Think that when Christ went to Calvary’s cross he had in his mind as he suffered and died in excruciating agony; he had in his mind, in his divine nature no doubt, all the people for whom he was dying. He knew those pangs were for you and for me.
These are very beautiful expressions. The good shepherd knows his sheep. He knows us in every sense. He knew our guilt, what is your besetting sin, what are your great weaknesses, what have you and I have. Christ knew in detail everything even that was the matter with us and that was sinful in us. He saw it and he knew it before we were born. He knew what we would be like, what we would do, before the foundation of the world, and he said, ‘I will go and suffer and die for those people’, knowing the precise punishment he would be suffering. He knows our hearts even now, after salvation, after we have been forgiven. He knows our needs, our constitution, our strengths and our weaknesses; he knows our prayers and hears them all, and he knows our future.