Psalm 22:23 -24 
Fear Him and praise Him
        For some people the word “fear” in this verse conjures up images of terror and cowering and it is better translated, “revere.” We revere the Lord God Almighty, we are amazed at His power, overwhelmed by His mercy, dumbstruck at the extent of His grace, but also wary of His judgements. That is reverence but it leads to praise, not to cringing before Him. He does not want us to shrink away, He wants us to draw near! This cry from the heart of Christ still echoes, over the centuries, to this very day, to the physical descendants of Jacob and to all of Israel; “Revere Him!” You Jewish people, scattered across the earth, turn back to your God, accept His Messiah and walk in His ways.

V24      “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.” Isaiah 53:3. That is how mankind treated the Lord Jesus but is that how heaven saw Him? Is that how His Father viewed Him?  We saw, earlier in the Psalm, that heaven was silent, that Father God did answer His anguished cries, there was no divine response. But that does not mean He was not heard; the tortured soul upon that cross was seen and heard by another heartbroken Being in heaven. God did not despise Him. God did not scorn Him. The Father did not hide His face from Him, He listened to every plaintive plea for help. But God, in His great mercy and grace towards you and me, chose not to respond. He chose not to diminish the suffering so that we would know how much He loves us. 
Hebrew 5:7 -10 puts it like this. “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Son though He was, He learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” 

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