OUR LORD WHO SET HIS FACE TO FLINT

In Isaiah 50 verse 6 - 7, the prophet records a subtle detail about the preparation the Lord Jesus Christ made when the time of His humiliation and crucifixion was upon Him.

The passage reads this way:

I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. 

Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

This searing portion of scripture describes the ordeal that our Messiah had to endure for our sake. In the hands of His persecutors, He was going to be scourged, punched in the face, slapped, mocked and ultimately put to a terrifying death.

Our Lord, unfailingly  obedient to the Father, set His face to flint to muster every fiber of His body into staying absolutely steadfast as He was going through each gruelling stage leading up to His death on the cross.

Calling on every  inner resource, including the assurance that the Lord His Father would help Him, Jesus clenched His jaw and knitted His brow and locked His stare so that no part of Himself would quaver at the horror He faced.

There is none like Jesus.

In all eternity and all existence, there is none like Jesus.

Amen.