From J. C. Philpot's Daily Portions
October 30 "He had to be made like his brothers in every way, in
order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to
God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people." Hebrews
2:17 What heart can conceive or tongue express, the infinite
depths of the Redeemer's condescension in thus being made like unto his
brethren--that the Son of God should assume a finite nature, subject to the
sinless infirmities necessarily connected with a time-state and a dwelling
on earth; that he should leave the bosom of his Father in which he had lain
before all worlds, and should consent to become a inhabitant of this world
of tears; to breathe earthly air; to be an eye-witness of, and himself share
in human sorrows; to have before his eyes the daily spectacle of human sins;
to be banished so long from his native home; to endure hunger, weariness,
and thirst; to be subject to the persecutions of men, the flight of all his
disciples, and the treachery of one among them whose hand had been with him
on the table; not to hide his face from shame and spitting, but to be
mocked, struck, buffeted, and scourged, and at last to die an agonizing
death between two malefactors, amid scorn and infamy, and covered, as men
thought, with everlasting confusion and disgrace! O what infinite
condescension and mercy are displayed in these sufferings and sorrows of an
incarnate God! The Lord give us faith to look to him as suffering them for
our sake!