BEHOLD THE MAN
Yet it is the story of us all
This is not just a story
It is history
This is not just history
It is His Story
Are you a child of sorrow?
He was the King of Sorrows
Do you think yourself depressed?
He dined with anguish of soul in the house of Death
Are you deserted of hope?
He was acquainted with grief
Do you think yourself lonely?
He had no single friend in His greatest hour of need
Do you think yourself sinful?
All of sins converged in Him
God’s Cup of Wrath was fully emptied by Him
Clothed with our sins
He was MADE sin
And became accursed of God
Behold the Man; who hath known sorrow like Him?
All ye Depressed, look unto Him
All ye deserted of hope, behold your King of Sorrows
He has triumphed
See, He brings joy, He leads your fears captive
He comes bearing gifts
He took your diseases and sorrows
Became cursed for your blessings
Judgement and mercy in Him accomplished
All of sins debited in Him
All of Grace only He can credit
The Author of salvation
In His Name may repentance and remission of sins be preached
Given for all Barabbases
Best of Man for worst of men
Let us all Barabbases behold the One who died in our stead
Let us enter with Him into His sorrows
And fellowship with Him in His sufferings
That we might share in His overwhelming joys
In His last moments
He still worked a miracle for His captors
Bidding friends to sheath the sword
And even in death
For His murderers He plead forgiveness
Where many would ask for revenge
The Saviour prayed for you and me
Long before we believed
What a forgiving Saviour!
His close friends distanced themselves from Him
And would have nothing to do with Him
Even on an oath, “cursing…I know not the man”
Our LORD became “the man”
Yes indeed, behold the Man
Behold the Man; by Whom alone salvation must come
And that through no other
The Man whom God hath given for man
The Man without sin, Who only is worthy
Behold the Man Who only can and hath well pleased God
The Man upon Whom only God will look
No man may come to Him except in this Man
The Man He has given as The Way
Yet man still looks for other ways
Bankrupt humans, what debt we owed!
We could never repay
No, not Even with our lives!
But behold the Man
He paid for us and paid in full
The Lamb of God hath prevailed
And by His knowledge shall the world be justified
Behold and know Him if of your debt you will be acquitted
Behold the Man lifted
Behold His head bowed
Lifted high above all mountains
His redemptive tears descends the valleys
From His pierced side flows the River of Life
Reviving souls than water from Moses’ rock
Highly exalted of God
He is not hid from any
All the world may behold Him
To the very ends of the earth
Wherever man is found
He is lifted to draw all
The Lighthouse to guide Humanity’s lost ship ashore
He is lifted to shield all
Towering above all
That God’s rays of wrath might not reach us
But only He who now letteth will let
Behold the Man; He forgave freely
But He will be the Judge
Lifted by His cross
Lifted to uproot The Curse
Stronger than the sun’s rays
His crown of thorns beams glory over the earth
Behold the Man; in royal purple robe
“Behold your King!” said Pilate
But He is not only “king of the Jews”
He is become King of us all
His anointed feet shone like the sun
Mary had wrought a good work
The women though came early were late
She, inspired, anointed her Lord
From Golgotha, home of the dead
Sprung life unto many
This Man by kiss betrayed
Even now calls you to kiss the Son
He bore the beam
But our sins were heavier
He tore the veil
And unveiled God to man
He is lifted up and shown and declared
He is buried deep and sown to multiply
Sown in corruption
Risen up in glory
With three days of death
He bought countless days of Life
Many false witnesses there were
But no twain did agree
That His conviction be not of man
Nay, the World Prince found nothing in Him
Let us now follow closely
And not afar
That we sit not with servants
E’en while in the palace
The Cross takes a central position in hisTory
Because it is His Story
His cross pierced the skies
A giant stamp of freedom: “PAID!”
The very symbol of His suffering
Today is become the symbol of our hope
Come, let us kneel at His cross
Nay, be planted ‘neath the life-giving drops
Let us sit and behold long
The grass is greener at the water source
The Life-giving Bread is broken
The Life-giving Fount is opened
Let us dine, let us wash
Behold, not to grief, as the end
But to live in the realities of what this Man has wrought
Let us ponder and believe
Let us not tread under the blood of God’s Son
By believing you attest God
By denying, you detest Him
“Behold, thou dying race, the Dead
Thou need’st die no more”
Behold Him not only in His resurrection
And the life and blessings it offers you
But behold Him also in His death
How helpless and forsaken He became for you
Bruised of God for your sake
His death cries “I love you this much!”
See what you were worthy of
That you may better appreciate what you are unworthy of
“Come down”, they said
But he must needs pass by Death’s house
The way to Life is by Death’s house
He had business to do
“He saved others, himself he cannot save!”
The very thing He was doing for others
For Himself would not do
Not because He cannot
But because He would not
By death He conquered Death
By His death, man should live
Born to die, he bore a body prepared for sacrifice
Two thieves hung by Him
One said “IF you are Christ, save yourself and us”
He believed not and knew not
It was we who needed saving not Him
The other said “LORD, remember me WHEN in your Kingdom”
He believed Him and saw a King
And was taken with Him to His paradise
Do you too believe this King?
Behold this Man; He had power to call down twelve legions
But sheathed His sword and flickered not His choice
He had resolved His will at Gethsemane
That our salvation may be fully wrought
He spoke no words in His defense
He had said all He needed to in prayer
He held His peace
And died for our peace
He silently died as He worked his love
He worked the great work of our salvation and thirsted
For you, for me
The cross wasn’t for His shame or pain
He went all for our sake
So He wouldn’t stay for long
And He died as soon as He was done
He laid His life down and would take it up just so
No man taketh it from Him
He was just fulfilling a plan
And when He was ready He left the grave
It was not possible that He should be held
What man makes plans of things to do after his death?
But He said, “After I am risen again, I will go before you to Galilee”
What man, but He who is certain of victory over death?
He made His grave with the wicked
And with the rich in His death
Because He did no violence
Neither was deceit found in His mouth
Behold, a suffering Saviour!
He not only suffered, He even died!
What a Saviour!
But wait, it didn’t end with His death
He conquered Death by dying
Only to live again
He rose and made us brethren who scarcely were friends
He rose again and now lives forever
What a Saviour, what a Wise Saviour!
Preacher, preach first a dead Christ
And then a risen One
For by this we show the death of Death
And the conquest of Sin
Hear now the cry: “It is finished!”
Nothing remains
He has declared, who shall withstand?
It is finished!
What is finished?
All ordinances against us!
Finished in Him
The absence of God and the presence of evil
His cry spans endless ages
The echoes ring through all the years
To the Future and to the Past
They travel the furthest parts
Wherever your sins may be found
The sound of the Gospel there may reach
Old living gives way where this cry is gone
New lives spring up where this cry is heard
“It is finished! Oh, what pleasure
Do the wondrous words afford!
Heavenly blessings without measure
Flow to us through Christ the LORD”
“Finished all the types and shadows
Of the Ceremonial Law
Finished what our God had promised
“It is finished!” “It is finished!”
Saints, from hence your comfort draw
Finished all prophecies to the uttermost!”
“No work is left undone
Of all the father willed
His toils and sorrows, one by one
The scriptures have fulfilled.”
“No tempest can bring to the light
The sins He buried for aye.”
“Nothing but thy blood, O Jesus,
Can our wayward souls convert
Nothing else from guilt release us,
Nothing else can melt the heart
Law and terrors do but harden
All the while they work alone;
But the sense of blood-bought pardon
Can dissolve a heart of stone.”
Oh come let us join this company on the road to Emmaus
And have our hearts burned by this Word-expounding Stranger
Break to us the Bread of Life and revive our souls
For none breaks the Bread like you
They went in sorrow but ran back bearing glad tidings
“If thou be the son of God” they said
We say “Thou art the Son of God”
They feared the resurrection
And tried to prevent it
But it happened anyway
They concocted a story
But The Story prevailed
His Story
In victory, the angel sat on the stone
The triple foe
Death, Hell and Grave
Jesus has overcome
Pilate for the whole world asked a most-needful question
“What is Truth?”
But never waited to hear the answer
Hear now the answer:
He is the Truth and came to bear witness unto The Truth
This Man is the Christ
This Man is the Son of God.
#copied
