Behold the Son -- Know that He Was Hurt for You (and Hurts With You)

"29And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. 30And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?" (Genesis 37: 29-30)

In Hebrew culture, to "rend one's clothes" was a sign of deep mourning for the death of a loved one.

Reuben, in another type of our Lord Jesus, represents the compassion eternal and unending which God has for us.

As our High Priest seated in heavenly places on our behalf, He understands everthing that we have been through:

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4: 15)

Even in the Old Testament, even when His people Israel faced great privation and strain for their sins, God never stopped sharing His love for them:

"The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." (Jeremiah 31: 3)

Just as God cares about the birds and the flowers, He cares about us, too:

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" (Matthew 6: 26)

and then

"30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" (Matthew 6: 30)

Jesus suffered every sin, disease, and hurt for us at the Cross:

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.


4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53: 3-5)

When you Behold the Son, know and believe that He knows our hurts, and He took every hurt at the Cross for us.