'He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He open not His mouth.' - Isaiah 53:7
As I went through Isaiah chapter 53 last night, my mind wondered off to the last moments Jesus and his disciples gathered in the upper room, His arrest and sentence, and the road Jesus took on the way to Calvary.
And then my mind wondered off to a painting (The Three Crosses) by Rembrandth, an etching he accomplished in the year 1653. In the painting, there are three crosses with Jesus in the centre and the two robbers beside Him. At the foot of the cross, one could see the different expressions of the people, with Mary, John and the centurion, who dismounted his horse, kneel beside the cross with arms raised, so overwhelmed by the event he just witnessed that he has instantly converted.
I read an explanatory on the painting and searched for a dark figure hidden in the shadows in the painting, whom art critics said that the person was Rembrandt himself, for he recognized that by his sins he helped nail Jesus to the cross.
Romans 3:23 reads: 'for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,'. We all like sheep, and have turned to our own separate ways (Isaiah 53:6). Because of His unconditional and everlasting love, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins to bring us eternal hope and that 'by His wounds we are healed.' (Isaiah 53:5)
We, like Rembrandt, are also standing beside the cross. But then remember what Jesus said as He hung on that cross: "Father, forgive them." Praise God, that includes you and me.
