The Sorrow Bearer

5 "​​God thunders marvelously with His voice;He does great things which we cannot comprehend.6 ​​For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’;Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength.7 ​​He seals the hand of every man,That all men may know His work." Job 37: 5-7

Snow. Yes, we have seen much of it here in the last week. The flakes exquisitely meander toward the ground in the path God has chosen for each one. On a sunny day, the crystals in their brilliant sparkles remind we who have believed that our sins have been wiped away, washed as "white as snow." But not only did the Lord take away our sins, He also bore our griefs and sorrows.

The other morning I realized a solemn fact: if Christ bore all my grief and sorrow, then I do not need to walk around morose as if I must still bear them. In Matthew 8:16-17 it says:16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
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​​“He Himself took our infirmities ​​And bore our sicknesses.”

As I read in the notes of my study Bible, I found the word for "took" is lambano in the Greek. (#2983) which means: "to take in order to carry away, to remove." They are no longer mine to bear any more, for one day in human history, Jesus Christ actually took my infirmities, the weaknesses in His own precious body.

The word for "bore" is bastazo (#941) to bear or lift with the idea of removal

The meanings of these words are quite similar to the Hebrew word "nasa" which means: to bear, to take the debt of sickness and sin upon one's self and carry it as His own.

In the Dake Annotated Reference Bible marginal notes, (on page 8 of the New Testament) it says this of Matthew 8:17: "What was it He bore away by taking upon Himself? The case before us is not sins, but our griefs (sicknesses) and sorrows (pains). He did not bear them merely to enter into the fellowship of our sufferings, but to deliver us from them. It would be useless for Him to bear them in our stead if He still left us to bear them."

Knowing this fact, when I encounter difficult testings and trials, I can actually rest in the fact that these trials were known to my Savior at a definite moment of history when He bore them for me. That doesn't mean life is not hard at times, but to know that He bore in His body all of my sorrows, I can thank Him for His unique care for me.

I can say to Him, "I am glad that You knew this would happen to me and already suffered in Your body so I would not have to. Thank You for taking it from me and experiencing it fully in Your own body for me and as me."

Isaiah 53:3-6
3 ​​"He is despised and rejected by men,
​​A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
​​And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
​​He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
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4 ​​Surely He has borne our griefs
​​And carried our sorrows;
​​Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
​​Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 ​​But He was wounded for our transgressions,
​​He was bruised for our iniquities;
​​The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
​​And by His stripes we are healed.
6 ​​All we like sheep have gone astray;
​​We have turned, every one, to his own way;
​​And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

The Apostle Peter, who denied the Lord, knew that Christ bore his sorrows, and even denying his Lord. He wrote in I Peter 2 21-24:

"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us,leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
“Who committed no sin,Nor was deceit found in His mouth”
who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed."

In Christ, our sins and our guilt have been washed as white as snow. Our sorrows and griefs He carried for us, so that we won't have to.

"Cast your burden on the LORD,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22

Truly, there is no other God like this One!