Beyond Amazing

It is to me the most surprising thing I ever heard of that “the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” I do not wonder that in Hindostan the missionaries are often met with this remark: “It is too good to be true that God ever took upon himself the nature of such a thing as man!” Yet, more wonderful does it seem to be that, when Christ became man, he took all the sorrows and infirmity of man, and, in addition, was made to bear the sin of many.

The most extraordinary of all facts is this: that the infinitely Holy should be “numbered with the transgressors,” and, in the words of Esaias*, should “bear their iniquities.” The Lord hath made him, who knew no sin, to be made sin for us. Wonder of wonders! It is beyond all degree amazing that he who distributes crowns and thrones should hang on a tree and die, the just for the unjust, bearing the punishment due to sinners for guilt.

* - that is, Isaiah

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Unbeliever's Unhappy Condition," delivered September 24, 1871. Image by Jon Bragg under Creative Commons License.