Disgraced but Not
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 50:6-9
The Lord, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, speaks about the suffering which would come upon Him on the day of His atoning death. The treatment of Jesus was horrific. A great deal of effort was made to shame Him. From the mockery of the robe, the crown of thorns, and the sarcastic worship of the soldiers; it was all intended to disgrace Christ. In Isaiah 50:6, Isaiah specifically mentions the spitting on Jesus and links it to disgrace: I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting…
Reading to the next verse we find that the Lord Jesus declares: But the Lord God helps me; therefore, I have not been disgraced; therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame… So, Jesus does not hide from disgrace, but he is not disgraced. He is shamed but not ashamed. The enemies' efforts were unsuccessful.
He goes on the explain why he was not shamed and disgraced despite all the acts of shame heaped upon Him: He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? He is not ashamed because before God He is vindicated and righteous.
The text is about Jesus, but, interestingly, some of this same kind of language is applied to the Christians in the New Testament. 1 Peter 2:6, for example, says: Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame. That great chapter in Romans, Romans 8, echoes some of the same sentiment we find in Isaiah when it says: If God be for us, who can be against us…Who will bring a charge against God’s elect…
Isaiah 50 is about Jesus, but in Christ, the Christian has the same standing before the Father as Jesus had. The Father looks at us the way He looks at His Son.
Shame is a powerful weapon that the devil will seek to use against God’s people. He may directly or indirectly (through other people) seek to get us to receive and embrace disgrace and shame. The word “disgrace” originally meant to be out of the favor of a powerful person. The idea is to be out of someone’s good graces. Satan aims to create in us a feeling that we are out of God’s favor, and that we should hang our heads in shame.
Because of Christ, because Christ bore our shame for us, there is no need to bear that weight. The Christian is not out of the Father’s good graces. We are in grace. We were saved by grace, we live by grace, and we will spend eternity under grace because of Christ’s work on our behalf. When someone tries to disgrace you, remember Jesus and echo His response:
But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced…and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
Amen & Amen!