When God sent his Son into the world, he took away all the advantages and privileges of deity. Jesus came “not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Seven hundred years before his birth, the prophet Isaiah wrote this about Jesus:

Isaiah 53:3
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Jesus was a man of sorrows. The Hebrew word for “sorrow” is makob. It means anguish and grief. Certainly, Jesus knew what it felt like to be despised and rejected by men. But the word conveys a meaning much deeper than human contempt. In Isaiah 53:4, the prophet says that Jesus “carried our sorrows.” Our sins separate us from God. We can do nothing on our own to bridge the gap. So, the man of sorrows came and carried the anguish and grief of our sin to the cross.

Have you trusted in Jesus, the man of sorrows, as the One who bore your sins in his body on the cross? Have you trusted in Jesus as the only One who could carry the anguish and grief of your sin? Have you trusted in Jesus alone as the One who was pierced for your transgressions, crushed for your iniquities, and the only One who can give you peace with God? If not, I invite you to say the following prayer with me.

Jesus,
I acknowledge that there is nothing I can do to pay the penalty of my sin. I acknowledge you as the man of sorrows who carried the anguish and grief of my sin to the cross and paid the penalty for my sin. Today, I trust in you alone as the only One who can give me peace with God, today and forever. Thank you for being my man of sorrows.
I pray in your name. Amen.