“I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help Me; therefore I will not be disgraced; therefore I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.” — Isaiah 50:6-7 (NKJV)

“Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” — Luke 9:51

Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Jesus and His treatment at the hands of His captors, was uttered some seven hundred years before the fact. Yet, it was incredibly accurate and consistent with the actual account found in the New Testament.

The question that might be asked by those who doubt, or who are skeptical of these events; is this, if Jesus knew all that would happen to Him, why did He come and endure such horrific treatment?

Because He loved us, because He loved His Father, and as always, as He said to His mother in Luke 2:49, “I must be about My Father’s business.”

So, why did he come, why did He die? What did He set His face like flint to do?

To fulfill the will of His Father was the primary reason that He was born into this world; the will of God also included the possibility of salvation for all of mankind. Along the way to the cross of Golgotha, His destiny and purpose, He suffered ridicule at the hand of the Chief Priest’s and many Pharisees, as well as many of the rank and file of the Jewish people. He would hear shouts of praise and worship as He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. A short while later some of this same crowd would cry out for His death. His own disciples would desert Him for a season, as one of the 12 betrayed Him to those who would crucify Him. He would hear Pilot release Barabbas and condemn Jesus to death; He would then be beaten almost to death before being crucified. In all of this He remained quiet, only speaking from the cross a plea for their forgiveness.

You ask why did He come? He came for me, and you. We are why He set His face like flint.

The Rev. Bobby Thornhill is a retired pastor.