THE WORDS, “Jesus wept” compose the shortest verse in the entire Bible; yet what a treasury of thought concern-ing the Lord Jesus Christ they convey to our hearts. The divine record bears testimony to the fact that He was the Creator of all things (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16). Yet seven hundred and ten years prior to His coming into this world as a babe in the manger, the prophet Isaiah speaks of Him as “a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3).

Three times in the Scriptures, we read of the Lord Jesus weeping. At the grave of Lazarus, we find Him with the departed one’s sisters, Mary and Martha, and we read these words: “Jesus wept.” As I think upon this expression, it helps me to understand the compassion and love that was bound in our Lord’s heart toward mankind, even though men hated Him without a cause (John 15:25). This scene of death reminds us of the terrible results of Adam’s sin in the garden of Eden. “Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). Well might the Saviour weep as He considers the ru-ined condition of man through sin.

The second time we find the Master weeping is near Jerusalem as He beholds the city (Luke 19:41). He is about to enter its gates, only to be taken, crucified and slain. As a divine Person, He knows all that is going to befall Him there. He also looks beyond that moment and sees the judgment that Jerusalem will bear forty years later (Luke 19:43); and in fulfillment of His words, Titus, in the year A.D. 70, besieged that very city. Because of hunger, moth-ers cooked and ate their children. Over 2,000 died hiding in sewers; thousands were massacred, the temple was de-stroyed, and our Lord’s prophecy was fulfilled. He wept, for they knew not the time of their visitation (Luke 19:44). He came to save them, but they pursued Him to Calvary and nailed Him to the tree. He wept as He thought of their rejection of Him.

The last time we read of the Saviour weeping is in the garden of Gethsemane. The divine record of this touching event is found in Hebrews 5:7. “Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears . . .” Luke says that at this time, He was in such agony that His sweat was mingled with blood. Pain produces sweat, but severely intense pain has been known to produce blood in the sweat. Before chloro-form was invented, surgery was often performed with the patient totally conscious. Some experienced blood-mingled sweat because of the excruciating pain. Our Saviour’s heart was broken and He experienced such pain as He cried to His Father in heaven to spare Him, if at all possible, from the sufferings of the cross.

THE WEEPING SAVIOUR CRUCIFIED

Sin had raised its ugly head, ruining mankind and shutting heaven’s door. Now the Saviour was about to offer Himself as the only Sacrifice to put away sin and to open the way for sinners to obtain forgiveness and eternal life. God declares, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12). To those who rest on Christ as their only Sacrifice, God guarantees, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17). For those who rely on the atoning work of Christ completed on the cross for their eternal forgiveness, His guarantee is final for He says, “Now where remission (a sending away) of these (the trusting sinner’s sins) is, there is no more offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:18). Is that clear my friend? “There is no more offering for sin”! What could be plainer than such a statement? The offering of good works can never take away sins! The offering of a wafer on an altar can never remove sins! Confessing sins can never remove sins! Pray-ing can never alter the sinner’s position before God or erase his sins! No, no, my friend, only one thing can remove all sins from the soul’s record. God declares, “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22) and the Lord Jesus was the only One who could shed His blood for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28). God speaks through the apostle Peter saying, “whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). If God could have provided salvation for us by any other way, He would have spared His only Son from the death of the cross.

How thankful we should be then, for the compassion of the Saviour of sinners, and for His love toward us. Well may we exclaim like the apostle Paul when He wrote to the Galatians: “The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Have you experienced His love for you, by receiving Him as your Saviour?

For those who refuse to rely solely on Christ for forgiveness and salvation, the Lord says, they “shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). I hope that this situation will never be your eternal case, but that you will come to the Lord Jesus now and rest on Him for your salvation and ev-erlasting blessing.

“Man of sorrows!” what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim!
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!
Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood;
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!"