Dear Friends,
Today’s devotional is a wonderful poem. Please don’t just glance at it and move on; take time to ponder each line and make its sentiments your own. God bless you.
Because of Calvary,
John Janney

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  Isaiah 53:3-4  ESV

  He was despised and rejected^[a] by men,
      a man of sorrows^[b] and acquainted with^[c] grief;^[d]
  and as one from whom men hide their faces^[e]
      he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

  ⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs
      and carried our sorrows;
  yet we esteemed him stricken,
      smitten by God, and afflicted.

Isaiah 53:3-4

AH, HOLY JESUS

Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended,

That man to judge Thee hath in hate pretended?

By foes derided, by Thine own rejected,

O most afflicted!

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?

Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee!

‘Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied Thee:

I crucified Thee.

Lo, the good Shepherd for the sheep is offered,

The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered;

For man’s atonement, while he nothing heedeth,

God intercedeth.

For me, kind Jesus, was Thy incarnation,

Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life’s oblation;

Thy death of anguish and Thy bitter passion

For my salvation.

Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee,

I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee

Think on Thy pity and Thy love unswerving

Not my undeserving.”
[Johann Heermann (1585-1647)   Translated by Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)]