βIβll beat him so bad heβll need a shoehorn to put his hat on!β Thatβs what acclaimed boxer Mohammed Ali said about Floyd Patterson ahead of their championship match back in 1965. Known as βtrash talking,β boxers also engage in this form of verbal sparring in the midst of the actual fight itself, taunting and goading their opponents.
In the midst of the greatest fight of all time, the Lord Jesus Christ engaged in a little verbal sparring of His own. In a passage that eavesdrops on the Lordβs thoughts as He hung on Calvaryβs cross, He first reflected on the scourging and shameful spitting to which Heβd been subjected (Isa. 50:6), and then the prophet heard Him call out His foe:
βHe is near that justifieth Me; who will contend with Me? let us stand together: who is Mine adversary? let him come near to Meβ (Isa. 50:8).
Just picture the scene! Outwardly, the Lord was the sacrificial Lamb of God, meekly submitting to the will of His Father. Inwardly, He was the defiant contender to the throne of the world, thundering forth a challenge toward His unseen adversary, the reigning champion who had wrested the throne away from Adam. The god of this world thought he had your Savior on the ropes that dark day, but inwardly the Lord was roaring, as it were, βBring it on! Is that the best youβve got? A little scourging? A little shame and spitting? A little crucifixionβ (Isa. 50:6)? By all outward appearances, your Savior looked like a helpless victim that day, but inwardly He was the vanquishing Victor!
How could someone in such an impossibly hopeless situation feel so overwhelmingly triumphant? It was simple, really. He trusted in God, as the next verse shows:
βBehold, the Lord GOD will help Me; who is he that shall condemn Me?β¦β (Isa. 50:9).
If those words sound familiar, it is because those are the words that the Apostle Paul chose to encourage you in whatever impossibly hopeless situation you may find yourself:
βWho shall lay any thing to the charge of Godβs elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for usβ (Rom. 8:33,34).
With all of the βtribulationβ in your life (Rom. 8:35), outwardly it might look as if you are βaccounted as sheep for the slaughterβ (Rom. 8:36), living in the impossibly hopeless situation of a lamb about to be butchered. But knowing that βit is God that justifiethβ you, you can say, as it were, βBring it on! Is that the best you got? A little unemployment? A little cancer? A little grief when the dearest on earth is ripped from my side?β
As with the Lord Himself, God does not promise that we will be able to conquer whatever harsh trial we are going through, but He does promise that in every trial we are βmore than conquerors through Him that loved usβ (Rom. 8:37), for none of these things βshall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lordβ (Rom. 8:39). The key is to remember that βour light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of gloryβ (II Cor. 4:17), and to remember that we are only more than conquerors when βwe look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternalβ (II Cor. 4:18). source
