THAT YOUR SAVIOR not merely went into death, but that He was led as a lamb to the slaughter (Is. 53:7), is to the saints of all ages the most potent charm of His holy passion.
Many a prophet went into death, having prophecied Christ’s coming, even as afterward the blood of the apostles was shed. Outside of the sacred domain the multitude is great of those who have paid the price of death for the sake of their conviction.
In Jesus’ suffering therefore, the dying itself is not the chief attraction. Dying for the sake of His cause was common to Him with many. And he, who with tender love for his Savior in his heart, has watched the bloody spectacle of Golgotha, at the final gasp, when the Savior’s head sank upon the breast, was aware of a feeling of relief, that now the end of the torture had come, rather than that he was overcome by the horror of the dying itself.
The saintly soul therefore has only seldom centered his attention upon that moment of the actual dying, but has far more sought to lose himself in meditation upon the divine greatness of soul, which in all His suffering shone forth with such enchanting beauty.
And then it was always again the figure of the Lamb of God, that presented itself to the eye of the soul.
That calmness and resignedness, that submissive- ness and passiveness, that restfulness and that bending of Self before God, which enthralls you at every turn of the way of His passion.
Not as though the devout mind, lost in contemplation of Jesus’ suffering, itself chose this image of the holy Lamb of God.
On the contrary, that touchingly beautiful image had already been depicted by the Holy Ghost in the ceremonies of Moses’ law and in the prophecies of Isaiah. John the Baptist had taken it up, when he said to his disciples: “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!”; and, when Jesus has ascended into heaven in glory, His holy apostles point us again and again to that “undefilable and irreprehensible Lamb” through whose blood we have redemption. Yea, when at length the exalted and glorified Savior Himself granted His apostle on Patmos a look into heaven, He shows all principalities and powers in worship before His glory giving praise to the Lamb that was slain.
Why the Lamb was given the honor of being the image of the Man of sorrows, is a question, which in this connection would lead us too far afield. Only let no one forget, that in His eternal counsel, before He created the lamb in the animal world, God the Lord had already determined the dying of the holy Lamb of God; so that not Jesus is named after the lamb, but rather with an eye to the suffering and dying Messiah was the lamb given its character and nature.
Yet this will not detain us here; of greater benefit than such a speculation, is the deeper insight into what this “going to the slaughter as a lamb” implied.
And what then lies in this “going to the slaughter as a lamb” more strongly expressed, than the willingness to surrender Himself, with which your Savior subjects Himself to His suffering?
“Father! not as I will, thy will be done!”
And in keeping with this there is no effort, however weak, to withdraw Himself from His suffering; no cry that it might be mitigated; no suggestion of resistance; but rather a holding back of His disciples who wanted to offer opposition. Neither was there straining of nerve to pose as a hero, far less as a martyr. Divine simplicity and of itselfness, is the character that marks all Jesus’ suffering. It comes upon Him as though it did not come upon Him. He adapts Himself to it, as though suffering were the element of His strength. You observe no insensibility, for in Gethsemane He prays that it might pass from Him and on the Cross He calls for moistening of His dying lips. But neither do you observe any excess of tender sensitiveness, for He endures bitterest and direst suffering with calm submissiveness. It is to Him as a stream that must be forded, as a thunderstorm that must break loose upon Him. He becomes amazed, but He is not frightened. And in the most terrible agony before His death-struggle He still has a word of tender compassion for His mother, who weeps at His cross.
You see in your Savior, that suffering truly is against His nature, but also, that this suffering in this sinful world has become natural to the Son of God.
Of Him could not “all men speak well”.
He must stand as a sign that should be spoken against.
The world could not tolerate Him, could not bear Him, and must try to cast Him out.
And to Him that anger, that bloodthirstiness of the world was not strange. He should needs have been of that world, not to arouse it.
Since He had not gone out from that world, but from God, He must be brought to the slaughter, and because He was God’s own dear Son, He could not go to the slaughter otherwise than as God’s holy lamb.
HIS own also the Lord therefore constantly addresses as the sheep of His flock.
In them He sees the image of the lamb. Sometimes even they are called “the lambs which He shall gently lead”. For whether there is mention of sheep of His flock or of lambs which He gently leads, the fundamental idea is the same, and by both nomenclatures your calling in life is shown in Him, Who went before you as a lamb that is led to the slaughter.
His holy apostles point you to it. You then, as they exhort, must bear with divine patience the suffering that comes upon you for Jesus’ sake, “looking unto Him, Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:23). “Look then unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God in the heavens!” (Heb. 12:2).
“They have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. They have hated Me, they will also hate you” (John 15: 20). “But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world” (John 16: 33).
And when presently His apostles would put the real stamp upon Christian character, they remember the word of Jesus, in which He declared the meek blessed, and are inexhaustible, therefore, in their encomiums of the beauty of calm endurance and of the holy ornament of a forbearance and a suffering, for which awaits you above the crown of glory.
If you seek fellowship of soul with the Lamb that was brought to the slaughter, then see to it, that you can also trace this holy trait of fellowship with your Savior in your own soul and in your own life.
This world is not your Father-house. Your native land is above. And if you truly are God’s child, you can not do otherwise than clash with that world. It is not yours and you are not of it. And the stronger and braver you dare to come out for your Savior, the more you will observe, that that world withdraws its love from you and offers you its hatred in exchange.
This occasions you all sorts of offence and all sorts of hindrances. It brings you all sorts of trouble and all sorts of difficulties. It causes you all sorts of derision, disdain and injury. Sometimes also monetary losses, opposition from your children, prevention against spreading out your wings, limitation and oppression from every side.
But in that case it is not enough, that if needs be you accept this for Jesus’ sake, and that despite this suffering you do not deny your Savior.
The bullock had to be bound with ropes to the horns of the altar; but with the lamb no such exercise of violence was necessary.
And so likewise for you the entering upon that suffering should not be a bending to necessity; no endurance of this suffering with anger and bitterness of heart; so that, if only you were able, you would angrily resist it and cast the yoke from you. No, he who as Christian, would suffer for Christ’s sake, let him go willingly after His Savior as a lamb that is led to the slaughter.
In moments of suffering, God’s child wills to suffer, rejoices in that adversity, kisses the rod that strikes and wounds, and so unfolds that Christian beauty, which glistens in the holy art of endurance and forbearance.
You yourself should take up your cross, and cheerfully carry it after your Lord and Savior. Not with a cheerfulness which is of the world, but with a holy cheerfulness, which is wrought in you of God.
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