This should come as no surprise when we realize that Christ’s holy humanity endured all the wrath of God. He suffered the very pains of hell, bearing the full weight of guilt and terror that the elect would have endured forever. He experienced not just what one person would have suffered, but the collective weight of the wrath deserved by all the elect. The anguish, darkness, condemnation, shame, and unutterable horror that any believer has ever felt under the sense of God’s wrath, the curse of the law, or the terror of hell are only faint glimpses of what the Lord experienced in Gethsemane and on the cross. There were elements of His suffering that no one else could ever experience or understand, which made His distress and agony unique in both nature and intensity.

As the eternal Son of God, He had always known the blessedness of His Father’s love and favor. He had rejoiced in the Father’s presence from all eternity, being “daily His delight” (Prov. 8:30). But on the cross, instead of experiencing His Father’s love, He felt His displeasure. Instead of favor, He felt wrath. Instead of light, He experienced the darkness of desertion. What heart can truly comprehend, what tongue can express, the bitter anguish that tore at the soul of our suffering Savior as He endured this agonizing separation?