A poem to ponder!
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)]