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6/10 Reading Portions: Deuteronomy 15; Psalm 102; Isaiah 42; Revelation 12
Psalm 102:8
All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.
NAME
Mr. Spurgeon calls this “the Patriot’s Plaint” in his famous commentary upon the psalms, The Treasury of David. It surely is the afflicted cry of one who loves Israel and desires God’s pity upon Zion. It is also a most prophetic psalm of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Afflicted One and Man of Sorrows of Isaiah’s 53rd chapter. The Father’s face was hidden from the forsaken Son when Jesus hung upon the tree in the day of His distress (Psa 102:2); not that the Father was not looking upon the Son, but that the Son could not see His Father’s face in His forsakenness. Crucifixion caused Christ’s bones to burn like a furnace (Psa 102:3). His heart burned within Him and hunger departed from Him (Psa 102:4) as His bones did cling to His flesh (Psa 102:5). In the midst of His physical sufferings, Jesus was jeered by the very people He came to save. The gospel accounts include this detail as they wagged their heads in mocking derision
“He saved others; He cannot save Himself.” Matthew 27:42
In this statement they ridiculed Christ’s name— Jesus. The Lord’s name, Y’shua in Hebrew, means “will save,” as told Joseph in a dream by the angel of the Lord,
“She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21, emphasis added
Because of the meaning of His name, the people used it as a curse to heckle the Lord Jesus when He hung upon the tree as a curse for you and me—
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us— for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’ Galatians 3:13
Today, the name “Jesus” is still used as a curse by the enemies of the cross. While the unbelieving world derides the name of Jesus, we delight in His name with joy unspeakable; and when we look at the cross through the eyes of faith, to witness the extent God had gone to save us through His one and only Son, we may be sure that in our sufferings, there is no sorrow or affliction we have experienced that the Lord Jesus has not gone far beyond. He paid a debt He did not owe for a debt we owe and could not possibly pay! Hallelujah!