But He Opened Not His Mouth

The Prophet Isaiah in his prophetic utterance, said, He was oppressed; He was afflicted, He was submissive and opened not His mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7). He was the Lamb of God led to His “slaughter.” They took Him, broke His bones, put them out of joint and made Him carry the cross that belonged to each of us, yet, He did not open His mouth and submissively followed the way to the altar where He would be sacrificed. He was poured like water, His heart was like wax; softened [with anguish] and melted down within Him; no strength was left in Him; it was like a fragment of clay pottery; His tongue cleaved to His jaws from thirst; and wicked men encompassed Him; a company of evildoers encircled Him; His bones were visible to all the evildoers who gazed at Him, (Ps. 22) but He did not open His mouth. He did not have to prove His innocence to any man. That was not the case here. He came with the purpose to die to set men free from the power of sin. He came to suffer the horror of punishment of sin, in our instead although, He had no such thing as sin. He was not born as a result of men’s doing. He was born from a virgin to whom the Holy Spirit overshadowed with power, when He came upon her (Luke 1: 35). Son of God, that He was.

The apostle Peter in one of his letters encourages us to consider an honor to suffer for Christ saying, But insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, so that when His glory is revealed, you may also rejoice with triumph. If you are censured and suffer abuse [because you bear] the name of Christ, blessed [are you] because the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God is resting upon you… if [one is ill-treated and suffers] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but give glory to God that he is [deemed worthy to suffer] in this name. Therefore, those who are ill-treated and suffer in accordance with God’s will must do right and commit their souls to the One Who created [them] and will never fail [them] (I Peter 4: 13-14, 16). We have been called to suffer for our Lord, YAHSHUA Messiah without opening our mouth to complain. Paul and Silas after struck with many blows, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. However, they did not open their mouths to complain, but sung hymns of praise to God as a testimony to other prisoners. That caused God to act in their favor with a sudden and great earthquake, which shook the very foundations of the prison, opening the prisons’ doors (Acts 16:23-26).

Knowing how to suffer for love of our Savior is rewarding in the heaven’s realm in due time. It constitutes a great testimony of our faith to the world when we suffer without opening our mouth, as He did in His death’s hours. As Paul said, And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory; for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us! (Rom. 8:17-18). Looking away to YAHSHUA, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith and is also its Finisher. He, for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds. You have not yet struggled and fought agonizingly against sin, nor have you yet resisted and withstood to the point of pouring out your [own] blood. (Heb. 12:2-4). All of that without opening His mouth! The joy has been set before us, when our Savior died to give us eternal life with Him. Nothing we suffer here in this world will take away our joy, our hope in Him. That should be enough to strengthen us to endure to the end when we will be rewarded for suffering for Him. He did it for us without opening His mouth; He did with love that ran down to the entire world. His blood, yes, His blood which has never lost its life, neither the power to save. The love for our Savior should constrain us to suffer for Him with joy looking forward to His promises of redemption, for He Who promised will do it! Do you believe?