Suffering

A Biblical Consideration

Steven R. Cook, M. Div.

Suffering: A Biblical Consideration

© 2012 by Steven R. Cook.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission in writing from the author, except for brief quotations.

Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture quotes are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1988, 1995. Used by permission.

Printed in the United States of America

Steven R. Cook, M. Div.

www.christonly.com

Other Books by Steven R. Cook:

- The Cross of Christ: Sufficient to Save

- The Christian Life: A Study of Biblical Spirituality

- Overcoming Evil in Prison: How to Be a Light in a Dark Place

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all those who seek the Lord in the midst of their suffering.  The prophet Jeremiah knew suffering, and in the midst of his great sorrow he set his mind upon the Lord and this gave him hope.

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. (Lam. 3:21-23)

I pray this book is a blessing to you.

INTRODUCTION

A THEOLOGICAL LOOK AT SUFFERING

THE SUFFERING OF JOSEPH

THE SUFFERING OF JOB

THE SUFFERING OF DAVID

THE SUFFERING OF PAUL

THE SUFFERING OF CHRIST

FINAL THOUGHTS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

It was early January and I was dining after dark with friends when I heard faint cries coming from outside.  Standing and looking out the nearby window, I saw a young man who looked to be in his early twenties, stagger down the sidewalk and collapse about ten feet from the building.  I rushed outside and knelt on the ground next to him while others inside called for medical help (which took about five minutes to arrive).  He lay on the cold asphalt, shivering and sobbing, and appeared to be more in emotional distress than physical pain.  He looked at me, a total stranger, and through his tears said he was on the verge of losing his girlfriend and newborn baby and that his life had been ruined by bad choices and the use of cocaine and other drugs.  After saying these things he turned his head and cried uncontrollably.  His life had not always been marked by bad choices.  Phantom memories surfaced and he spoke of a Christian childhood when Christ was Lord of his life and all his friends were wholesome believers.  Somewhere in his teenage years he had turned away from the Lord and the suffering of bad choices and worldly friends helped bring about his present sorrow.  I put my hand on his shoulder and prayed quietly as I sat next to him.  He cried out to the Lord, and not knowing what to say, he started praying the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name…” (Matt. 6:9, KJV).  I verbally joined him in his prayer so that he would not feel alone, but would know he was in the presence of a caring Christian.  He heard me praying with him, and through teary eyes stared for a moment.  For a brief instant we connected, but a minute later an ambulance pulled into the motel parking lot and I was moved aside so they could perform their necessary service.  Apparently he had been using harmful illegal drugs and was in need of medical attention.  The young man called out to me as he was put on the stretcher and placed in the ambulance and I could only watch and pray for him as he was taken away.  I never saw him again, though I’ve prayed for him many times.

I was marked by that brief encounter.  That young man was at a place of personal brokenness when the paths of our lives crossed.  There seemed to be sorrow and repentance on his lips.  It mattered little to me that much of his pain was self-induced, but only that he was crying out to the Lord for help.  To turn away from him at such a moment would betray a spiritual poverty and sickness within my own soul.  More so, it would ignore the sovereign hand of God who creates such opportunities for us to show grace and love to others.  A year earlier I was in a similar place of personal brokenness, for my life had been ruined by many bad choices and I knew what it meant to have others praying for me and showing grace and love when I needed it most.

Looking into Scripture, we find the greatest examples of suffering anywhere.  Job and Jeremiah were two men who suffered greatly.  Both were sensitive men who knew depression as a result of their suffering, and as we read about their lives we can cry with them.  In the midst of his sadness Job said, “why then hast Thou brought me out of the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been, carried from womb to tomb” (Job 10:18-19).  Because of his sorrow, Job saw his life as a “land of darkness and deep shadow; the land of utter gloom as darkness itself, of deep shadow without order” (Job 10:21-22a).  During his time of sadness, the prophet Jeremiah wished that his “mother would have been [his] grave, and her womb ever pregnant” and in his great anguish went on to ask, “why did I ever come forth from the womb to look on trouble and sorrow, so that my days have been spent in shame?” (Jer. 20:17-18).

What shall we say to Job and Jeremiah?  Shall we ask them to be silent and not use such language because it makes us feel uncomfortable?  Shall we be callous and accuse them of hidden sin or not having enough faith?  Shall we fault them because they are not expressing joy in the midst of their sorrow?  There is a joy to be had in life, but let’s not rob these godly men of their sorrow, or turn away from them for expressing themselves with such grief-laden language because it makes us feel uncomfortable.  Let’s not turn away from them for at least two reasons:

1.     Because their response to suffering reveals their humanness.  Job and Jeremiah were real people living in a real world who were touched by real circumstances.  Though most of us will never know the depth of suffering and sorrow that Job and Jeremiah knew in their lifetime, we can identify with their pain and cry with them because we understand in a smaller way what it means to suffer, and this is our connection with them.  Suffering connects us all together.

2.     Because despair was not their only perspective on life.  Job and Jeremiah also had the divine perspective on life and at times spoke words of truth and hope, and this gives us truth and hope as well.  Though they suffered in the furnace of affliction, they proved God and His Word to be reliable and more than sufficient to sustain them.  During and after their time of suffering they spoke words of praise to the One in whom they had placed all their confidence.  Worshipping God as the One who sustains and gives us hope in the midst of our trials is what binds us together with other believers, even those who lived long ago in a foreign land and who spoke a different language.  God and His Word connect believers together.

Job was a righteous man who loved the Lord and turned away from evil (Job. 1:1-5).  In one day Job was confronted with the sudden death of all his sons and daughters, the destruction of his business, and the loss of his personal health (Job 1:6-19; 2:1-8).  Though he could have cursed God as his wife suggested (Job. 2:9), Job kept his faith and continued to trust the Lord (Job 1:20-22; 2:10).  In the midst of grief Job said:

As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes shall see and not another. My heart faints within me. (Job 19:25-27)

Jeremiah had witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army.  The city had been burned, tens of thousands of men and woman put to death, and many taken away into slavery to Babylon as Jeremiah watched.  One can see why he is often referred to as the weeping prophet (cf. Jer. 9:1; 13:17; 14:17).  Yet, even after witnessing Jerusalem’s destruction and enduring personal persecution, Jeremiah stated:

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, therefore I have hope in Him. (Lam. 3:21-24)

Other men in Scripture such as David, Elijah, Peter and Paul all knew suffering and sorrow, yet expressed words of hope and faith in God.  Of course, no one knew suffering more than the Lord Jesus Christ, who throughout His life was “despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3).  During the time of His public ministry, Jesus knew He would suffer and die upon the cross, and He declared, “the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Luke 9:22).  And just hours before His crucifixion, Jesus “began to be grieved and distressed” (Matt. 26:37), telling a few of His disciples, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death” (Matt. 26:38).  In spite of His personal pain, Jesus was willing to suffer and die for the benefit of the salvation of others.  The Scripture declares that “as a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11).  The death of Christ had meaning, because God’s righteousness was satisfied and others were blessed to enjoy the gift of eternal life (Rom. 3:21-26).

Suffering touches us all.  It moves and shapes us in ways we never imagine.  It breaks us down and builds us up, but it never leaves us where it finds us.  In Scripture we learn that God’s power is magnified in our weaknesses and that suffering reveals our true state as weak creatures who need the Lord in our lives for strength and guidance (2 Cor. 12:7-10).  As we develop spiritually, we learn to keep our eyes more and more on heaven, knowing that ultimate relief from suffering will only come when the Lord returns and establishes righteousness on the earth (Rev. 20-22).  There is much Scripture on the subject of suffering and the purpose of this book is to consider the major passages that address it, and to show that there is hope and strength in God for those who turn to Him in the midst of life’s sorrows.

A THEOLOGICAL LOOK AT SUFFERING

Everyone suffers.  It’s not really a question of who will and who won’t, but how much and how often.  Most people want to know why they suffer, if there’s any purpose to suffering, or if there’s anything they can do to minimize it.  Suffering is a perpetual and universal feature of the human race that will last as long as we live in a fallen world with sinful people.  According to Scripture, God not only allows suffering, but in many ways causes it for our good (Ps. 119:71; 1 Cor. 11:30; 2 Cor. 12:7-10; Heb. 12:5-11).  The presence of suffering does not necessarily mean something is wrong in the Christian’s life, and the absence of suffering does not necessarily mean God is pleased with him.  One can be completely in the will of God and experience great suffering (1 Pet. 4:19), whereas one can be completely in sin and be free from any form of suffering at all (Ps. 73:1-12).  Suffering by itself proves neither godliness nor sin.

Suffering is all around us, both visible and invisible.  Some is bearable and some is beyond our natural ability to cope.  It can be physical, mental, and/or emotional.  It can be short lived or last a lifetime.  It can leave scars.  It can influence behavior either positively or negatively, either making us stronger or tearing us down.  Suffering can be self-induced or brought on by others.  Some suffering is deserved (Daniel 4:1-37; Luke 23:41), and some undeserved (Matt. 16:21; 17:12; Mark 9:22; Acts 5:41; 9:15-16; 2 Tim. 2:3-9; 1 Pet. 2:20; 3:14-17; 4:19).  I’ve learned not to turn away from suffering so quickly (though it is my natural tendency to do so), but to question its value and ask whether it serves some good purpose.  I am convinced that God wants me to know some suffering because it helps me mature, both in my natural human development as well as my spiritual life.  No pain, no gain as the adage goes.

In the Old Testament, suffering is commonly identified by the Hebrew word oni which is translated as “affliction, poverty” and at times “frustration.”[i]  Familiar Old Testament passages where oni is found include: Gen. 16:11; 29:32; 31:42; Ex. 3:7, 17; 4:31; 1 Sam. 1:11; 16:12; Job 30:16, 27; 36:15; Ps. 9:13; 25:18; 119:50, 92, 153; Isa. 48:10; Lam. 1:3, 7, 9.  In the New Testament, the common Greek word for suffering is thlipsis, which is translated as “trouble that inflicts distress, oppression, affliction, tribulation.”[ii]  New Testament passages where thlipsis is found include: Matt. 13:21; Rom. 2:9; 2 Cor. 1:4; 2:4; 4:17; 7:4; 8:2; Phil. 4:14; Col. 1:24; 1 Thess. 3:7; 2 Thess. 1:6; Rev. 2:10.  Numerous theological truths are gleaned from these passages; truths which help the Christian orient to reality and live within the biblical framework.

Though many have wrestled with the biblical subject of suffering, no one person has a complete understanding of it.  There are often more questions than answers.  We struggle to grasp the reason or purpose for our own pain as well as the pain of others.  As humans, we wrestle to produce some good in the world to offset the sorrow of suffering, but our limited abilities and resources constantly hinder our best efforts.  Even the good we do for others is short-lived; leaving only a memory of kindness in hearts that perpetually face new needs and struggles.  Frustration abounds.  At present, there is no lasting solution to suffering among men and it will not cease to be part of the human experience until God destroys the current heavens and earth and creates a new heavens and a new earth that is free from sin and all its destructive influences (Rev. 21-22).  God alone must save us from our current condition, for we are drowning in a sea of sorrows.  Sin is the major reason for suffering and though we counterbalance some of sin’s effects by good works, in the end it is God alone who must ultimately deal with the sin problem.

The Bible gives the divine perspective that helps us to make sense of suffering.  Having the divine perspective does not always lesson the pain associated with suffering, but it gives us an answer for suffering and, I believe, often makes it bearable.  One such answer is that God wants to mature us as Christians and suffering is a vehicle that He uses to advance our spiritual life.  It’s not suffering by itself that gets the job done, but our biblical response to it that brings the outcome God desires.  He wants us to respond properly to the difficult situations He’s permitted or caused in our lives.  We cannot control many of the difficult circumstances that come our way, but we can respond to them biblically, and in this way we can please the Lord and grow to be mature believers.

Among Christians, I’ve met some who regard all forms of suffering as bad, rooted in evil, and seek to expunge it from their lives when possible.  Others accept suffering, seeing it as purposeful, even welcoming it because they believe it will help develop their Christian character and bring about the spiritual maturity they desire.  God can use suffering to break down pride and humble us (Dan. 4:37), or He can use it to build us up and make us stronger (1 Pet. 5:10), but He never leaves us alone, and suffering is just one of the many tools He uses to mold us into the character of Christ—if we’ll allow ourselves be molded by His hand.

Everything we experience in this life is designed to prepare us for the life we will come to know when we leave this world and enter into God’s eternal presence.  The challenge before every Christian, especially during times of suffering, is to view all aspects of life in the light of eternity.  We must constantly live in the eternal-now, never divorcing our current experiences from our eternal destiny that is assured to us who are in Christ.  The apostle Peter tells us “to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Pet. 4:13).  The apostle Paul shares a similar mindset when he says, “for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18); for “momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17).  Suffering becomes bearable when the Christian sees it in the proper context of eternity to which he belongs right now.  I say he belongs to eternity “right now” because as a Christian he possesses eternal life at the very moment he believes in Christ as his Savior (John 10:28).  Eternal life is not what the Christian can have, but what he does have at the moment of salvation.  However, it is only at the moment he leaves this world and all its sorrows and enters into the presence of God in heaven that eternal life has its greatest experiential expression.  The flow of time ceases at death, and all life’s sufferings associated with this world come to an end when the believer passes into eternity.  More so, at the end of time itself, God will put an end to all suffering and evil when He destroys the existing universe and earth and creates a new universe and new earth (Rev. 21:1).  At such a time “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes [believers who have suffered]; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).  Until then, we must look to the Lord.

When considering the subject of suffering from a biblical perspective, it’s beneficial to start with a proper understanding of God and His character.  The Bible teaches that God exists as a Trinity: God the Father (Matt. 6:9; Phil. 2:11), God the Son (John 1:1, 14; 20:28), and God the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4).  All three Persons of the Trinity are co-equal, co-infinite, and co-eternal, and though they have differing roles in how they relate to each other and the creation, they are perfectly equal in essence (Deut. 6:4; John 10:30).  Being equal in essence means that all three Persons of the Godhead share the same attributes.  According to Scripture God is:

1.     Sovereign – He rules His universe as He pleases (1 Chron. 29:11; Dan. 4:35; Acts 17:24-25).

2.     Righteous – He is upright in character (Ps. 11:7; 119:137).

3.     Just – He is upright in all His actions (Ps. 9:7-8; 19:9; 50:6; 58:11).

4.     Holy – He is positively good and completely set apart from sin (Ps. 99:9).

5.     Omniscient – He knows all things (Ps. 139:1-6; Matt. 6:31-33).

6.     Omnipresent – He is everywhere (Ps. 139:7-12; Heb. 13:5).

7.     Omnipotent – He is all powerful (Job 42:2; Isa. 40:28-29).

8.     Immutable – He never changes (Ps. 102:26, 27; Mal. 3:6).

9.     Truth – He is truth and reveals truth (2 Sam. 7:28; John 14:6; 17:17; 1 John 5:20).

10. Loving – He acts in the best interest of others (Jer. 31:3; 1 John 4:7-12, 16).

11. Faithful – He is consistent to fulfill His promises (Deut. 7:9; Lam. 3:23; 1 John 1:9).

12. Merciful – He is compassionate to the needy (Ps. 86:15; Luke 6:36; Tit. 3:5).

13. Gracious – He is kind to the undeserving and humble (Ps. 111:4; 116:5; 1 Pet. 5:5, 10).

14. Eternal – He has endless existence (Deut. 33:27; 1 Tim. 1:17).

God controls suffering.  Even the wickedness of men and the suffering they cause is used by God to display His grace and love.  King David had an adulterous affair with Bathsheba and murdered her husband Uriah and the Lord caused David to suffer for his sin (2 Sam. 11:1-12:24); yet, by God’s grace, it was through David and Bathsheba that the baby Jesus was eventually born into this world (Matt. 1:6, 16).  David’s sinful relationship with Bathsheba was sovereignly used by God to bring about the birth of His Messiah!  At the end of His earthly ministry, Christ suffered at the hands of godless men who nailed Him to the cross, yet His suffering was “by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” in order to bring about our salvation (Acts 2:23a; cf. John 3:16).  Wicked men willfully raised their hands against the Son of God and crucified Him, but what they accomplished was exactly what God “predestined to occur” (Acts 4:28), and the outcome is eternal life to us who have trusted in Jesus as our Savior.  By His infinite wisdom and sovereignty “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).  Historically, God has used suffering to bring about His will and this is most obvious in His provision of salvation to a fallen world He wants to save.

On the negative side, men who reject God and the biblical perspective are forced to live with a naturalistic worldview in which their very existence is the product of chance.  If there is no God, then men are nothing more than the accidental collection of molecules over time and the suffering they experience is simply a part of the natural order of things, neither good nor evil, neither purposeful nor meaningful.  More so, morals and values become arbitrary, and people like Hitler and Stalin are no better or worse than Mother Theresa.  If there is no God, then evil itself must be regarded as a natural part of the fabric of the universe, self-existent in its own way.  The cruelty of man then becomes no better or worse than the cruelty of animals, for all is part of the same natural universe.  Without God, life simply is what it is; and often conversations about right and wrong are really nothing more than power-plays as men seek dominion over each other through the use of clever and forceful rhetoric.

Biblically, sin originated in heaven with Lucifer, an angelic being of the order of Cherubim, who rebelled against God and convinced many angels to follow him (Isa. 14:12-14; Ezek. 28:12-18; Rev. 12:4).  Shortly afterward (no one knows exactly when), Satan convinced Adam and Eve to set their wills against God, and the heavenly rebellion moved to earth.  Suffering, as we know it on earth, is the result of sin, and sin in humans originated in the disobedience of Adam and Eve when they rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:16-17; 3:1-8).  Both sin and suffering are connected.  A perfect world was cursed, thorns and thistles introduced, and pain in childbirth increased, all as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:16-18).  The major hammer blow of sin was death, which was pronounced on Adam and Eve and extended to all their descendants who were born after them (Gen. 3:19; cf. Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21-22).  The children of Adam and Eve have only known the struggle of life’s decay that eventuates in death (the removal of the soul from the body).  Death is unnatural to the creation and this is why it hurts when someone we love dies.  However, death can also be a display of God’s mercy and grace, for it keeps man from suffering forever in a fallen world plagued by sin.

Since the fall of Satan, as well as the fall of Adam and Eve, the major sources of suffering include: oneself (Prov. 1:22; 8:36; 15:32; Isa. 3:9; ; 2 Pet. 2:12-15), other people (Gen. 3:1-18; 1 Chron. 21:14-17; Jonah 1:12), Satan (Job 1:1-21), demons (Luke 8:29), and God Himself (1 Sam. 16:14-16; Job 1:21; 2:10; Eccl. 7:14; Isa. 45:7; 2 Cor. 12:7-10; Rev. 19:11-21).  Suffering exists mainly in connection with willful creatures and the choices they’ve made in the past or are making in the present.

The main causes of suffering are: righteous living (1 Pet. 3:13-17; 4:12-19), fellowship with Christ (Phil. 1:29-30), membership in the Kingdom of God (2 Thess. 1:3-6), sinful choices as believers (Gal. 6:7-8; 1 Pet. 4:15; 2 Pet. 2:12-16), the sinful unfaithfulness of others (Num. 14:32-33), the ravages of disease (Matt. 4:24; 9:20; Luke 4:38), and the will of God (1 Pet. 4:19).

From the biblical perspective, some of the major purposes for suffering include: bringing the unbeliever to salvation (Dan. 4:28-37; Acts 9:1-9), moving people geographically to accomplish God’s will (i.e. the famine that moved Joseph’s family to Egypt: Gen. 15:13-14; 37:1-50:21), humbling the arrogant believer (Jon. 2:1-10; 1 Pet. 5:5), teaching Christians to have sympathy for others (2 Cor. 1:5-7), helping advance Christian character (Rom. 5:1-5; Jam. 1:2-4), warning against sin (1 Cor. 11:27-32), teaching obedience to God’s laws (Ps. 119:71; Heb. 5:8), correcting from sin (Ps. 32:1-5), teaching that God is faithful to strengthen in times of adversity (Phil. 4:11-13), providing an opportunity to share your Christian hope (1 Pet. 3:14-15), to serve as a godly example to others (Jam. 5:10-11), displaying the works of God (John 9:1-3), and for God’s glory (John 11:1-4; 21:18-19; 2 Cor. 4:17-18).

Jesus Himself is the greatest example of suffering for the believer, as the Scripture plainly states He “suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps” (1 Pet. 2:21).  And what is the example the Christian is to follow?  That even though Christ suffered unjustly and was physically and verbally attacked, “He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Pet. 2:23).  It is because of Christ’s example that Paul tells Christians “never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19).

Suffering is inevitable in life, but the believer who lives by faith in God and clings to His Word has an anchor for the soul that sustains him during difficult times.  The believer who lives by faith can have joy in the midst of trials (Isa. 26:3; Acts 5:40-41; 16:22-30; 1 Cor. 10:13; Phil. 4:10-13).  To Christians who were facing persecution, the apostle Peter wrote “in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials” (1 Pet. 1:6).  The Christians to whom Peter wrote could rejoice because their trial would prove the genuineness of their faith, and “though tested by fire, [their faith] may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:7).  And to Christians who were suffering in Thessalonica, the apostle Paul declared they had “received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 1:6).  The truth is, Christians can simultaneously know tribulation and joy, as these are not mutually exclusive experiences.  The apostle Paul made this clear when he stated:

…we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Rom. 5:3-5)

Paul could “exult” in his tribulations because he saw them as purposeful, being used by God to bring about “perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.”  Paul’s objective was to glorify God and advance to spiritual maturity, and he knew that God often used suffering as the means to accomplish that goal, and was therefore willing to rejoice in such hardships.  James uses similar language when he writes:

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (Jam. 1:2-4)

As Christians, we will face trials, but how we respond to them is a matter of choice.  No one likes suffering, and our first response is usually to complain and turn away from it.  However, we must be mindful of our natural inclinations and fight the weakening instinct that compels us to grumble at our troubles rather than look to the Lord and live by faith.  James tells us to “consider it all joy” when we face trials because those trials will help us advance in our Christian character.  To “consider it all joy” is purely an act of faith.  When we’re facing a trial, our feelings aren’t up to praising God, but faith must rise above our circumstance and feelings if we’re to live spiritually and benefit from the promises God has provided.  The apostle Paul demonstrated this magnificently when he faced a time of suffering he called his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7).

Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-- to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:7-8)

Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” caused him great pain and he knew the suffering was to produce humility.  Paul’s first reaction was to pray to the Lord several times to take it away and we can all identify with Paul in his prayer.  However, God refused to remove Paul’s suffering and informed him that He would give him the strength necessary to live with the hardship, saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Now, upon hearing this news, I suspect many believers would double-up on their prayers and beg God even more to take away their “thorn in the flesh.”  Some might even get angry with God and perhaps accuse him of being cruel or unloving.  But notice, the apostle Paul handles the news well and by faith declares:

Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:9-10)

These are the words of a mature believer who is sold out for God!  He’s totally committed to the Lord and has surrendered his life to Him!  Paul is essentially saying “God, I trust Your actions in my life no matter what, and am convinced that the suffering you send my way is for my good, and I will cling to You in the midst of my stormy life, for You are my strength.”  I have read the above passage many times, and by faith have stated those words in my own trials.  I’ve not been consistent in every hardship, and I don’t know any Christian who has, but Paul’s words reflect the proper biblical attitude we ought to have in every trial.

Coping with suffering is possible when the believer learns to look to the Lord and utilize His spiritual provisions (Gal. 5:16; Eph. 1:3; 5:18).  This primarily means living by faith moment by moment and trusting God at His Word (Rom. 1:17; 10:17; Heb. 11:6).  Contrary to the person who lives by faith is the worldly minded person who seeks any and every solution except the biblical solution.  The believer who is growing constantly thinks about God and seeks ways to apply His Word to everyday life.  As the believer advances in his spiritual walk, he learns to live more and more by faith and to benefit from the blessings God has provided to those who take refuge in Him and His promises (Deut. 31:6; Isa. 26:3; Prov. 3:5-6; 25-26; Matt. 6:25-34; Phil. 4:10-14).

The Christian who learns God’s Word on a daily basis increases his capacity to live by faith and enjoy the many blessings of God.  As goes his knowledge of God’s Word, so goes his capacity for understanding and enjoying life, even in the midst of suffering.  The reality is that the Christian will face many hardships beyond his control and God does not promise to take them away.  In fact, some trials are sent by Him to humble the believer and to develop his character to be more like Christ.  Some ask God to remove their trial, but God will never remove that which produces humility and keeps the believer close to Him.

THE SUFFERING OF JOSEPH

The Bible portrays people as they really are, living in a real world and facing real hardships.  Scripture shows men as able to cope with the pressures of life if the pressures are not too great.  But when the pressures of life are beyond their ability to manage, when the load becomes unbearable, men easily collapse under the strain.  None of us are equal in our strengths and abilities, and some are able to handle greater pressures than others.  Those who have tasted of the difficulties of life and have come to know their limitations readily admit there are situations beyond their natural ability to cope.  Grace comes to the believer who lives in the reality of his limitations and who humbly turns to God when troubles come his way.  The message of Scripture is that “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5).

Joseph was a believer who had the humility and wisdom to trust in the Lord in his time of misfortune.  Without the Lord’s help and guidance, Joseph would not have survived a single day in his own strength.  The historical account of Joseph, with all its suffering and success, is really a story about the Lord, who in His sovereignty caused a Hebrew youth to be sold into slavery and taken to Egypt, then elevated to a place of great honor and power next to Pharaoh, all for the purpose of accomplishing God’s greater will for His people.  God had spoken to Abraham many years earlier in a prophetic vision and informed him that his descendants would be “strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years” (Gen. 15:13).  It was God’s intention to move Abraham’s descendants to Egypt in order to accomplish His purposes on the earth, and as we’ll see, Joseph was instrumental in bringing this about.  Joseph had a destiny to fulfill, and that destiny included both suffering and blessing in order that God’s greater purposes would be accomplished in the lives of others.

Joseph was blessed with a divine viewpoint perspective on life.  He lived in the reality of God’s sovereignty and accepted the truth that “the LORD makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts. He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles, and inherit a seat of honor” (1 Sam. 2:7-8a).  God did exactly this with Joseph; first, in bringing him down into slavery and prison and later, elevating him to a place of honor and power.  God still does these things in the lives of His people in order to accomplish His greater good for blessing others.  The humble believer concerns himself more with the will of God than the experiences of his daily life, seeking to please the Lord wherever he finds himself, whether in a prison or a palace.

The historical account of Joseph starts in Genesis chapter 37 and we are told that his father Israel “loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic” (Gen. 37:3).  This favoritism shown by a father to his son caused problems in the family, and Joseph’s brothers came to hate him; for “his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms” (Gen. 37:4).  Hatred is never justified under any circumstances, and sinful jealousy leads to sinful actions.  Now the Scripture tells us “Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more” (Gen. 37:5).  At just the right time, God gave Joseph a dream containing divine revelation which He knew Joseph would share with his brothers and would enflame their hostility towards him.  God never condones the evil actions of others, but He does use those actions, at times, to accomplish His will.  This is most evident in the cross of Christ in which God used evil men to crucify the Lord Jesus in order to bring about our salvation (Acts 2:23-24; 4:27-28).  God was in control of Joseph’s circumstances, and what we learn toward the end of Joseph’s life is that his brothers “meant evil” against him, “but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20; cf. Rom. 8:28).

The content of Joseph’s dream was that his father, mother and brothers would all bow down before him (Gen. 37:6-11).  Joseph’s dream revealed what God would eventually bring to pass many years later, but as it sometimes does, God’s revelation injured the pride of those who heard it.  The thought of bowing down to their little brother was a huge offense to Joseph’s brothers, and a few days later, while watching Joseph cross a field, they plotted together and said “come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits” (Gen. 37:20).  It’s pure evil that someone would be so jealous of another man, let alone his own brother, that he would plot to kill him for no other reason than God had given him a dream of divine revelation.  Such is the way of the world, that those who are controlled by sinful and selfish passions often hate those whom God has shown favor.  Rather than rejoicing with their brother that God had blessed him with truth, they hated him and wanted to see him dead, and were even willing to deliver the death-blow themselves.

God had a plan for Joseph and would not permit him to die at this time; though he would permit abusive and unjust treatment.  Reuben, one of Joseph’s brothers, stood up and told his brothers “let us not take his life” (Gen. 37:21b).  So instead of killing Joseph, his brothers forcefully stripped him of his multicolored tunic that had been given to him by his father (Gen. 37:23), and then they “threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it” (Gen. 37:24).  What really shows the coldness in the hearts of Joseph’s brothers was that immediately after they had abused him and thrown him into a dark pit without any water, “they sat down to eat a meal” (Gen. 37:25).  Eating a meal is a casual and relaxed activity, and to do this so quickly after harshly abusing their brother betrays a darkness in their heart.  There are men in the world who are this way, who can engage in cruelty toward others, even close family, and be sinfully relaxed about it.  There is no fear of God within them.

While eating their meal, Joseph’s brothers saw a caravan of Ishmaelite traders and decided to sell their brother into slavery.  The Bible tells us they “sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt” (Gen. 37:28).  Again, it’s important that we not lose sight of God’s sovereignty in all these events, because even though his brothers “meant evil” against him, “God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20; cf. Rom. 8:28).  The events that transpired in the early part of Joseph’s life were all under God’s control, and being sold into slavery was all a part of God’s plan to place him in Egypt in order to eventually save those very brothers who were attacking him.  Joseph would eventually come to show love and grace to those who were treating him with hatred and hostility.

After selling Joseph to the Ishmaelite slave traders, his brothers went home and concocted a fictitious story, telling their father that Joseph was killed and eaten by a wild beast (Gen. 37:31-33).  Joseph’s brothers told a terrible lie to their father in order to avoid the consequences of their sinful actions.  The story devastated Joseph’s father, and he “tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days” (Gen. 37:34).  Perception was not equal to reality, for Joseph was not dead, but had been sold “in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard” (Gen. 37:36).  However, Joseph’s father did not know his son was still alive, and Israel was made to suffer unnecessarily because of a lie.  The suffering associated with the lie would last for many years, until Israel would one day learn that his son had not been killed, but was alive.

God used the sinful actions of Joseph’s brothers to transport him to Egypt.  In the midst of all his trials, the Scripture tells us that the “LORD was with Joseph” (Gen. 39:2a).  The clear teaching of Scripture is that God is omnipresent and Joseph could not escape the Lord’s presence if he tried (Ps. 139:1-6).  More so, God is omnipotent and sovereign, and even in slavery in Egypt the Lord blessed Joseph so that “he became a successful man” (Gen. 39:2).  God’s hand of blessing in the life of Joseph was visible to others, and Potiphar, Joseph’s new master “saw that the LORD was with him and how the LORD caused all that he did to prosper in his hand” (Gen. 39:3).  As a result of God’s blessing, “Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge” (Gen. 39:4).

Joseph was not like his brothers, but broke with their wicked values and practices and pursued a life of humility and righteousness.  To pursue righteousness simply means we pursue the Lord and His will more than our own.  It means we want to learn and accomplish God’s will for our lives.  Joseph’s values set him apart from his siblings, and God used him in a special way.  God is sovereign, and the evil actions of men toward the righteous should not to be regarded as chance events, but rather, divinely orchestrated activities that fit within His providential framework.  Evil actions cannot thwart the purpose or destiny of God’s chosen people.

Joseph became a blessing to others, even to his new slave master in Egypt.  The Bible states “the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus the LORD’S blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field” (Gen. 39:5).  Blessing by association is a biblical theme, in which the Lord greatly blesses those who are positive toward His chosen people (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:7-9).  Potiphar was a pagan unbeliever and slave owner to Joseph, but the text plainly states “the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph.”  This is grace.  God brought Joseph into the house of Potiphar to be a light in a dark place, and to show that God brings blessing, even to those who don’t deserve it.  We don’t know if Potiphar died an unbeliever or not, but his exposure to Joseph also exposed him to the God of the universe who cared about his life.

All was not perfect in Joseph’s new home, as Potiphar’s wife was apparently unhappy in her marriage.  One day she “looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, ‘Lie with me”’ (Gen. 39:7).  Joseph knew he’d been entrusted with caring for his master’s household, and in his integrity refused to have sex with Potiphar’s wife.  Knowing that Potiphar had placed such great trust in him, he refused her request and said, “how then could I do this great evil and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9).  Such words meant nothing to Potiphar’s wife, for she lacked the integrity that was ingrained in Joseph, and day after day she pressed him to have sex with her, but “he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her” (Gen. 39:10).

Joseph was not a man given to sexual lusts.  He was more concerned about his walk with the Lord, and this impacted his daily life with other people.  Joseph’s close relationship with the Lord kept him from committing this sexual sin, though it was repeatedly placed before him.  Believers such as Judah (Gen. 38), Samson (Jud. 16:1, 4), David (2 Sam. 11:1-5), and Solomon (1 Ki. 11:1-6), all failed to maintain sexual purity and were punished for their sins.  Yet, Joseph shows himself to be exceptional in this area, and it was his divine viewpoint thinking that made the difference in his actions.  As goes a believer’s thoughts, so goes his behavior; and when he’s thinking biblically, he’s more prone to live biblically.

One day, Joseph found himself alone in the house with Potiphar’s wife and, “she caught him by his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me!’ And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside” (Gen. 39:12).  Spurned by his refusal to have sex with her, she became angry and decided to destroy what she could not control.  Potiphar’s wife then crafted a lie about Joseph in order to have him thrown into prison.

When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed. “When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.” So she left his garment beside her until his master came home. Then she spoke to him with these words, “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make sport of me; and as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.” (Gen. 39:13-18)

Here, the sinner is made to appear sanctimonious, even righteous in the eyes of others; whereas Joseph is falsely accused and made to appear as evil.  Here’s another example where perception is not equal to reality.  God’s people have had to deal with these sorts of attacks all throughout history, being falsely accused of things that result in unjust persecution.  Potiphar’s “anger burned” against Joseph when he heard his wife’s words (Gen. 39:19).  As a result, Potiphar took Joseph and “put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail” (Gen. 39:19-20).  However, keep in mind that God is still sovereign, directing every event of Joseph’s life.  So the Scripture declares, “the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer” (Gen. 39:21).

This event confirmed that Joseph remained faithful to his God. With the dreams in the back of his mind and being aware of God’s presence, he refused to yield to temptation at his first enjoyment of power. The wise young man recognized that allegiance to God was the first requirement of the ideal ruler. Israel would learn that she too must remain faithful in spite of the consequences. The people of God would be faced with many temptations, especially while serving in Egypt; but if they wished to fulfill the destiny that God had planned for them, they would have to prove faithful. Joseph did not sin, because he was convinced beforehand that God had something marvelous for him to do.[iii]

God was with Joseph and showed him favor while he was in Egypt, even blessing those around him.  Four times it is stated the Lord was with Joseph, making it clear that God had not abandoned him (Gen. 39:2, 3, 21, 23).  Joseph’s spiritual victory in Potiphar’s house led to greater suffering as he was falsely accused of sexual misconduct and placed in jail as a result.  People, even those close to us, sometimes betray us, and unjust suffering and hardship would teach Joseph to trust in the Lord rather than himself or others (cf. Jer. 17:5-7).  Through suffering, God developed Joseph’s character to prepare him for the larger challenge that would come later when God would send a great famine on the region and bring his family to Egypt (Gen. 41:27-28; 42:1-6).

Looking at the life of Joseph, it is important to understand that life is never a series of accidents where one chance event follows another; but rather, it is a series of divine appointments whereby the sovereign God of the universe “causes all things to work together for good” (Rom. 8:28).  We must be careful to understand that God causes all things to work for His good, and that we may suffer innocently according to His will in order to develop our character and promote His plan and purposes (Jas. 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 4:16, 19).  More so, we may never fully understand what our suffering has to do with His will, and must therefore live by faith (Rom. 1:17; 10:17; Heb. 11:6).

Joseph was sent to jail, and there he remained for two years before he was released (Gen. 41:1).  During the early part of his captivity, Joseph was locked up with two of Pharaoh’s officials, the cup bearer and baker, who were imprisoned because they had offended Pharaoh (Gen. 40:1-2).  These men held offices that put them close to Pharaoh on a daily basis; therefore, they knew him personally.  By divine orchestration, the cup bearer and the baker both received a divine dream while in jail, on “the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation” (Gen. 40:5).  Joseph greeted these two men the next morning and noticed they were disturbed, and after questioning them, came to understand they were upset because they had no one to interpret their dreams (Gen. 40:8).  God blessed Joseph with the divine interpretation for their dreams (Gen. 40:8-23).  For the cup bearer, it was good news that he would be freed and restored to his original place in the royal palace (Gen. 40:9-13).  For the baker, it was bad news that he would be killed and the birds would eat his flesh (Gen. 40:16-19).  Joseph asked the cup bearer to remember him for his kindness and mention him before Pharaoh in order to gain his freedom (Gen. 40:14-15), but the cup bearer forgot, as it was not yet the Lord’s time for Joseph to be free (Gen. 40:23).  The Lord would bring about Joseph’s release, but only after two years.

Now, by the sovereign will of God, “it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream” (Gen. 41:1).  God changed Joseph’s life once again, and He did this by sending Pharaoh a prophetic dream of the future; and this dream (like those of the cup bearer and baker), could only be interpreted by Joseph.  Whether in a palace or a prison, men are moved by the circumstances God controls and the revelation He regulates.  It was no accident Joseph was in jail, or that he met the cup bearer and baker, or that he was forgotten afterwards, or that Pharaoh had a divine dream two years later.  God never makes mistakes regarding the circumstances and details of our lives.  God gave Pharaoh two similar dreams that revealed the Lord would cause seven years of prosperity and afterward would cause seven years of famine.  When Pharaoh could not find anyone to correctly interpret his dreams (Gen. 41:8), the cup bearer suddenly remembered his previous encounter with Joseph (Gen. 41:9-13).  Joseph was brought before the king and heard his dream, and afterward declared its interpretation (Gen. 41:14-32).  Joseph demonstrated humility by taking no credit for himself when interpreting the dream, but emphasized to Pharaoh that “God has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do” (Gen. 41:28) and, “that the matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about” (Gen. 41:32).  Pharaoh’s dream revealed that God controls the destiny of men and nations, providing prosperity and adversity as He wishes in order to accomplish His purposes among men (cf. Gen. 11:1-9; Josh. 23:9-10; 1 Sam. 2:6-9; Dan. 4:34-35).  Stephen, in his great speech before his death, mentions the Lord’s dealings with Joseph and his elevation to power in Pharaoh’s house:

The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household. (Acts 7:9-10)

This promotion is the turning point in Joseph’s life, as his suffering lessens and God providentially moves him to a place of power in the king’s palace.  It was God’s will that Joseph go through trials and face hardships, as this developed his character to prepare him for a special role later in life, as a leader in Egypt.  By the Lord’s providence, Joseph would end up saving those brothers who had once tried to kill him.  Joseph’s brothers truly hated him, but because Joseph lived by divine viewpoint, he would eventually come to show them great love and forgiveness.  Later, when God brought a famine on the whole region (Gen. 41:29-32, 54), it forced Joseph’s brothers to come to Egypt in search of food, and they were made to stand before him and bow down in fulfillment of God’s prophecy (Gen. 42:1-6; 43:1-26).

God sovereignly elevated Joseph in Egypt and used him during the seven years of prosperity to prepare the country for the seven years of famine.  God providentially controlled the weather, agriculture, economy, social life, and overall well-being of Egypt (as He does all the nations of the world).  Joseph’s promotion to power was not to serve self, but others.  In humility and diligence Joseph accepted his advancement and executed his duties faithfully for the benefit of others.  God still works providentially in the world to direct history and the believer who knows Scripture lives confidently in this reality, knowing that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).  Having a personal sense of destiny is the blessing of every believer who walks in divine viewpoint.  All events, both blessing and suffering, are viewed by the mature believer as occurring within the framework of God’s purposeful decrees, and this gives him a healthy perspective on life (cf. Job. 2:10).

Joseph knew that it was God who had brought his brothers to stand before him.  However, Joseph last remembered them as being hateful, hostile, and hurtful toward him.  Though Joseph harbored no animosity toward his brothers, he was nevertheless cautious about reestablishing his relationship with them because he was not sure if they had matured since he last saw them.  After meeting with his brothers, Joseph tested them to see if there was love in their hearts for one another (Gen. 44:1-17) and discovered they had matured, especially Judah (Gen. 44:18-34).  The difficult tests Joseph placed on his brothers served to reveal their hearts, manifesting their true characters.  Joseph was bursting with love for his brothers, but wanted to know they had changed and that they were mature enough for a healthy relationship.  For strength and unity to exist in any relationship, there must be a bond of commitment and a willingness—at times—to sacrifice all of oneself for the wellbeing of others.  Believers must always guard themselves against the weakening instinct of self-centeredness and selfish ambition by consciously choosing to live and love sacrificially for the benefit of others.

The floodgate of tears Joseph had been holding back finally burst forth when he knew his brothers had changed and become better men.  Joseph saw that his brothers were willing to love and make true sacrifices, even if it meant their suffering as a result.  This is a sign of maturity and integrity.  Joseph finally revealed himself to his brothers and said “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life” (Gen. 45:4b-5).  This statement captures the complexity that simultaneously exists between God’s sovereignty and man’s volition.  On the one hand, Joseph could tell his brothers “you sold me into Egypt”, and then in the very next breath declare “God sent me before you to preserve life.”  A moment later Joseph tells his brothers:

God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. (Gen. 45:7-8)

God controls history to accomplish His plan and purpose and Joseph saw God manipulating circumstances in order to determine the outcome of events.  For Joseph, this was true not only on the larger scale, but also in the finest details of his personal life.  God’s sovereign and providential rule was not some abstract theological truth, but was real and actually directing all his circumstances toward the Lord’s intended purpose and glory.  At the time Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, all he saw was the hatred and hostility of their hands.  As time went by and he grew spiritually, Joseph realized it was not his brothers who had brought him to Egypt, but almighty God.

Joseph’s speech forms a classic expression of providence; it was his conviction that God’s will, not the will of human beings, was the controlling reality in the events of his life. His explanation that the brothers had not sent him to Egypt meant that they had not acted independently of God’s will—they were part of God’s greater plan to bring Joseph to Egypt to deliver them. They had attempted to be rid of their brother by selling him into Egypt, but as Calvin asserts, God from heaven overruled their counsels and attempts and, in short, did by their hands what he had himself decreed (First Book of Moses, p. 378). The act of sending Joseph to Egypt was thus attributed both to men and to God, but for very different purposes—they acted because they hated him, but God planned to use Joseph as their deliverer.[iv]

Joseph sent his brothers back to the land of Canaan to bring his father, Israel, and the entire family to Egypt in order to provide for them.  Joseph’s brothers eventually came to tell their father “Joseph is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over all the land of Egypt” (Gen. 45:26).  At first, Israel was stunned, but then rejoiced that he would be able to see Joseph again before his death (Gen. 45:27-28).  There were tears of joy at their reunion (Gen. 46:28-30).  Israel and his family lived in Goshen under Joseph’s care until the day of Israel’s death, and this was all by God’s design (Gen. 15:13-14; 46:1-4; 49:33).

Joseph stood before his brothers once again and assured them that their past actions would not be held against them.  Speaking from a place of spiritual maturity, Joseph told his brothers “as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Gen. 50:20).

One major theological idea affirmed in this passage is that God sovereignly preserves life on the earth. He overcomes this crisis of the famine by preparing a deliverer who would be able to save his people and all the world. This point of theology informs the entire story of Joseph but finds expression here. A second idea, growing out of the first, is that God uses even the evil that people do to bring about his plan. Here is the inscrutable balance between the sovereign will and the human will—they had sold him in hatred, but God sent him to Egypt to save them. The righteous can discern that God works even through the evil plans of humans (cf. Acts 2:23). Those who do evil are responsible for their actions, but God will use even those actions for his glory. Out of this theological point grows a practical matter. The perception of this second truth by the righteous will enable them to forgive others, for if God includes all in his sovereign plan, then they must give no room to retaliation or bitterness.[v]

Divine viewpoint thinking and a willingness to forgive was the basis for Joseph offering reconciliation between himself and his brothers.  Also, a degree of spiritual maturity on the part of Joseph’s brothers made reconciliation possible, as one cannot have a healthy relationship with someone who is immature and harboring jealousy and hatred.  Joseph perceived God in his everyday experiences enabling him to live by faith, rising above his circumstances and the mistreatment of others.  It was divine viewpoint that enabled Joseph to show grace and love to the undeserving.  Believers are blessed when they learn to live by faith, knowing God is good, and that He is providentially controlling their lives to accomplish His will and form the character of Christ in them, despite the actions of others (Rom. 8:28; Jas. 1:2-4).

Sometimes God moves us to geographical places we wouldn’t choose on our own, to live and die in a place that’s outside our comfort zone (John 21:18-19).   However, the Lord is always with us, protecting and guiding, assuring us His plan is best, and that He will eventually bring us to a better place, even if it’s not in this lifetime, but the one to come (John 14:1-3).  Confidence belongs to the believer who lives by faith, trusting God at His Word, fully assured that He will fulfill what He has promised (Rom. 4:21).

Believers are convinced that their future in God’s program lies elsewhere and that this current world is but part of a pilgrimage to that land. They know that God will surely visit and deliver his people, in spite of death and discouragement. Those who trust the Lord to bring about his promised blessings in his own inscrutable ways will demonstrate their faith through the adverse circumstances of life. If believers wholeheartedly trust in the sovereignty of God, death will lose its power over them, and persecution and antagonism will fade into his sovereign plan, providing a spirit of confidence and kindness. The book thus ends with the promise yet unfulfilled but with the expectancy of the visitation from on high. The company of the faithful thus waits in expectation for that day when the promised seed will be victorious over the curse and establish in reality the long-awaited blessing promised by God.[vi]

Joseph saw God as sovereign over every area of his life.  He realized the circumstances of his life were not accidents, but divine appointments in which God was working through him to accomplish His will and direct history to His desired end.  Having God’s perspective enabled Joseph to forgive his brothers without hesitation, since he knew they could not have acted against him apart from the Lord’s will (John 19:10-11).  Joseph believed the promises of God that the sons of Jacob would return to the land of Canaan, and by faith gave orders that his bones be carried out of Egypt when that day came (Heb. 11:22; cf. Ex. 13:19; Josh. 24:32).

Joseph knew suffering, but his suffering was viewed from a personal sense of destiny that saw the hand of God in every detail of his life.  Joseph’s ability to see his life from the divine perspective enabled him to cope with the circumstances God brought to pass; circumstances which included family abuse (Gen. 37:1-24), kidnapping (Gen. 40:15); slavery (Gen. 37:25-28, 36), betrayal (Gen. 39:1-19), prison (Gen. 39:20; 41:1), eventual freedom and rise to power (Gen. 41:40-46), and a divinely orchestrated famine that would force his father and family to move to Egypt (Gen. 42:1-3; 43:1; cf. Gen. 15:13-14).

Suffering may be of benefit to other people. Joseph suffered greatly at the hands of his brothers, who sold him into slavery. At the end of his life, however, Joseph looked back at his life and saw that many people had benefited because of his suffering (Gen. 50:15-21). He was in the right place to prepare for the famine. He would not have been there if his brothers had not done evil toward him. They are indeed guilty of a hostile act toward him, but God used their wickedness and Joseph’s suffering to bring about a greater good. It was, however, only with considerable hindsight that Joseph was able to come to this conclusion. Similarly, it is hard for most sufferers to believe this until enough time has elapsed that the trauma of suffering has been put into a larger perspective. [vii]

For the Christian, Scripture provides the only paradigm for properly interpreting one’s circumstances and teaches the believer to see God’s sovereign hand in every detail.  The purpose of suffering is grasped only when viewed within the framework of God’s providential dealings with men, and this framework is provided in Scripture.  Where there is ignorance of God’s Word, the believer is left guessing what God is doing in his life and whether there’s any purpose to the events that are transpiring around him.  The Christian who lives in the reality of God’s revelation realizes there are no accidental people in this world, and there are no chance events.  At some point in the believer’s life, as he advances toward spiritual maturity, he will come to a place where God’s Word not only colors all he sees, but becomes more real than his circumstances, however adverse they may be.  Such a believer has, at that moment, achieved a place of spiritual advance and learned to live by faith in God and His Word rather than his fleeting feelings or experiences.  Until such high ground is attained by the Christian, he must always press onward to learn and live God’s Word on a daily basis.  God uses suffering to help advance our spiritual life, but we must see it in the light of Scripture and respond properly to it if we are to benefit from it.

THE SUFFERING OF JOB

The suffering of Job is an affront to much of the conventional wisdom of mankind who live in the false illusion that people who live righteously deserve good lives that are free from pain and sorrow.  Many ask the question “why do bad things happen to good people?”  The question itself is flawed because it assumes good people deserve good things and bad people deserve bad things; but this is not reality from the biblical perspective.  Life is not fair.  God Himself turns conventional wisdom on its head when He appeals to sinners in love and grace, offering them eternal life and the greatest heavenly blessings associated with it, if they will but turn to Christ who died an innocent death in their place (Rom. 5:6-10; 1 Pet. 3:18; Eph. 1:3).  The free gift of eternal life is a manifestation of God’s grace in all its glory, and there is nothing fair about it, and thank God there is not!  If it were not for God’s love and mercy and grace, no one would be saved.  The Bible regularly challenges conventional wisdom and in its place gives us the biblical perspective that we might walk in its light.  The Word of God often challenges us to reevaluate our presuppositions.

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. (Job 1:1)

Job was a real person who lived in time and space.  He walked the streets like other men, ate meals, engaged in business, and enjoyed time with his family.  It’s important that we see Job this way, as a real person living in a real world, otherwise we might fail to connect with him.  We don’t have to understand him in every way, but we must see our connection with him as a human being who lived his life much the way we do, going about his daily affairs.  The Scripture states that Job was “blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:1).  The Lord Himself calls Job “blameless and upright” (Job 1:8; 2:3), and this should remove any doubt regarding Job’s character.  This does not mean Job was sinless, but that he handled his sin in a biblical manner by seeking the Lord’s forgiveness.

Job was a family man too.  He had “seven sons and three daughters” (Job 1:3), which surely made for a full house.  As a business man, Job had been blessed by the Lord and was very prosperous, having “7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants”, all of which made him “the greatest of all the men of the east” (Job 1:3).  Job knew his great wealth came from the Lord (Job 1:21; 2:10); however, he was more concerned with his relationship with God and righteous living than with his prosperity.  Job used his wealth in a righteous way to help those who were less fortunate.

For when the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it gave witness of me, because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the orphan who had no helper. The blessing of the one ready to perish came upon me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy, and I investigated the case which I did not know. (Job 29:12-16)

The hearts of men are easily distracted by wealth, and there are many who seek the Lord for no other reason than monetary blessing.  As the sovereign Lord of the universe, He “makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts” (1 Sam. 2:7).  God does as He pleases, and there are some whom He is pleased to prosper, and others whom He is pleased to make poor.  A righteous person with whom the Lord is pleased can be either poor or wealthy, and those who live by faith are not concerned with worldly goods, but only that the Lord approves of their daily thoughts and actions.  Job placed no confidence in wealth, to do so would be a denial of God above (Job 31:24-28).

It takes maturity to handle prosperity in a godly manner.  To use wealth in a way that glorifies God and promotes His will for the blessing of others is a sign of spiritual maturity.  I think God keeps many people poor because wealth would be their undoing.  I know people who would fail in a moment if they suddenly came into wealth, as they would walk away from God and would pursue the ways of this world and all its addictive pleasures.  The thing they desire is the very thing that would destroy them.  Their poverty is what keeps them coming to God, seeking His daily provisions and trusting Him moment by moment to meet their needs.  God will not remove that which keeps the believer humble and walking in His will.

Job was a spiritual man who functioned as the paternal priest of his house.  Job’s children were known to celebrate together and enjoy each other’s company; but because he knew his children well, Job was concerned they might sin against God during their time of feasting.  After their time of celebration, Job “would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all” (Job. 1:5).  Job functioned this way throughout his years and was faithful to provide for the spiritual wellbeing of his family.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” (Job 1:6-7)

In Job 1:6 the scene switches from earth to heaven.  Job was completely unaware of what was happening in God’s throne room, on “a day when the sons of God” presented themselves to the Lord, apparently to give an account of their activities on the earth.  The phrase “sons of God” translates the Hebrew bene ha Elohim and “is used in Job 1:6; 2:1; and 38:7 to refer to angels, including Satan. They are sons of God in the sense of being created by God.”[viii]  In Hebrew, Satan means adversary, and this title belongs to that fallen angel who lives in rebellion against God.  Satan, like those who follow him, sets his will against the will of God and seeks to lead others astray.  Though Satan is fallen and will eventually be sent to the Lake of Fire (Matt. 25:41), he currently has access to heaven and must give reports to the sovereign Lord of the universe about his activities.

Satan is mentioned first in the book of Job (1:6–12; 2:1–7). He mixes with the sons of God (angels), among whom he no longer has any rightful place; he arbitrarily roams about and seeks his own but is still used as a servant by God, on whom he remains dependent. His independent activity in this passage is mainly that of the spy of evil, of the accuser of man to God, especially the accuser of the pious, and he maintains the assertion that even their fear of God stems from personal interest.[ix]

Satan is simply a creature, limited to the constraints of space, being in one place at a time.  In the heavenly scene, Satan came before the throne of God to give an account of his activities and reported to the Lord that he had been “roaming about on the earth and walking around on it” (Job 1:7).  The direction of the report is upward, as Satan answers to God for his activities, demonstrating God’s sovereignty over all His creation.

The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. “But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” (Job 1:8-11)

It was God who initiated the discussion about Job with Satan.  The Lord knew Satan had been roaming about the earth and had encountered Job and witnessed his righteousness.  God’s estimation of Job was “there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:8).  Satan challenged God’s estimation of Job, and in the challenge impugned the character of God Himself, implying that the only reason Job is good is because God has blessed him and protects him from harm.  It is a tactic of Satan to take that which is good and call it evil.  Satan’s accusation against Job is that he is not truly righteous, but that he has been bought by the Lord and fears Him for no other reason than God has blessed him.  Satan’s accusation against God is that He has to bribe His people to serve and worship Him; otherwise they would not do it on their own.  Satan’s challenge to God was “put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face” (Job 1:8).  Job’s suffering would prove Satan wrong.  Job was completely unaware that his life was about to become a battlefield to resolve a heavenly challenge, and that his integrity and love for the Lord would shine brightly in the furnace of affliction he was about to enter.  Job’s love and integrity would a pinnacle of spiritual maturity that very few believers ever reach in their lifetime.  God, who is omniscient, knew the heart of Job and could speak truthfully about his character, knowing Job would pass the test.

Then the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD. (Job 1:12)

Satan could not touch Job without God’s permission.  This is true for every believer at all times.  The storm that was about to turn Job’s world upside down was on its way from heaven to earth, and there was nothing he could do to prevent it from happening.  Many people live in the false illusion that they are strong in themselves and that they are the masters of their own fate and the captains of their own destiny.  In ignorance, many people work to manipulate circumstances to create a sense of security and comfort, but it’s all a house of cards.  The reality of suffering teaches the believer that he is weak and vulnerable and that true strength comes only from the Lord.  In the reality of their human weakness many believers fold their hands in despair and focus on the suffering to the exclusion of everything else.  This need not happen, as God has provided His promises to sustain His people in the midst of adversity (Ps. 18:30; 55:22; 56:11; Isa. 26:3-4; 41:10; 1 Cor. 10:13; Phil. 4:6-7; Heb. 4:16; 13:5).  God refused to remove Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (1 Cor. 12:7), though it caused him great discomfort and exposed his weakness.  God then told Paul “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).  Paul had the same kind of integrity as Job, and in the midst of his suffering accepted his weakness and declared “I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).  It was God who brought the suffering, and it was God who gave the strength to cope with it.

In one day Job lost his entire business and family.  Job received report after report from his servants that “Sabeans attacked and took his oxen and killed his servants” (Job 1:14-15), that the “fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them” (Job 1:16), and that “the Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with the edge of the sword” (Job 1:17).  Job was no doubt reeling from the news.  Above all was the crushing news about his children, for Job learned “a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died” (Job 1:19).  The death of a child is devastating news, but to hear all your children died in one day at the same time is absolutely overwhelming.  Satan did his best to destroy Job and to hurt him to the point of cursing God.  Satan failed.  Surely heaven was silent after Satan’s attack on Job, as every ear waited to hear Job’s response.  Job’s first action was to fall to the ground and worship.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God. (Job 1:20-22)

Job knew where his strength came from, and he immediately turned to the Lord.  Job realized that he had come into this world with nothing and that all his wealth and family were a gift from God and that the Lord was free to take them any time He wished (Job 1:21a).  The apostle Paul expressed a similar mindset when he said, “we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either” (1 Tim. 6:7).  Too often people think they are entitled to everything they have and what they have is theirs forever, and not even God has the right to take it away.  The reality is that God owns everything, including one’s wealth and children, and all these things are simply on loan from the Lord.  Job realized the reality of God’s sovereignty when he stated the “LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21b).  Satan’s accusation against Job was wrong, for Job did not curse God.  Job revealed he had integrity in his soul and, “through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God” (Job 1:22).

Job represents a mature believer who was able to live by faith and rise above the tragedy of his circumstances and bless the Lord.  Not all believers can do this.  It takes many years of learning and walking in God’s truth to reach the level of maturity Job had attained.  Maturity does not mean sinless perfection, for Job had his faults and was even rebuked by the Lord at a later time, and Job had to “repent in dust and ashes” for some of his comments (Job 42:6).  Spiritual maturity ought to be the goal of every believer, where he comes to that place where his personal relationship with God is more important that the transient things of this world.  God and His Word provide are an anchor for the soul, which gives the believer stability in the midst of life’s storms.

Satan came back to God a second time and entered into dialogue with Him.  Again, the Lord asked Satan about his affairs, and again pointed out His righteous servant Job (Job 2:1-3a).  God spoke well of Job and said “he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause” (Job 2:3b).  Satan, knowing he’d been defeated at his first attack on Job, replied to the Lord “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face” (Job 2:4-5).  Satan wanted another opportunity to bring Job down and destroy him.  The ultimate goal of Satan was not to hurt Job, but to hurt the Lord Himself.  Since Satan cannot attack the Lord directly, he’ll attack those who belong to Him and who bring Him glory by walking in the light of His truth and grace.  The Lord knew His servant Job would not fail the test, so He told Satan “he is in your power, only spare his life” (Job 2:6).  The Bible then tells us that Satan “went out from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (Job 2:7).

With God’s permission (1 Cor. 10:13), Satan afflicted Job with a disease we cannot identify. Whatever it was, the symptoms were terrible: severe itching (Job 2:8), insomnia (7:4), running sores and scabs (v. 5), nightmares (vv. 13–14), bad breath (19:17), weight loss (v. 20), chills and fever (21:6), diarrhea (30:27), and blackened skin (v. 30). When his three friends first saw Job, they did not recognize him! (2:12).[x]

Job, unaware of the second heavenly discussion, now finds himself physically afflicted.  In great pain, Job “took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes” (Job 2:8).  Here is the picture of a man in humility.  Fire is the product of heat, oxygen and fuel, and ash represents the consumed material that is left when the fire has burned itself out.  To sit among ashes is to identify with them.  It is a symbolic identification that there is nothing left in a man, that all his energy is spent because of the firestorm that has consumed him.  It’s a perfect picture of Job’s humility before the Lord.

Job’s wife did not have the faith and integrity that he possessed.  We can feel her pain as a mother who had to suffer the blow of losing all her children in a single day, and now her husband is made to experience a great physical ailment that could end his life.  Perhaps in her mind God was to blame, so she turns to her husband and tells him “do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9).  Here was Job’s wife advising him to do the very thing Satan wanted.  This would have been a defeat for Job if he had followed her advice.  Job replied to his wife and said, “you speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10a).  Job lived in the reality that both good and adversity come from the Lord (cf. Isa. 45:6-7).  In spite of the loss of his wealth, his children, his personal health, and the support of his wife, Job held fast to his faith, “and in all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10b).

Job could have followed his feelings or the circumstances of his life, but instead, he chose to live by faith and look to the Lord and trust in the goodness of His character.  Living by faith does not exclude great expressions of sorrow.  As previously noted, when Job was in the midst of his suffering he asked, “why then hast Thou brought me out of the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been, carried from womb to tomb” (Job 10:18-19).  Because of his sorrow, Job saw his life as a “land of darkness and deep shadow; the land of utter gloom as darkness itself, of deep shadow without order” (Job 10:21-22a).  These are the words of sadness, not doubt towards God.  They are words of great grief, but Job’s faith had not been thrown away.  Jesus Himself cried and suffered greatly and did not hide His emotions (Luke 19:41; 22:42-44; John 11:35).  Shall we accuse the Lord Jesus of failing to walk as He ought because He made such a great display of His human emotions!?  Never!  A believer like Job can be in the midst of great grief and sorrow and simultaneously hold tenaciously to his faith in almighty God.

Job has become someone to look up to in Scripture, and his endurance has become famous the world over.  James, when writing to Christians told them “we count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful” (Jam. 5:11).  James could say this, because by the end of Job’s life, after his dealings with his friends, Job’s health and wealth were restored by the Lord.

The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold. Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold. The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. He had seven sons and three daughters. (Job 42:10-13)

God did restore Job’s health, family and earthly fortunes.  God does not do this with every believer, as there are many who get the greater blessing of their eternal rewards when they are called home to heaven (1 Cor. 3:11-15; Phil. 1:21-23; 1 Pet. 1:3-9).  Apparently Job was restored to his wife because of their “seven sons and three daughters” which they had after the Lord blessed Job again.  Job went on to live another 140 years, and the final word of Job is that “Job died, an old man and full of days” (Job 42:17).  Job’s greatest blessing after his trials was that he knew the Lord in a more meaningful way.

THE SUFFERING OF DAVID

God established the theocratic kingdom of Israel when He called the Israelites out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses and gave them the 613 commandments that comprise the Mosaic Law.  Though the Lord Himself was Israel’s God, Provider and Lawgiver, He knew that after the Israelites entered the land promised to Abraham that they would desire to set a human king over themselves in order to be like the nations that surrounded them (Deut. 17:14).  God anticipated this in the Mosaic Law and was willing to accommodate the Israelites, saying, “you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses” (Deut. 17:15a).  When selecting Israel’s king, God would be sure to choose someone who is humble and righteous in character who will lead the nation into His will.  No one in the Old Testament met God’s qualifications better than David, who is said to be “a man after His own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14).  David became God’s chosen servant-king who, for most of his life, would walk in humility and obedience to the Lord and concern himself with righteous living and leading God’s people into His will (1 Sam. 16:1, 13; Ps. 4:1-5; 5:1-8; 18:20-24).  David was not sinless, but he handled his sin in a biblical manner as was prescribed for believers living under the Mosaic Law and so he pleased the Lord.  David became the divine standard by which all the kings of Israel after him were compared.  The kings of Israel were regarded as good or evil depending on whether or not they followed the righteous pattern of humble obedience to God’s Laws by which David himself had lived (1 Ki. 3:3, 14; 9:4-5; 15:3, 11; 2 Ki. 14:3; 16:2; 18:3; 22:2).  The Lord even entered into a unilateral covenant with David, promising that one of his descendants would sit on his throne and rule forever; and ultimately this spoke of Jesus, the promised Messiah (2 Sam. 7:12-13, 16).  The Davidic Covenant had four important aspects to it:

The Davidic Covenant…promised four eternal things: an eternal house (dynasty), an eternal throne, an eternal kingdom, and one eternal Person. The Dynasty became eternal because it culminated in a Person Who is Himself eternal: Jesus the Messiah. For that reason the Throne and Kingdom will be eternal as well. But Jesus has never yet sat on the Throne of David ruling over a Kingdom of Israel. The reestablishment of the Davidic Throne and Messiah’s rule over the Kingdom still awaits a future fulfillment. It requires a future kingdom.[xi]

David loved the Lord and walked in His ways and led others to do the same.  But David was not perfect and there was sin in his life and this sin brought about divine discipline and suffering.  David sinned, did not confess it, tried to cover it up, and this led to God’s discipline.  David’s failure started the day he was out of God’s geographical will.

Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. (2 Sam. 11:1)

After the spring rains had come, it was customary for nations to resume their battles with each other, and this was “the time when kings go out to battle”.  Rather than go out with his troops, “David stayed at Jerusalem” (2 Sam. 11:1), and this opened the door for temptation that led to sin.

Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” (2 Sam. 11:2-3)

David lived in a beautiful palace which had an area on the roof for him to walk around, perhaps to enjoy the evening breeze after dinner.  It was from his rooftop location that David saw a beautiful woman bathing, and this no doubt stirred him sexually.  Physical attraction to others is normal, but the sin nature perverts what is normal and healthy and tempts us to act contrary to God’s will.  At the time David saw Bathsheba bathing in the open, he could have looked away and avoided the temptation altogether, but he did not.  Temptation is not sin, but merely the opportunity and enticement to sin.  Temptation does not become sin until the individual acts upon the lusts of his flesh (Jam. 1:14-15).  One has to wonder if Bathsheba intentionally bathed from a location that was visible to the king’s rooftop?  Even if Bathsheba was hoping to stir an affair with David, it was David’s responsibility to control his own thoughts and emotions and look away.  Unfortunately, David did not control his passions, and after staring at Bathsheba for a time, David then “sent and inquired about the woman” (2 Sam. 11:3).  David learned that her name was Bathsheba and that she was “the wife of Uriah the Hittite” (2 Sam. 11:3).

David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, “I am pregnant.” (2 Sam. 11:4-5)

There are two guilty persons in this account.  David “took her” and Bathsheba “came to him” (2 Sam. 11:4).  After they had sexual intercourse, it is reported that Bathsheba “purified herself from her uncleanness”, which means she engaged in ceremonial cleansing which was required under the Mosaic Law, which states “if a man lies with a woman so that there is a seminal emission, they shall both bathe in water and be unclean until evening” (Lev. 15:18).  The adulterous act was apparently a one night event, but after some time had passed, Bathsheba became aware that she had conceived a child, and she sent news to David and told him “I am pregnant” (2 Sam. 11:5).  Surely those words fell like a bomb in his heart.

Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war. (2 Sam. 11:6-7)

Uriah was a descendant of the Hittite peoples whose empire ended sometime around 1200 B.C.  The name Uriah means flame of Yahweh and speaks of God’s ability to light one’s life and to illumine his path.  Apparently, Uriah was a godly man who was very faithful to David as a citizen of Israel and as a soldier in his army.  When Uriah arrived from the battle, David asked about “the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war” (2 Sam. 11:7).  David’s questioning was all a ploy, as David was not concerned about the battle at all, but only with trying to cover up his sin with Bathsheba.

Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and a present from the king was sent out after him. But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. (2 Sam. 11:8-9)

The phrase “go to your house, and wash your feet” is a Jewish euphemism that means “go home and enjoy sexual relations with your wife.”  David’s ploy was to get Uriah to go home and have sexual intercourse with his wife so that when Bathsheba’s pregnancy became noticeable, Uriah would think the baby was his.  However, Uriah being the faithful servant that he was, “slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house” (2 Sam. 11:9).  David thought Uriah would jump at the opportunity to go home to his wife, but Uriah knew that his fellow soldiers were at the battlefront and that it would be wrong for him to enjoy the pleasures of home life while others were making great sacrifices away from their families.

Now when they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.” (2 Sam. 11:10-11)

While Uriah is clinging to his righteousness, David is sinking further and further into his sin.  David is scheming more and more to get Uriah to go home and sleep with his wife, but Uriah is not taking the bait, and most likely is a little confused as to why David keeps pushing him.  Uriah knew he was supposed to be with his troops in battle, and probably is wondering why David is delaying him.

Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lord’s servants, but he did not go down to his house. (2 Sam. 11:12-13)

David is getting desperate, and now tries to get Uriah drunk in the hopes that inebriation will cloud his thinking and offset his righteous character.  Rather than leading others into God’s righteousness, David is now leading them into sin, and this is a sign that David is under the control of his sin nature.  David is hoping to get Uriah drunk so that he will go home to his wife and sleep with her; but even after all this sinful effort on David’s part, Uriah “did not go down to his house” (2 Sam. 11:13).  Finally, David’s dirty sins progress from adultery and deception to murder.

Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. He had written in the letter, saying, “Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die.” So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died. (2 Sam. 11:14-17)

Uriah carried his own death sentence back to the battlefront, written and signed by the king himself.  David, who should have been protecting the righteous and innocent within God’s kingdom, has now become the destroyer.  Men will plunge to great depths of immorality to cover their sin, and even those who are great spiritual giants may fall into sinful traps more heinous than most unbelievers could imagine.  Uriah had been betrayed to death by the man he trusted most.  David received the message from Joab that Uriah had been killed in battle (2 Sam. 11:18-24).  David then offered a reply of phony remorse to his military commander.

Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle against the city stronger and overthrow it’; and so encourage him.” (2 Sam. 11:25)

David is now guilty of multiple sins including adultery, deception, murder and lying.  It’s amazing that David would try to comfort Joab, the man who carried out his command to have Uriah killed.  David said to Joab, “Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another” (2 Sam. 11:25).  This is false piety designed only to mask the complexity of David’s sins.

Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. When the time of mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD. (2 Sam. 11:26-27)

Though Bathsheba had been unfaithful to Uriah, in many ways she still cared about him and was grieved at the news of his death.  David and Bathsheba had sinned, David used deception and murder to cover that sin, and righteous Uriah was unjustly put to death for no fault of his own.  After Uriah’s death, David took Bathsheba into his home and made her his wife, and approximately nine months after the sin that started it all, Bathsheba gave birth to their son.  God was watching, and “the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD” (2 Sam. 11:27).  God permitted David to continue in his sin for a time.  Now the Lord would intervene and judgment would come upon the house of David.  The king of Israel would suffer divine discipline that would cause him trouble until the day of his death.

Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said, “There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. “The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. “But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb Which he bought and nourished; And it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom, And was like a daughter to him. “Now a traveler came to the rich man, And he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd, To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him; Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” (2 Sam. 12:1-4)

The Lord sent Nathan, His prophet, to confront David about his sin.  Nathan does not charge into David’s presence blurting out the king’s guilt, but rather tells him a simple story of injustice.  Nathan tells David a story about a rich man and a poor man, and how the rich man refused to feed a traveler from his own abundant flocks, but rather took a poor man’s only ewe lamb, which he had raised and loved like a family pet, and killed it to feed another.  I suspect this story struck David personally, since he had been a shepherd himself before becoming king, and he knew what it meant to care for helpless little lambs that were always in danger of predators who wanted to kill them.

Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. “He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.” (2 Sam. 12:5-5)

Anger is the natural response to injustice, and David’s response to Nathan’s story is healthy, though he failed to see himself as the predator guilty of taking the helpless lamb from the poor man.  Sin often clouds our judgment and weakens our ability to perceive ourselves correctly in the light of God’s revelation.  There was no penalty of death under the Mosaic Law for stealing a lamb, so David’s reaction at this point is overstated, but the fourfold restitution is stated clearly in the Mosaic Law and David’s words reflect this (Ex. 22:1).  It’s an amazing thing that David would appeal to the Mosaic Law and demand just punishment for another, yet ignore his own guilt under the same legal system for a crime of much greater magnitude!  Because David failed to judge himself, he would fall under the Lord’s judgment, which would stay with David all his days.

Nathan then said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. ‘I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! ‘Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. ‘Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ “Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. ‘Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.’” (2 Sam. 12:7-12)

Nathan declared to David “you are the man!” (2 Sam. 12:7).  David was the rich and callous man that he condemned so harshly in Nathan’s story.  David had pronounced a heavy judgment on the rich man, and God judged David mainly on his own words.  God had made David king over Israel and had blessed him with many blessings, but David wanted more than what the Lord had provided, and it was evil for David to sin by killing Uriah and taking Bathsheba as his wife.  The Lord declared that “the sword shall never depart from your house” (2 Sam. 12:10).  The sword was a symbol of conflict and death, and four of David’s sons died as a result of the Lord’s judgment, starting with the unnamed son of Bathsheba (2 Sam. 12:15-18), then Amnon (2 Sam. 12:28-29), Absolom (2 Sam. 18:15), and finally Adonijah (1 Ki. 2:25).

Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. “However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.” (2 Sam. 12:13-14)

Here is simple confession.  “I have sinned against the LORD.”  David makes no effort to hide his sin, or to explain it away or excuse it.  Nathan’s response to David is that “The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die” (2 Sam. 12:13).  Here is simple forgiveness from God given to the one who comes with honest confession.  However, because David was the king of Israel, and because his sin hurt others and gave “occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme,” there would be punishment upon David that would last until he died and went home to heaven.

David now would suffer the sword as had Uriah and David’s wives would be taken from him as Bathsheba had been stolen from the Hittite. This was fulfilled by Absalom (David’s own son!) when he lay with David’s concubines (16:22). But David’s shame would be even greater because, in contrast with David’s sin in secret, all these things would happen in the glare of the public eye, in broad daylight. One may wonder, perhaps, why David was not punished with death as he had so sternly advocated for the guilty man. Adultery and murder both were sufficient cause for the execution of even a king (Ex. 21:12; Lev. 20:10). The answer surely lies in the genuine and contrite repentance which David expressed, not only in the presence of Nathan but more fully in Psalm 51. David’s sin was heinous, but the grace of God was more than sufficient to forgive and restore him, as Nathan could testify. And yet, though David could be restored to fellowship with his God, the impact of his sin remained and would continue to work its sorrow in the nation as well as in the king’s life.[xii]

Forgiveness does not always remove the consequences of sin.  One may confess to the Lord that he’s played with fire against the Lord’s will, and the Lord will forgive that sin based on the confession alone (1 John 1:9), but the painful effects of having been burned by fire may remain for life, even leaving a visible scar where there was once healthy flesh.

Within a week of David’s confession, his newborn son became ill and died.  David humbled himself during the week the child was sick, even refusing food and sleeping on the ground.  David’s hope was that the Lord would be gracious and permit the child to live rather than die because of David’s sin.  After the child died, “David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the LORD and worshiped” (2 Sam. 12:20).  David was not angry with the Lord because the child had died; how could he be?  David knew that the Lord was just in His punishment, and that it was because of David’s sin that others were made to suffer.  This is the reality of the world in which we live; that our sinful or godly choices either curse or bless those around us.

The Psalms were public expressions of worship set to music.  Some of the Psalms were joyful (Ps. 100), some sorrowful (Ps. 74), some were prayers (Ps. 13), and some were confessions of sin, such as parts of Psalm 32 and 51.  Because David’s sin with Bathsheba and Uriah was public, it was only proper that his confession be public as well.  In Psalm 51, David openly confesses his sin to God and appeals to the Lord’s graciousness, lovingkindness and compassion as the God who forgives sinners.  In Psalm 51 David declares:

For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. (Ps. 51:1-4)

Though they never have to, believers do commit sin.  To stand in judgment of David is to stand in judgment of self, for “there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins” (Eccl. 7:20; cf. 1 Ki. 8:46).  David was honest about his sin, both with God and others, and this was the basis for his forgiveness and restoration.  Psalm 51 is a plain and public confession about his sin with Bathsheba, but it was most of all a confession to the Lord.  David said, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge” (Ps. 51:3-4).  Once David had confessed his sin, the Lord forgave him, and David could then resume his walk with the Lord, even as a spiritual leader who instructed sinners in righteous living.  After his confession and forgiveness, David could, in good conscience declare, “I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You” (Ps. 51:13).  David’s failure did not destroy his place as the king of Israel, nor did it destroy his ability to lead others into righteousness.  David greatness as a believer is partly in his ability to learn from his suffering.  Later in his life he declared, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Ps. 119:71).  Part of righteous living means handling sin in a biblical manner through confession, and David expressed this magnificently in Psalm 32, in which he stated:

When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. (Ps. 32:3-5)

Through silence, David suffered physically and felt as though his body was wasting away.  He had no relief from God’s divine discipline, “for day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer” (Ps. 32:4).  Here is a believer in complete and total agony.  He has turned away from righteous living and pursued his own sinful ways, but he cannot hide from the Lord or His loving hand of discipline; “for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom he receives” (Heb. 12:6).  All believers’ sin and some sins are worse than others, bringing greater punishment (e.g. Matt. 12:31-32; Luke 12:47-48; 1 Cor. 11:30; 1 John 5:16).

Even in this judgment we must not fail to see God’s love and grace.  Shortly after David’s child died, the Scripture tells us that “David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon” (2 Sam. 12:24).  This is the same Solomon who would become king over Israel after David died and through whom the promised Messiah would come into the world (Matt. 1:6, 17).  Regarding Solomon, the Scripture tells us “the LORD loved him” and even called him “Jedidiah” which in the Hebrew means beloved of Yahweh (2 Sam. 12:25).  God used sinners such as David and Bathsheba to eventually bring about the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, who is the Savior of those who trust Him for eternal life (John 3:16).  God’s grace was greater than the sin of David and Bathsheba.

David’s sinful affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah would eventuate in suffering that would last until the end of David’s life.  David’s suffering is an example of divine discipline that comes to the believer who repeatedly sins against the Lord and leads others into sin.  Further divine discipline came upon David later in his life when he disobeyed the Lord and called for a census in Israel (2 Sam. 24:1-9).  Again, David confessed his sin against the Lord (2 Sam. 24:10), but the consequence was that the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel and seventy thousand Israelites died (2 Sam. 24:15).  David was grieved that his sin had caused others to suffer (2 Sam. 24:17).

In summary, it must be stated that David incurred the Lord’s discipline upon his life when he turned away from God’s will and pursued sin.  By his own choices, David entered into an adulterous affair with Bathsheba, and then sought to cover it up with deception toward her husband Uriah, whom he eventually had killed.  David’s sins progressively worsened, eventuating in the Lord’s discipline that lasted throughout his life, even though David confessed those sins and was completely forgiven and restored to fellowship.  In a similar manner, we may commit horrible sins to the same degree as David, but this does not mean we cease to be God’s children.  It does mean that like David, we can expect God’s hand of discipline to fall upon us and correct us, to whatever degree necessary, in order to restore us to fellowship with Him, even if it means leaving lasting scars that we’ll carry with us for a lifetime.

THE SUFFERING OF PAUL

The martyrdom of Stephen marks the first appearance of Paul (Saul) in Scripture.  Stephen was one of the first elected deacons in the early church and was described as a man “full of grace and power, [who] was performing great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8).  Stephen’s words and actions posed a great threat to those who were against Jesus and the newly established church, and so Stephen was met with opposition.

But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. (Acts 6:9-10)

Throughout human history, God and His servants have been opposed by the majority of the human race.  Here were men identified as “Freedmen” who had been liberated from the human institution of slavery and yet, were still in slavery to sin; this is evidenced by their hostility toward God and His servant.  Stephen knew Scripture and when these men could not argue and successfully refute what Stephen was teaching, they resorted to the dirty tactics of false accusation in order to destroy him.  Christians are bound by the Word of God to think, speak and act as the Lord directs.  As divinely appointed ambassadors, Christians are to live by God’s standards of ethics and conduct themselves as the Lord requires.  Simultaneously, Christians are to be bold in standing for the eternal truths of God’s Word, while also reflecting the highest standards of love and grace.  When feeling threatened, the worldly-minded person does not hesitate to lower himself to sinful tactics in order to deceive and destroy his opponent.

They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.” And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel. (Acts 6:13-15)

Here is a group of religious zealots who claim to serve God while resorting to false witnesses and lies in order to accomplish their sinful desires.  They so desperately want to control and destroy Stephen that they are willing to fabricate information in order to bring him down.  Satan has many religious people in the world that will gladly destroy others in the name of God.  Stephen, standing before the Jewish assembly, delivered one of the most powerful messages ever spoken in the New Testament (Acts 7:1-53).  Stephen’s message exposed their sinful hearts, and those who picked a fight and sought to put Stephen on trial for rejecting God’s laws instead found themselves on trial and guilty of killing “the Righteous One”, God’s promised Messiah (Acts 7:52).  Stephen’s words impacted them deeply and the result was that “when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him” (Acts 7:54).  Arrogance clouds intelligence, so Stephen’s message was rejected.  Stephen, on the other hand, was very humble.  Because his mind was saturated with God’s Word and because he was under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Stephen was able to maintain composure in the face of this hostile group.

But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55-56)

Being “full of the Holy Spirit” means being under the Spirit’s directing influence.  Stephen’s thoughts and actions were guided by the Holy Spirit, and this gave him the confidence to face his difficult situation and to maintain clarity of thought.  After the delivery of his message, Stephen was given supernatural insight into heaven itself, and declared to his audience “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56).  Most references to Jesus in heaven have Jesus seated next to the Father (Ps. 110:1; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2), but here Stephen sees Jesus standing.  Jesus knows His servant is going to be martyred for His testimony and stands to welcome him into His presence in heaven.  In contrast to Stephen, his accusers were full of rage and “cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse” (Acts 7:57).  Stephen’s accusers could not bear to hear him say another word, so they started shouting and covered their ears and, in violence, they rushed at him.

When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:58-60)

After forcing Stephen from the city, the false witnesses and religious zealots took off their robes and laid them “at the feet of a young man named Saul” (Acts 7:58).  They took off their robes in order to free their arms to stone Stephen.  Here we have the first mention of Saul, who is later named Paul.  He protected the garments of these wicked men who killed God’s righteous servant.  Later in his life, Saul would be on the receiving end of stone throwers and would personally know the pain associated with Stephen’s death.  The persecutor would come to know the sting of persecution.  Saul was blessed to witness Stephen’s Christ-like behavior on the day he was martyred, as he called out and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:59-60).  At the moment of his death, Stephen clung to the Lord Jesus and modeled His words spoken on the cross.  Both of Stephen’s statements mirror what the Lord Himself stated on the cross when He said “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34), and “Father, into your hands I commit My Spirit” (Luke 23:46).  The word Christian means to be Christ-like, and here, Stephen models Christ at the moment of His death and displays love and grace that his attackers did not understand and certainly did not deserve.

Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. (Acts 8:1-2)

Saul was witness to the first Christian martyr.  He watched as men picked stones from the ground and gathered around Stephen, who was on his knees calling out to the Lord, not seeking rescue, but praying for his attackers.  Arms were raised and stones fell hard against Stephen’s body, breaking bone and tearing flesh on his face and chest until he collapsed on the ground, dead.  Dusty hands, now guilty of murder, collected their garments from the man who surely carried that memory with him all his life; a man, who at the moment of Stephen’s martyrdom “was in hearty agreement with putting him to death” (Acts 8:1).  From the human viewpoint, Stephen’s death was terrible, unjust, and marked the beginning of “a great persecution [that] began against the church in Jerusalem” (Acts 8:1).  From the divine perspective, the martyrdom of Stephen marked the beginning of a great evangelistic endeavor that would change lives and shape the course of human history for millennia to come.  The persecution caused the church to scatter into the world and “those who had been scattered went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4).

Persecution started with Stephen and spread to the church by the hands of Saul, who “began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women”, and afterward “he would put them in prison” (Acts 8:3).  Saul later revealed he beat Christians who had believed in Jesus (Acts 22:19).  Saul, at this time, was feared by Christians everywhere because of his hostility and violence toward them.  However, in the future, Saul would be so greatly loved by the church that Christians would weep over him and shower him with kisses (Acts 20:36-38).

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. (Acts 9:1-2)

Christianity, as it was spreading its gospel message of Christ and grace, posed a real threat to Paul’s religious tradition.  Feeling that the church must be stopped, Saul sought permission from the Jewish high priest to search out and arrest Christians in Damascus, a city in Syria, in order to bring them to Jerusalem to be tried before Jewish courts.  Those who hold to false religion are always set against Christianity and will resort to whatever means necessary to disrupt and/or destroy the church to prevent it from spreading the gospel message of grace.  Little did Saul know that when he set his will against the church to attack it, he was attacking the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” (Acts 9:3-6)

Saul was completely caught off guard.  The word “Lord” in Acts 9:5 translates the Greek word kurios and was most likely used by Saul as a synonym for God, as Saul probably knew this was a divine encounter due to the supernatural “light from heaven” that knocked him to the ground.  In the OT, the proper name of God is YHWH—sometimes used with vowels as Yahweh—and is translated LORD, using all capital letters.  When the Septuagint was written around 250 B.C.—the Greek translation of the Hebrew OT—the translators chose the Greek word kurios as a substitute for the Hebrew word YHWH.  Though the word is sometimes used in the NT to mean sir (John 4:11; Acts 16:30), and master (Col. 3:22), it is also used to refer to the deity of Jesus Christ (compare Isa. 40:3 and John 1:23; or Deut. 6:16 and Matt. 4:7; cf. John 20:28; Rom. 10:11; Phil. 2:11).  Surely Saul was surprised to learn that he was talking with the resurrected Lord Jesus.  More so, by attacking the church, Saul learned he was attacking Christ Himself, who is the head of the church.  Jesus did not ask “why are you persecuting My church?”  Rather, the Lord said “why are you persecuting Me?”  At the moment of salvation, a believer is in union with the resurrected Christ, and when one attacks a Christian, it is an attack on the Lord Himself.

The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. (Acts 9:7-9)

Though there were men traveling with Saul, the divine encounter with the risen Lord Jesus was meant primarily for him.  Rising from the earth, Saul realized “he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus” (Acts 9:8).  The brazen Saul who had originally rushed to Damascus on horseback, “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1), ultimately reached his destination blind, on foot, and perhaps a little bruised from his fall.  His cohorts led him like a helpless little child to the city he intended to crash with waves of violence toward Christians.  Saul “was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank” (Acts 9:9); and since the Lord had previously commanded Saul to “get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do” (Acts 9:6), he was most likely waiting anxiously for the Lord’s next instruction.

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” (Acts 9:10-14)

Saul had come to Damascus to attack the disciples of the Lord (Acts 9:1); yet God’s grace was upon Saul, for it was through “a disciple at Damascus named Ananias” that God would heal Saul of his blindness and show him love he did not deserve.  The Lord spoke to His servant Ananias and commanded him to “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying” (Acts 9:11).  This verse gives us the first glimpse into Saul’s background, for we learn that he was born in the city of Tarsus.  More importantly, Saul was praying to the Lord at this time, seeking Him from the place where the Lord had brought him, a place of helplessness.  The Lord went on to reveal to Ananias that Saul had “seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight” (Acts 9:12).  It’s interesting that God had given Saul a vision of something that was certain to happen, involving the volition of Ananias, even before the Lord had asked Ananias to go and lay hands on Saul.  At first, Ananias offers fearful resistance to the Lord’s command.  Ananias was genuinely afraid of Saul, citing previous acts of violence against Christians in Jerusalem, and stating that he had religious authority from the chief priests to persecute the Lord’s disciples even in Damascus (Acts 9:13-14).  The Lord did not rebuke Ananias for his fears, but offered him kind reassurance.

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” (Acts 9:15-16)

Here is divine revelation into the eternal counsel of God, who revealed to Ananias that Saul was His “chosen instrument” (Acts 9:15).  The word chosen translates the Greek word ekloge which means to select for one’s own purpose.  God chooses—or elects—to salvation (Acts 13:48; Eph. 1:3), spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3-6), holy and righteous living (Col. 3:12; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 2:9), and service for the Lord (Jer. 1:4-5; Gal. 1:15-16; cf. Acts 9:15).  Election is always the free choice of God, based on His sovereignty (Rom. 9:10-21), and never based of the worthiness of the object (Deut. 7:7-8; 1 Cor. 1:26-31; Rom. 9:11).  God chose Saul, not because he was sweet and lovely and doing all the right things; rather, the Lord chose Saul in order to demonstrate His grace, His love and His power.  As the “chosen instrument” of the Lord, Saul was to carry the Lord’s name “before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel” (Acts 9:15).  Thank God for His sovereign grace!

The Lord assured Ananias … This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. Saul was to become Paul, the apostle to the uncircumcised (Rom. 11:13; Gal. 2:2, 7-8; Eph. 3:8), including kings (cf. Governor Felix [Acts 24:1-23], Governor Porcius Festus [24:27-25:12], King Herod Agrippa II [25:13-26:32], and possibly Emperor Nero [25:11]). The apostle, of course, also ministered to “the people of Israel” (cf. 9:20; 13:5, 14; 14:1; 17:2, 10, 17; 18:4, 19; 19:8; 26:17-20; Rom. 1:16). How amazing that the one who persecuted Christians so violently should himself be transformed into a witness of the gospel—and such a dynamic, forceful witness at that![xiii]

Attached to Saul’s divine calling were the Lord’s words to Ananias, “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:16).  The persecutor will now be the persecuted.  Saul, who inflicted suffering on Christians, will now suffer as a Christian.  Saul had the pronouncement of a lifetime of suffering from the very beginning of his call to ministry.  Saul was no coward.  He received the word of the Lord and accepted his commission to Christian service knowing fully it would be marked by a life of suffering wherever he went.

Ananias went to the house of Judas where Saul was staying and spoke the words of the Lord to him, and Saul received his sight again, and after eating and visiting with the disciples for several days, “immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God’” (Acts 9:20).  Because of Saul’s conversion, “the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase” (Acts 9:30).  Even though the church enjoyed peace for a while, not having to fear their greatest persecutor, the Lord’s new servant would begin his life of suffering for Christ.

Saul, who eventually came to be known as Paul after Acts 13:9, would serve three missionary journeys for the Lord and share the gospel with many who would be saved.  Paul’s missionary journeys started in Acts 13 in the city of Antioch and concluded in Acts 28 in the city Rome.  Between these chapters, Paul experienced much persecution.  Paul had been preaching Christ in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:14), but jealousy arose among some of the Jewish unbelievers there and due to persecution Paul and Barnabas were driven out of the district (Acts 13:45-50).  Those same Jewish unbelievers followed and further persecuted Paul, causing him trouble when he traveled to Iconium (Acts 14:1-2); as a result, the leaders of the city were ready to stone him (Acts 14:5).  When Paul became aware that others were plotting against him, he fled the city of Iconium and went to “Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding region; and there they continued to preach the gospel” (Acts 14:6-7).  At Lystra, Paul healed a man who was lame in his feet.  The citizens of the city mistook him and Barnabas as Greek gods and sought to worship them as such (Acts 14:11-18).  Paul and Barnabas were not successful in restraining the crowds from their pagan beliefs and practices, and scheming unbelievers arose and stirred the crowds against them.

But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe. After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. (Acts 14:19-21)

Paul had been severely beaten and left for dead, but he was not deterred from his objective to share Christ, for he knew that it was “through many tribulations” that he would “enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).  Paul’s understanding of Christian ministry was frontloaded with the knowledge that he would suffer for Christ.  Though the persecution was no doubt painful and difficult, it was not a surprise to Paul.

In Acts 15, Paul faced difficulties in Jerusalem, where certain believers were advocating that unless the Gentile converts were “circumcised according to the custom of Moses” they could not be saved.  This legalism was present in the early church and caused problems for many Christians who failed to orient to the dispensational shift that had occurred.  The Mosaic Law was no longer in effect as the rule of life for believers and the Law of Christ was beginning to be established for those who were now living in the church age (1 Cor. 9:21; Gal. 6:2).  “The former rule of life was ‘the teaching of the law.’ The new rule of life is ‘the teaching of grace.’ This is also known as the Law of Christ. The point is that the latter has displaced the former.”[xiv]  In Jerusalem, Paul faced a theological attack against the gospel of grace because it did not conform to the legalistic expectations of certain Christians.  After a careful theological discussion, it was concluded that circumcision was not necessary for salvation, for all “are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 15:11).

In Acts 16:16-19 Paul encountered a slave-girl who was used by her masters to make a great amount of money through divination.  When Paul cast the spirit of divination from the slave-girl, it angered her masters greatly because they saw their profits disappear as well, so they dragged Paul and his companions before the city officials and brought false charges against them, stating, “these men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans” (Acts 16:20-21).  The result was persecution for Paul and his companion Silas.

The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. (Acts 16:22-24)

Paul’s faith was not disturbed by this persecution, for the Scripture reveals that “about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25).  Paul knew his persecution and suffering was ultimately under God’s providential control and that all the events of his life were being coordinated by God’s sovereign hand.  In fact, shortly after Paul’s arrival in jail, the Lord caused an earthquake that created a situation for Paul to present the gospel to his jailer, resulting in his salvation (Acts 16:26-31).  From start to finish, God used persecution as a vehicle to place Paul in jail to witness to a jailer who was saved after hearing the gospel message.

After being released from jail, Paul traveled to Thessalonica where he went to a Jewish synagogue and preached Christ, “explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ”’ (Acts 17:3).  As was typical, Paul received both positive and negative responses.  There were positive responses from some of the Jews, as well as from some of the Greeks living in the city and people were being saved.

But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, ‘These men who have upset the world have come here also; and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.’ They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. (Acts 17:5-8)

Jealous men who are given to worldly values will sometimes resort to whatever lying and manipulation they consider necessary to accomplish their sinful objectives.  They do not care about truth or justice or that anyone is being treated fairly.  They are only concerned with getting their own way, no matter the cost.  These jealous unbelievers took some of the “wicked men” from the nearby market place and formed a mob to stir up the city.  This mob formed the mindless gang needed to do the dirty work of attacking Paul and Silas.  Not finding Paul and Silas at the house of Jason where they were staying, the hoodlums grabbed Jason from his own home and dragged him before the city officials.  The Jews who were causing trouble unknowingly praised Paul and Silas by stating, “these men who have upset the world have come here also” (Acts 17:6).  Most Jews had no love for Caesar or Rome, and they loved Jesus even less, so when forced to decide between the two, they chose Caesar over Christ.  Paul’s preaching the gospel message caused division, whether in families or in social groups.  Unity and peace are desirable, but never at the price of the gospel message.  If the gospel divides, then let it divide, and let God be praised for those who come to Him as a result of hearing and believing the good news and reaping the blessing of eternal life (Matt. 10:34-37; cf. John 3:16)!

And when they had received a pledge from Jason and the others, they released them. The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men. (Acts 17:9-12)

What a breath of fresh air it must have been to Paul and Silas to come to a place where men and women were “noble-minded” and willing to receive “the word with great eagerness” (Acts 17:11).  These noble-minded persons were “examining the Scriptures daily” to determine if the message preached to them was biblical.  The result was that many were convinced of the gospel message, not merely by the teaching alone, but by their own investigation of the Scriptures to verify the things taught.  However, “when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds” (Acts 17:13).  The troublemakers hated the gospel message so much that they were willing to travel 46 miles from Thessalonica to Berea in order to disrupt the preaching of Paul.  The result was that Paul left Thessalonica and traveled alone to Athens, where he waited for his companions Silas and Timothy to join him (Acts 17:14-15).

After a brief stay in Athens, Paul traveled to the Greek city of Corinth, where “he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4).  After Silas and Timothy arrived, Paul devoted more time to his preaching and was “solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 18:5).  However, “when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles’” (Acts 18:6).  Paul was very resilient as a preacher and often bounced back after being rejected and/or persecuted; however, he was not impervious to such constant pressures, and one can feel his frustration at this point in his ministry.  The Lord provided Paul temporary relief from his Christian suffering for eighteen months.

Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.” And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. (Acts 18:7-11)

Paul was comforted and encouraged by the Lord to continue sharing the gospel message with others in the city of Corinth.  The result of Paul’s preaching was that many were trusting in Christ as their Savior and being baptized (Acts 18:8).  For a time of eighteen months, the Lord assured Paul that “no man will attack you in order to harm you” (Acts 18:10-11).  After this time, a group of Jewish unbelievers rose up against Paul and sought to persecute him before a city official named Gallio.  Their false accusation was that “this man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law” (Acts 18:13); however, Gallio refused to hear the charge brought against Paul.  Though we do not know what happened to Paul, the Scripture reveals that these Jewish unbelievers laid hold of a man named “Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat” (Acts 18:17).  Paul stayed in the city of Corinth for an unspecified period of time, but then left and traveled to Ephesus (Acts 18:19; 19:1).  During his time of preaching in Ephesus, “the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing” (Acts 19:20).  However, the success of Paul’s preaching greatly distressed a silversmith and idol-maker named Demetrius who saw his business threatened with recession, so he incited other artisans to form a mob against Paul and his companions (Acts 19:23-34).  In the end, no one was hurt, even though the city was cast into confusion for a time (Acts 19:35-41).

After the uproar in Ephesus, Paul traveled to Macedonia (Acts 20:1), then Greece (Acts 20:2), and finally ended up in Miletus (Acts 20:15), where he called for the elders of the church in Ephesus to meet him that he might encourage them before sailing to Jerusalem (Acts 20:17-38).  In his address to them, Paul revealed his mind and the reality of the suffering that was part of his Christian ministry.  Paul knew he would suffer everywhere he preached the gospel, and so he declared, “the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me” (Acts 20:23).  Paul thought little for his own safety, but thought greatly about the Lord Jesus who purchased his salvation and called him into ministry, stating further, “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

After leaving the band of elders at Ephesus, Paul sailed to Caesarea and stayed with Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:1-8).  While there, Paul was visited by a prophet from Judea named Agabus who bound his feet and hands with Paul’s own belt, and said, ‘“This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles’” (Acts 21:11).  This prophetic image disturbed Paul’s traveling companions who urged him not to go to Jerusalem, to which he replied, “what are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13).  As prophesied, Paul had conflict in Jerusalem, and numerous people “dragged him out of the temple” and “were seeking to kill him” (Acts 20:30-31), until a Roman commander intervened and “ordered him to be bound with chains” (Acts 21:33).  Once in Roman custody, Paul was moved from Jerusalem to Caesarea where he faced several trials and remained on house arrest for several years before traveling to the city of Rome itself (Acts chapters 22-26; cf. 24:27).  Paul was taken to Rome under the escort of a Roman centurion named Julius.  However, while in transit to Rome, their ship was destroyed after being battered by a storm at sea that lasted two weeks which resulted in their being shipwrecked on an Island called Malta (Acts 27:1-44).  Paul eventually arrived in Rome where he stayed for two years, and was “welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered” (Acts 28:30-31).

Paul’s life was marked by suffering and persecution from the time he was saved on the Damascus road until he arrived in Rome.  This was all in fulfillment of what was spoken by Jesus to Ananias when He said of Paul, “he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake” (Acts 9:15-16).  In addition to what is recorded in the book of Acts, Paul tells us of more sufferings he endured:

Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. (2 Cor. 11:23-28)

Paul knew suffering like few others in this world.  His suffering was the result of his service for Christ, as one who boldly preached the gospel message and taught others from the Scriptures.  Paul experienced hostility primarily from his own people, the Jews, but also from Greeks and Romans.  Apart from the external hardships Paul faced throughout his life, he also had “the daily pressure…of concern for all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:28).  Paul was often internally distressed over the church because he knew that Christians were in real danger of false teachers who might lead them astray from Christ and from sound teaching (Acts 20:18-32; 2 Cor. 11:13-15; Gal. 2:4-5; Phil. 3:2).  In addition to all that he suffered during his time of ministry, there was a special form of suffering that came to Paul, a “thorn in the flesh” as he called it.  Regarding this special form of suffering, Paul said,

Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:7-10)

Paul had personally received divine revelation from the Lord, and there was a real temptation that Paul might get prideful over having received such revelation, so the Lord gifted him with a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him humble and effective in ministry.  It was unimportant for Paul to tell us what his thorn was, but rather that it kept him humble, which was his purpose in revealing his “thorn” to us.  At first, Paul did not want his painful thorn, and even petitioned the Lord three times to take it away.  God, in His great wisdom, denied Paul’s prayer request, informing Paul that He would give him the grace—or divine enablement—to cope with his new weakness.  God loved Paul enough to give him what he needed, and the Lord needed Paul to be weak, so that he would learn to rely on the Lord and not himself.  Paul’s pain kept him close to God.  The wisdom and greatness of Paul is seen in his response to the Lord’s refusal to his prayer request, for Paul declared “most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Cor. 12:9).  Such declarations are contrary to human nature, since our first inclination is to complain about the things that cause us pain.  However, we must fight against our human nature and live by faith, trusting God at His Word and believing that when He causes us to have pain—like He did with Paul—that it serves some purpose in us and benefits us as well as others.  This requires faith.  May we all learn to say with the apostle Paul, “I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).

For Paul, pain and suffering were not anomalies that occasionally popped into his life; rather, they were a regular part of the fabric of his life and ministry.  Too often Christian ministers sell Christianity as a way to escape pain and suffering, teaching others that if they’ll only come to Christ and live godly lives their troubles will go away.  Such teaching is false; for “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12).  The Lord Jesus stated:

Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. (Luke 6:22-23)

Not every Christian will suffer for their faith.  Certainly there are Christians whom the Lord has blessed with a life of peace and prosperity.  However, when looking through Scripture as well as through history, suffering is more the norm rather than the exception.  For the Christian, joy is not found in the absence of suffering, but in doing God’s will and being found pleasing in His sight.  This requires biblical understanding and a lifetime of learning to walk in God’s truth (Phil. 4:11-13).

THE SUFFERING OF CHRIST

Before anything existed there were only the Persons of the Trinity; there was only God.  God the Father (Phil. 2:11), God the Son (John 11:27) and God the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4) are the familiar titles by which we know them from Scripture.  Each Person of the Trinity is co-equal, co-infinite and co-eternal with the others.  Within the council of the Trinity there came forth a decree to create the universe and the earth, and in that decree was the decision to create humans, who were made in the image of God Himself, with the ability to think, feel and act (Gen. 1:26-28).  The creation of the first humans is important, for they were given intellectual and volitional abilities that set them apart from the rest of the creation, distinct abilities that reflect being made in the image of God.  Biblically, humanity is special and must be regarded as unique in all God’s creation.  In the creation of man, God was planning ahead, into the future; for in the infinite wisdom of God it was known that God the Son would, at a point in time, add perfect humanity to His divine nature, and this addition of perfect humanity to His divine nature is called the doctrine of the hypostatic union[xv] (John 1:1, 14, 18).  The incarnation of Christ would come through the Virgin Mary (Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Matt. 1:20-23; Luke 1:30-35), a descendant of Abraham and David (Matt. 1:1), and ultimately be directly related to Adam, the first man (Gen. 3:15; Luke 3:38).

Long before the time of the incarnation of Christ, there was the initial fall of the first humans.  Adam and Eve, the first parents of the human race, disobeyed God and fell into sin (Gen. 2:15-17; 3:1-8).  Their sinful act is not to be viewed lightly, for the effects of their sin caused every one of their descendants to be born in sin and thus spiritually separated from God (Gen. 5:3; 6:5; 1 Ki. 8:46; Ps. 51:5; Eccl. 7:20; Rom. 3:23; 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21-22).  The sin of Adam and Eve brought physical curses on the earth (Gen. 3:14-19), and contaminated the remotest parts of the universe itself, as it was “subjected to futility” and is now waiting to “be set free from its slavery to corruption” (Rom. 8:20-21).  Currently, it is said of the universe that “the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now” (Rom. 8:22).  God has already dealt with sin in mankind through the death of Christ, but the effects of sin will not be fully removed until the Lord destroys the current heavens and earth and creates a new heavens and a new earth, and this will come after the millennial reign of Christ in the future (Rev. 21:1).  Because sin permeates every aspect of the universe, everything must be destroyed and recreated before perfect righteousness can be known in God’s creation.

God knew all the problems mankind would cause and, from eternity past, planned a perfect solution that would maximize His glory and provide the greatest blessings to those who would be the fortunate recipients of His grace.  God’s perfect plan was decided upon by the members of the Trinity before the foundation of the world.  It is important to understand the relationship that existed between the members of the Trinity before anything was created.  The apostle Peter tells us that Jesus Christ “was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you” (1 Pet. 1:20).  Though He was “foreknown before the foundation of the world” by the other Persons of the Trinity, there was a point in time when God the Son came into the world and took upon Himself perfect humanity in order to make Himself known to sinful men.  God the Son added to Himself perfect humanity (John 1:1, 14; Gal. 4:4), lived free from sin (Heb. 4:15), satisfied every righteous demand of the Mosaic Law (Matt. 5:17-18; Rom. 10:1-4), and in His humanity died a substitutionary death for sinners that they might have the free and gracious gift of eternal life because of His death on the cross (Rom. 3:24-25; 4:1-5; 5:6-10; 10:1-4; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 3:18; 1 John 2:2).

God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were both in agreement with God the Son regarding the salvation-work He would accomplish on the cross.  On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed “Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5).  These words reflect memories of the glory that God the Son shared with God the Father before the existence of the world; a glory no doubt shared with God the Holy Spirit as well.  As the time for His crucifixion came near, and knowing His time on earth was ending soon, Jesus said to the Father “now I come to You” (John 17:13).  Jesus’ return to the Father was not only a return to glory, but to a very special relationship of love, of which Jesus declared, “You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24c).  In our finiteness, we struggle to grasp the significance of God’s love toward us through the cross (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8), how much greater is our struggle to comprehend the glory and love that exists among the Persons of the Trinity; a glory and love beyond the constraints of time and space.  Amazingly, Christ asked the Father that we, as believers, share in their glory and love for all eternity.

Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am [in heaven], so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me [into the world]; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:24-26)

How can this be?  How can the perfect Son of God ask that sinful men be allowed to share in the glory and love that belongs intimately to the members of the Trinity?  Certainly that which the Son asks of the Father will be granted to Him.  Those whom the Father has given to the Son will, in fact, be with them in heaven and will see the glory of Christ and will share in the love that the members of the Trinity have for each other, and that love will be “in them”, just as Christ is “in them” (John 17:26).  But the problem still remains, how can sinful men be allowed to share in the glory and love that belongs intimately to the members of the Trinity?  The solution to the problem is found in the suffering of Christ (Isa. 53), who paid the price for the forgiveness of our sin through His shed blood on the cross (Eph. 1:7), redeeming us from the slave-market of sin to which we were naturally born (Mark 10:45; Col. 1:13-14), giving us eternal life (John 10:28), imputing His righteousness to us and declaring us justified (Rom. 3:24; 4:4-5; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9), and bringing about our adoption into His heavenly family when we trust in Him for salvation (Gal. 4:5-6; Eph. 1:5; 2:8-9; Tit. 3:5).  The substitutionary death of Christ on the cross propitiated (i.e. satisfied) every righteous demand of the Father concerning our sins (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10), and is the basis for our reconciliation to God (Rom. 5:11; 2 Cor. 5:18-19).  God’s so great salvation and the riches of His great grace toward us as sinners is made possible because Christ suffered on the cross, bearing the punishment we so richly deserve.  God’s salvation and the riches of His grace are applied even to the worst of sinners at the moment they turn to Christ as their Savior (John 3:16; Acts 16:30-31).  This is the good news of the gospel message, that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

It is in the understanding of the suffering and death of Christ that the sinner appreciates God’s great love and the price that was paid for his salvation.  Christ suffered in place of the sinner, bearing the penalty that rightfully belonged to him.  Scripture tells us that “Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18a).  Perhaps no section of Scripture in the Old Testament bears greater testimony to this truth than Isaiah 52:13 through 53:12, in which the prophet reveals the Messiah as the suffering Servant.  Isaiah 53 is mentioned eight times in the New Testament as specifically referring to Christ, so that there is no mistake in the minds of the New Testament writers that the passage points to Jesus.

The New Testament writers quote eight specific verses as having been fulfilled in Jesus.  Verse 1 (‘who has believed our message?’) is applied to Jesus by John (12:38).  Matthew sees the statement of verse 4 (‘he took up our infirmities and carried our diseases’) as fulfilled in Jesus’ healing ministry (8:17).  That we have gone astray like sheep (v. 6), but that by his wounds we have been healed (v. 5) are both echoed by Peter (1 Pet. 2:22-25), and so in the same passage are verse 9 (‘nor was any deceit found in his mouth’) and verse 11 (‘he will bear their iniquities’).  Then verses 7 and 8, about Jesus being led like a sheep to the slaughter and being deprived of justice and of life, were the verses the Ethiopian eunuch was reading in his chariot, which prompted Philip to share with him ‘the good news about Jesus’ (Acts 8:30-35).  Thus verses 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11 – eight verses out of the chapter’s twelve – are all quite specifically referred to Jesus.[xvi]

Though Isaiah 53 is quoted most often in the New Testament, the section about the suffering Servant actually starts in Isaiah 52:13 and runs through to the end of chapter 53.  Isaiah 52:13-15 appears to provide a summary of chapter 53, albeit in reverse order.  Isaiah 52:13-15 reveals the Lord’s Servant first as successful, and then reveals His suffering and the beneficial results that follow.  Then, in chapter 53, Isaiah reverses the order by first showing the Servant’s suffering in 53:1-9, and then His success and the beneficial results in 53:10-12.

Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, My people, so His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men. Thus He will sprinkle many nations, kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand. (Isa. 52:13-15)

God spoke through His prophet Isaiah and declared, “My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted” (Isa. 52:13).  Christ came as God’s perfect Servant, as the One who always accomplished His will.  A servant is one who faithfully executes the will of another, and Christ perfectly executed the will of God the Father.  When God the Son came into the world and added to Himself perfect humanity, He declared “a body Thou hast prepared for Me” (Heb. 10:5); and once in hypostatic union, declared to His Father, “I have come to do your will” (Heb. 10:9).  Regarding the Father’s will, Jesus stated, “I always do the things that are pleasing to Him” (John 8:29).  On the evening before His crucifixion Jesus declared, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4).  And, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “Your will be done” (Matt. 26:42b).  There has been only one perfect Servant in the history of the human race that has accomplished the will of God the Father in every way, and that is Jesus Christ.

The word “prosper” (Heb. sakal) has the idea of success based on prudence.  It is God who declares His Servant a success, because His Servant accomplished His will, His way.  From the world’s perspective, Jesus died as a common criminal, defeated and crucified by Roman soldiers.  From God’s perspective, the cross was a planned and controlled event, as Christ was “delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23a).  Christ knew He was accomplishing the Father’s will when facing His death, and “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8).  The result of Christ’s humble obedience to the Father was that “God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:9).  Jesus’ death was an intelligent sacrifice, humbly executed.  As a result of His obedience, “He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted” (Isa. 52:13).

After declaring that God’s Servant will “prosper…be high and lifted up and greatly exalted”, Isaiah then gave a stark contrast by saying, “His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men” (Isa. 52:14).  The word “marred” (Heb. mishchath) means to be disfigured.  Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus endured beatings and a scourging that so radically changed His appearance that had we stood at the foot of the cross and looked up, we would not have recognized Him.  It is reported in the Gospel of Mark that when Jesus was arrested that “Some began to spit at Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists, and to say to Him, ‘Prophesy!’ And the officers received Him with slaps in the face” (Mark 14:65).  Jesus then faced a corrupt trial before Pilate and “after having Jesus scourged, he [Pilate] handed Him over to be crucified” (Mark 15:15).  Jesus was then given to the Roman soldiers for more beatings before finally being nailed to the cross.

The soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman cohort. They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; and they began to acclaim Him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him. (Mark 15:16-20)

Jesus’ face was bloody and swollen from His beatings and torn ribbons of flesh hung from His body as a result of the scourging.  However, as brutal as it was, it was not His physical suffering that secured our salvation, but His spiritual suffering, in which He bore the sin of all mankind and died in our place.  It should be remembered that Christ made no sound while being beaten, scourged and nailed to the cross (Isa. 53:7) and that it was not until He was on the cross bearing our sin that He cried out to His Father (Matt. 27:46).

The result of Christ’s suffering is that “He will sprinkle many nations, kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand” (Isa. 52:15).  Here is the work of Christ as Priest, cleansing many as the result of His suffering.  The word “sprinkle” (Heb. nazah) was commonly used in connection with the Jewish priests concerning the consecration of objects and the cleansing of people (Lev. 8:11; 14:7).  Through His suffering, Christ will provide cleansing and consecration to the “nations” (Heb. goyim), which is a reference to the Gentile nations of the world.  “Because of the sacrifice of Christ, we can tell all the nations that forgiveness and redemption are offered free to all who will receive Him (1 Peter 1:1–2).”[xvii]  The rulers of the earth are silenced at the success of God’s humble Servant.  This will be especially true at His Second Coming when Christ returns to establish His millennial kingdom on earth.

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (Isa. 53:1-3)

Human reason leads to incredulity by those who seek to understand God’s strength through the weakness of His Servant.  God’s thoughts and ways are infinitely higher than the thoughts and ways of men (Isa. 55:8-9), and the wisdom and power of God shines through the frailty of His Servant who surrenders Himself to accomplish His will.  God displays His great power through an unassuming Man, His Servant, who is “like a tender shoot…a root out of parched ground” (Isa. 53:2a).

There is quite a contrast between “the arm of the Lord,” which speaks of mighty power, and “a root out of a dry ground,” which is an image of humiliation and weakness. When God made the universe, He used His fingers (Ps. 8:3); and when He delivered Israel from Egypt, it was by His strong hand (Ex. 13:3). But to save lost sinners, He had to bare His mighty arm! Yet people still refuse to believe this great demonstration of God’s power (Rom. 1:16; John 12:37–40).[xviii]

A “root out of dry ground” means Jesus had no sustaining benefit from the soil of His human life.  There was nothing in His environment that benefited or carried Him along from day to day.  Jesus found no nourishment or support socially, politically, or even from His human family; God sustained His Servant by the Holy Spirit and the power of His Word (Matt. 3:16; 4:1-11).  This is true for God’s children today, as the world provides no nourishment or sustaining benefit to the believer.  The Christian is nourished spiritually by God’s Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1 Pet. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:18), and sustained by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16; Eph. 5:18).

Isaiah tells us Jesus had “no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him” (Isa. 53:2b).  It seems from this passage that there was nothing in Jesus’ natural appearance that caused men to see anything exceptional in Him.  He apparently had none of the outward qualities one might expect to see in royalty.  He would never catch your eye if you passed Him on the street.  Scripture reveals Jesus was born in a humble place and His youthful years were spent in the uncultured district of Nazareth (Luke 2:7-16; John 1:46), working in a dusty carpenter’s shop (Matt. 13:55).  His poor cultural and educational background, coupled with his average human features, disqualified Him from advancing into any of the human systems of the time in which He lived, a time that put great stock in one’s appearance and education.  One had to hear His words and see His miracles to comprehend His divine essence.  It was only the eye of faith that revealed this “tender shoot” as God’s special Servant.  There were some who accepted Christ during His time on earth, when He came in hypostatic union; however, He was rejected by the majority of those who heard and saw Him.  The simple teaching of Scripture is that Jesus “was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him” (Isa. 53:3).  For the most part, Jesus was met with unbelief and rejection throughout His life, and this is still true today.

The unbelief that Isaiah here depicts is the same unbelief found all about us today. Men say pleasant and complimentary things about the Lord of Glory. They will praise His ethics, His teaching, declare that He was a good man and a great prophet, the only one who has answers to the social problems that today confront the world. They will not, however, acknowledge that they are sinners, deserving everlasting punishment, and that the death of Christ was a vicarious sacrifice, designed to satisfy the justice of God and to reconcile an offended God to the sinner. Men will not receive what God says concerning His Son. Today also, the Servant is despised and rejected of men, and men do not esteem Him.[xix]

When Christ came into the world, He came into a place of darkness and hostility, and in this place “was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3).  Christ “came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11).  Jesus came as God’s perfect Light into the world, but “men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19b).  However, the rejection of God’s perfect Servant by evil men did not stop the Savior from dying for their sins, and this is the grace of God.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. (Isa. 53:4-6)

Here, the prophet begins to reveal the idea of substitutionary atonement by stating, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried” (Isa. 53:4).  On the cross, Jesus bore our sins, but here the prophet reveals He bore our griefs and our sorrows, which are the consequences of our sins.  “The emphasis in verses 4–6 is on the plural pronouns: our griefs and sorrows, our iniquities, our transgressions…He did not die because of anything He had done but because of what we had done.”[xx]

It should be noted that the consequence of sin and not the sin itself is mentioned. Nevertheless, when it is said that he bore our sicknesses, what is meant is not that he became a fellow sufferer with us, but that he bore the sin that is the cause of the evil consequences, and thus became our substitute.[xxi]

What is difficult for some to accept is the fact that Christ suffered by the hand of His Father to satisfy His righteous demands toward the guilt of our sin.  Isaiah declares “yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isa. 53:4).  God the Father struck Jesus Christ while He was on the cross with the blows of punishment that rightfully belonged to us.

When the Servant bore the guilt of our sins, we are saying that he bore the punishment that was due to us because of those sins, and that is to say that he was our substitute. His punishment was vicarious. Because we had transgressed, he was pierced to death; and being pierced and crushed was the punishment that he bore in our stead.[xxii]

Isaiah then tells us that “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (Isa. 53:4b, 5).  The healing here is primarily spiritual, restoring a broken relationship that has been fractured by sin.  The suffering of Christ healed our relationship with the Father, as His death is the basis for the forgiveness of our sins (Eph. 1:7).  The substitutionary death of Christ, that brings glory to God and saves sinners, is a revelation from heaven and not an invention of man.  Paul tells his readers that “the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18).

Isaiah speaks of Israel and all humanity when he says, “all of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isa. 53:6a).  Each of us has failed God; but Christ, God’s sinless Servant, is the only One who has ever perfectly executed His will in everything.  God could have easily judged and condemned us all and been absolutely justified in His actions.  However, God loves us greatly, and so “the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Isa. 53:6b).  Here is righteousness and love on display at the same time.  In righteousness, God judged all our sin in Christ while He was on the cross.  In love, God offers complete forgiveness and reconciliation to those who are dead in sin (Eph. 2:1-9).  God perfectly deals with sin and seeks to reconcile the sinner, and this is done through the substitutionary death of His Servant who died on the cross in our place.  We deserve God’s wrath but have been shown great mercy through the vicarious and voluntary atoning work of His Son, in whom “the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Isa. 53:6b).  While on the cross, Christ absorbed God’s wrath that belonged to us, so that “the iniquity of which we are guilty does not come back to us to meet and strike us as we might rightly expect, but rather strikes him in our stead.”[xxiii]  This is great grace!

Sin is serious. The prophet calls it transgression, which means rebellion against God, daring to cross the line that God has drawn (Isa. 53:5, 8). He also calls it iniquity, which refers to the crookedness of our sinful nature (vv. 5–6). In other words, we are sinners by choice and by nature. Like sheep, we are born with a nature that prompts us to go astray; and, like sheep, we foolishly decide to go our own way. By nature, we are born children of wrath (Eph. 2:3); and by choice, we become children of disobedience (2:2). Under the Law of Moses, the sheep died for the shepherd; but under grace, the Good Shepherd died for the sheep (John 10:1–18).[xxiv]

God’s righteousness and love simultaneously intersect at the cross.  In perfect righteousness God the Father judged our sins completely in His Servant who willingly died in our place.  In love, God now offers perfect salvation to sinners who deserve only death, and this free gift of eternal life is based on the finished work of Christ who died in our place.

We were sick unto death because of our sins; but He, the sinless one, took upon Himself a suffering unto death, which was, as it were, the concentration and essence of the woes that we had deserved; and this voluntary endurance, this submission to the justice of the Holy One, in accordance with the counsels of divine love, became the source of our healing.[xxv]

The matter of our sin is resolved by the suffering of Christ at the cross.  Jesus paid the price for our sin, and now we can come to God and accept His free gift of eternal life by grace alone through faith alone.  God, who is satisfied with Christ’s death regarding our sin, has opened the gates of heaven to accept sinners as His children.  This is all made possible because of the work of Christ on the cross who suffered for our sin.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. (Isa. 53:7-9)

Jesus made no effort to rescue Himself from those who illegally tried Him, beat Him, and nailed Him to the cross.  Jesus had already appealed to the supreme court of heaven, asking, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39).  There was nothing for Jesus to say to His judges and attackers, for He knew it was His Father’s will for Him to go to the cross and die.  Jesus declared, “the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11).

Jesus Christ was silent before those who accused Him as well as those who afflicted Him. He was silent before Caiaphas (Matt. 26:62–63), the chief priests and elders (27:12), Pilate (27:14; John 19:9) and Herod Antipas (Luke 23:9). He did not speak when the soldiers mocked Him and beat Him (1 Peter 2:21–23).[xxvi]

Faced with illegal trials and severe beatings, Isaiah reveals that it was by “oppression and judgment” that Jesus was “taken away” and put to death (Isa. 53:8a).  And, after Jesus was put to death between two criminals, “His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth” (Isa. 53:9).

But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors. (Isa. 53:10-12)

The language is plain, “the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering” (Isa. 53:10a).  God must punish sin as His righteousness requires, before He can save the sinner as His love desires.  It was the Father’s will for the Son to go to the cross to die for sinners, but we must also realize that Christ willingly went to His death and bore the Father’s wrath in our place.  It is simultaneously true that God sent and Christ went.  Christ was willing to be put to death in our place, for the Scripture declares “Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (Eph. 5:2).  Jesus said “I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:15), and “no one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative” (John 10:18).  Several times the Scripture states that Christ offered Himself up to the Father as a willing sacrifice.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. (Eph. 5:25)

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Gal. 2:20)

For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. (Heb. 7:26-27)

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb. 9:13-14)

Christ was not forced upon the cross, but willingly, through love, surrendered His life and died in our place.  And, as a result of bearing the sin of many, “He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand” (Isa. 53:10b).  When Isaiah says “He will see His offspring”, it means that Christ’s death will bear the fruit of spiritual offspring as people turn to Him as Savior and are born again (cf. John 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:3, 23).  Christ was resurrected, never to die again, therefore, “He will prolong His days” (cf. Acts 2:30-32; 1 Cor. 15:3-4).  The “good pleasure of the LORD” most likely speaks of heaven’s prosperity that will be known to those whom Christ will justify and who will share in His riches and heavenly estate (John 14:1-3; 1 Pet. 1:3-4).

“As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied” (Isa. 53:11a).  Satisfaction through suffering is the message of Isaiah 53:11.  Isaiah reveals that “by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11b).  Peter also reveals the doctrine of substitution when he states “Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18).  It is always important to keep clear in our thinking that Christ bore our sin as well as the penalty for our sin, but this did not make Him a sinner.  On the other hand, sinners are declared righteous in God’s eyes because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to them at the moment of salvation.  God gives us the gift of perfect righteousness at the moment we trust Christ as our Savior.  This is what Paul meant when he stated, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).  Paul understood the doctrine of substitution, that Christ died in the place of sinners and that sinners are declared righteous because of the work of Christ credited to their account.  This explains Paul’s words when he expressed his desire to “be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Phil. 3:9).

When the servant bears the iniquities of the many and has been punished for the guilt of these iniquities, the act of bearing the iniquities in itself has not changed the character of those whose iniquities are borne. When the iniquities are borne, i.e. when the guilt those iniquities involved has been punished, the servant may declare that the many stand in right relationship with God. Their iniquities will no longer be able to rise up and accuse them, for the guilt of those iniquities has been punished. Thus, they are justified. They are declared to be righteous, for they have received the righteousness of the servant and they are received and accepted by God Himself. Of them God says that they no longer have iniquities, but they do have the righteousness of the servant. This can only be a forensic justification.[xxvii]

Justification by imputation is always a matter of grace.  The sinner is declared righteous in the eyes of God, not because of any works which he has performed, but because of the work of Jesus Christ who has died in his place.  God’s righteousness is imputed to the sinner at the moment of salvation, and Paul states this with absolute clarity when he says,

Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation [Grk. hilasterion – i.e. a sacrifice that brings satisfaction] in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Rom. 3:24-26)

Paul states at another point, “the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Rom. 4:4-5).  It is Christ’s death that secures our so great salvation.

Grace is love that has paid a price, and sinners are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8–10). Justice can only condemn the wicked and justify the righteous (1 Kings 8:32), but grace justifies the ungodly when they trust Jesus Christ! (Isa. 53:11; Rom. 4:5) To justify means “to declare righteous.” He took our sins that we might receive the gift of His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 5:17). Justification means that God declares believing sinners righteous in Christ and never again keeps a record of their sins. (See Ps. 32:1–2 and Rom. 4:1–8)[xxviii]

As a result of Christ’s victory at the cross, the Father speaks of reward, saying, “I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong” (Isa. 53:12a).  Christ is the champion, and He will divide the spoils of war, in which He has overcome sin and death and become the Savior of many.  His victory came “because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12b).  Here is victory in death; victory at the cross.

If we had stood at the trials of Jesus, seen His beatings, seen His crucifixion and sat at the foot of the cross, surely we would weep at the injustice and inhumanity of it all.  However, the Scripture reveals that it was the will of God that Christ go to the cross and die for sinners (Acts 2:23; 4:28), for His death is an atoning sacrifice that satisfied every righteous demand of the Father (Rom. 3:25; 1 Jo. 2:2).  As stated previously, the Father sent, and Christ went.  In the willing death of Christ, we have the Father’s righteous anger displayed toward our sin as well as His love toward us, the sinner, whom He seeks to save.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (Rom. 5:6-10)

There is a purpose to the suffering of Christ.  He suffered that we might have eternal life.  His substitutionary death propitiated the Father’s righteous anger toward our sin and now we can come to God with the empty hands of faith and receive the free gift of eternal life and be clothed in perfect righteousness.  This was accomplished while were helpless, ungodly, sinners and enemies of God (Rom. 5:6-10).  God graciously acted toward us to reconcile us to Himself, and this was accomplished through the suffering of the cross.

FINAL THOUGHTS

When suffering, there is a temptation to compare one’s life and situation with others.  The ease, prosperity and wellbeing of others is sometimes incorrectly viewed as God’s blessing to them and/or His discipline to you.  As stated before (in the chapter on A Theological Look at Suffering), the presence of suffering does not necessarily mean something is wrong in the Christian’s life and the absence of suffering does not necessarily mean God is pleased.  One can be completely in the will of God and experience great suffering (1 Pet. 4:19), whereas one can be completely in sin and be free from any form of suffering at all (Ps. 73:1-12).  Suffering by itself proves neither godliness nor sin.

Asaph was a godly man who sought the nearness of the Lord, but his righteous living resulted in hardship and lack of material wealth, which many of the ungodly in his periphery enjoyed.  Seeing the wicked prosper and live in ease almost caused Asaph to abandon his righteous living, and he wrote about this in Psalm 73.  Asaph declared, “as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, my steps had almost slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Ps. 73:2-3).  For a time, Asaph was “envious” of the wicked because they were living lavishly in sinful lifestyles and seemed to be getting away with their sinful choices without any consequence for their thoughts or actions.  Regarding the wicked that Asaph saw on a regular basis, he stated:

For there are no pains in their death; and their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men; nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; the garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; the imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock, and wickedly speak of oppression; they speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue parades through the earth. Therefore his people return to this place; and waters of abundance are drunk by them. And they say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge with the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked; and always at ease, they have increased in wealth. (Ps. 73:4-13)

As Asaph began to look at his own life and compare his suffering with the prosperity of the wicked, he began to question whether righteous living was worth it, saying, “surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence; for I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning” (Ps. 73:13-14).  To pursue righteousness and suffer while others turn away from the Lord and prosper can tempt any man to throw up his hands in frustration and ask, “what’s the point of living righteously if I’m only going to suffer for it?”

I find the honesty of the Bible very refreshing.  What is noble is that Asaph did not stop with his questions about the righteous and the wicked, but took those questions to the Lord at His holy place in the sanctuary, and there realized that the final destiny of the wicked is terrible.  As a mature believer, Asaph came to accept the temporary injustices of life, knowing that the supreme court of heaven will eventually render a final verdict on the lives of men and determine their final fate and reward.  As a mature believer, Asaph concerned himself with the pursuit of holiness and left the matters of justice, both in time and eternity, to the Lord.  Asaph declared:

When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form. When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. (Ps. 73:16-24)

It was only in the light of God and His wise counsel that Asaph was able to see the wicked properly and to determine their final outcome.  Looking away from this world and fixing his eyes upon heaven Asaph declared, “whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73:25-26).  Asaph knew that the wicked may prosper for a short time on earth, but their lives were mere shadows compared to the substance of eternity that belongs to believers.  Asaph realized that “those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works” (Ps. 73:27-28).  The believer is to live in the eternal-now where he sets his mind on the Lord and lives every moment in the reality of eternity.

Everything we experience in this life is designed to prepare us for the life we will come to know when we leave this world and enter into God’s eternal presence.  The challenge before every Christian, especially during times of suffering, is to view all aspects of life in the light of eternity.  We must constantly live in the eternal-now, never divorcing our current experiences from our eternal destiny that is assured to us who are in Christ.  The apostle Peter tells us “to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Pet. 4:13).  The apostle Paul shares a similar mindset when he says “for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18); for “momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17).  Suffering becomes bearable when the Christian sees it in the proper context of eternity to which he belongs right now.  I say he belongs to eternity “right now” because as a Christian he possesses eternal life at the very moment he believes in Christ as his Savior (John 10:28).  Eternal life is not what the Christian can have, but what he does have at the moment of salvation.  However, it is only at the moment he leaves this world and all its sorrows and enters into the presence of God in heaven that eternal life has its greatest experiential expression.  The flow of time ceases at death, and all life’s sufferings associated with this world come to an end when the believer passes into eternity.  More so, at the end of time itself, God will put an end to all suffering and evil when He destroys the existing universe and earth and creates a new universe and new earth (Rev. 21:1).  At such a time “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes [believers who have suffered]; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).  Until then, we must look to the Lord.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Achtemeier, Paul J. “Suffering” Harper’s Bible Dictionary, 1st ed.

San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985.

Bauer, Walter. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and

Other Early Christian Literature. Revised and edited by

Frederick W. Danker. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 2000.

Brown, Francis, Driver, S.R. and Briggs, Charles A. The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers 1979.

Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. Israelology: The Missing Link in

Systematic Theology, Rev. ed. Tustin, Calif.: Ariel

Ministries,1994).

Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. The Footsteps of the Messiah: A Study of

the Sequence of Prophetic Events, Rev. ed. Tustin: Ariel

Ministries, 2003.

Keil, C. F. & Delitzsch, F., Isaiah, Vol. 1-10. trans. James Martin,

Commentary on the Old Testament. Peabody: Hendrickson

Publishers, 2006.

New American Standard Bible Updated © 1995 by The Lockman

Foundation.

Packer, J. I. Concise Theology. Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1995.

Ross, Allen P. Creation and blessing: A guide to the study and

exposition of Genesis. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998.

Ryrie, Charles C. A Survey of Bible Doctrine. Chicago: Moody

Press, 1972.

Ryrie, Charles C. Basic Theology. Chicago: Moody Publishers,

1999.

Stott, John R. W. The Cross of Christ. Downers Grove: Intervarsity

Press, 1986.

Thiessen, Henry Clarence and Doerksen, Vernon D. Lectures in

Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans

Publishing Company, 1979.

Unger, Merrill F. The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary. Chicago:

Moody Press, 1988.

Unger, Merrill F. Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament.

Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2002.

Walvoord John F. & Zuck, Roy B. The Bible Knowledge

Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, Vol. 1-2.

Wheaton: Victor Books, 1983.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Comforted, An Old Testament study.

Wheaton: Victor Books, 1996.

Wiersbe, Warren. The Bible Exposition Commentary Vol. 1-6.

Wheaton: Victor Books, 2001.

Young, Edward J. The Book of Isaiah, Vol. 1-3. Grand Rapids: W.

B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972.

[i] Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver and Charles Augustus Briggs, The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1979), 777.

[ii] Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, rev. and ed. Frederick W. Danker, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 457.

[iii]Allen P. Ross, Creation and blessing: A guide to the study and exposition of Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), 628.

[iv] Ibid., 673

[v] Ibid., 669-670.

[vi] Ibid., 716.

[vii] Paul J. Achtemeier, “Suffering” Harper’s Bible Dictionary, 1st ed. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985), 998.

[viii] Henry C. Thiessen, Lectures in Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979), 139.

[ix] Merrill F. Unger, et al., “Satan” The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Rev. and updated ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988), 1133.

[x] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary / Wisdom and poetry, (Colorado Springs, Co. Cook Communications Ministries, 2003), 12-13

[xi] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of the Messiah: A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events, Rev. ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003), 377.

[xii] Eugene H. Merrill, eds. Walvoord & Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983), 468.

[xiii] Stanley D. Toussaint, eds. Walvoord & Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentar, Vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983), 377.

[xiv] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Israelology: The Missing Link in Systematic Theology, Rev. ed. (Tustin, Calif.: Ariel Ministries, 1994), 476-77.

[xv] The hypostatic union is the proper theological term that is used to explain the biblical teaching that God the Son, the second member of the Trinity, through the virgin conception of Mary, took upon Himself true humanity without any contamination of sin.  In hypostatic union, Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life before God the Father by means of the Holy Spirit according to Scripture, overcame every temptation, fulfilled every aspect of the Mosaic Law, willingly died as a substitute on a cross and bore the wrath of God that rightly belongs to sinful humanity, was buried, placed in a grave, rose on the third day, was personally witnessed alive by many, ascended to heaven, is now seated beside God the Father and making intercession for Christians on earth, and will physically return to earth after the Tribulation to establish His millennial kingdom.

[xvi] John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, Ill. Intervarsity Press, 1986), 145.

[xvii] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Comforted, An Old Testament study (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1996), 134.

[xviii] Ibid., 135.

[xix] Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, Vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, Mich., W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), 344.

[xx] Wiersbe, Be Comforted, 136.

[xxi] Young, The Book of Isaiah, Vol. 3, 346.

[xxii] Ibid., 348.

[xxiii] Ibid., 350.

[xxiv] Wiersbe, Be Comforted, 137.

[xxv] C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch, Isaiah, Vol. 7, trans. James Martin, Commentary on the Old Testament (Peabody, Mass., Hendrickson Publishers, 2006), 510.

[xxvi] Wiersbe, Be Comforted, 137-138.

[xxvii] Young, The Book of Isaiah, Vol. 3, 358.

[xxviii] Wiersbe, Be Comforted, 140.

Table of Contents

copyright

Dedication

Introduction

A Theological Look at Suffering

The Suffering of Joseph

The Suffering of Job

The Suffering of David

The Suffering of Paul

The Suffering of Christ

Final Thoughts

BIBLIOGRAPHY