Easter

Hebrews 12:1–2 Isaiah 53:1–12

Easter

Bill White Updated Staff Photo

Bill White

Teaching Pastor; Staff Governing Elder; Staff Director

The writer of Hebrews provides an answer to the age-old, human question: How do we encourage ourselves to endure in the face of great difficulty? He challenges his readers to consider the example of Jesus, the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. “Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame” (Hebrews 12:2). In following Jesus, his people can also experience the joy of seeing how God uses their suffering for ultimate glory!

Application

  1. When you experience suffering, how do you respond? Do you consider Jesus and allow his faithful example to encourage and motivate you? Or do you seek temporary solutions to numb, distract, or comfort yourself?

  2. In Hebrews 12, we see that Jesus disregarded the shame of the cross—that is, he didn’t let it distract or dissuade him from his purpose. What sin, shame, or hurt are you preoccupied with that is keeping you from following Jesus and loving others well? Pray and ask God to captivate your imagination with hope and eternal glory.

Key Points

  • Consider the example of Jesus so that you don’t grow weary and turn from your faith.

  • Because Jesus was human, he can relate to us in our weakness, dependence, and suffering, and his sacrifice and victory can be attributed to us.

  • Jesus unashamedly asks us to walk where he walked, to lose for him, so that our sacrifices would have purpose.

Other Scripture References

1 Corinthians 15:19

1 Corinthians 15:32

John 19:30

Luke 23:34

Hebrews 5:8

Luke 2:41–52

Revelation 19:6–7

Matthew 25:23

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