Sufferings of humanity
comes in different format and both believers and unbelievers suffer in this
part of eternity ever since the Fall. This write up focuses on some of the
Biblical explanations why believers suffer.
Believer's suffering for the benefit
of others
Genesis 45: 4-7; is very clear, why Joseph suffered and it was
suffering for his brothers and his family, and protect them from famine. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near
to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother,
whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not
grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me
before you to preserve life. For these two years hath
the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there
shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God
sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your
lives by a great deliverance.
Isaiah 53, talks about our suffering servant:
God’s Spirit foretold and testified through the prophets in the Old Testament
about the sufferings Christ would go through for our sake, to redeem mankind.
This is an extreme and unexplainable love of God for humanity to rescue mankind
from the bondage of sin and death. This chapter talks about the sufferings Isa
53: 1-3; humiliation and the exaltation of Christ Isa: 53:4-9; and the
blessings to mankind because of Christ’s death Isa 53: 10-12. The authentic and
the most important report of salvation, with Divine power and Christ’s
sufferings for our sake are not fully appreciated by our fallen humanity. Fallen
humanity has life because of Christ’s death!
Paul writes that both Priscilla and
Aquilla laid down their necks with Paul’s ministry; Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I
give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles; Rom 16:3-4.
Sufferings for God’s glory:
Sufferings can be an avenue through which God reveals or
glorifies Himself. Jn 9:13; explains that the healing of the blind man is for
the glory of God; And as
Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his
disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents,
that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned,
nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Rom 3:25-26; taks about Jesus Christ was justified for God’s Divine justice,
and through this God’s glory is revealed; Whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be
just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Rom 5:8; sufferings on the Cross, demonstrates God’s love for us,
and through this God is glorified; But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Suffering
can be the result of persecution:
Matt 5:10-12;
shows the sufferings because of persecution for God’s Word; Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner
of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice,
and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted
they the prophets which were before you. Heb 11:35-39; talks
about sufferings because of persecution for God’s Word, and how they wandered
about in sheep’s skin and goats’s sking, afflicted, tormented and were
destitutes. Book of Hebrews says that they obtained good report through faith,
and the fallen world is not worthy of them. Women received their dead raised to life
again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might
obtain a better resurrection: And others
had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and
imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted,
were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins;
being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom
the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in
dens and caves of the earth. And these all,
having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Peter was in Babylon, Assyria when he
wrote this Epistle on Peter, and he brings the theology of suffering. 1 Peter
was written shortly before the beginning of Nero’s persecution of Christians at
Rome. This epistle was written mainly to bring a message of hope and
encouragement during persecution for God’s Word, and especially for Christians
suffering under Nero’s regime. The focus of this letter was to remind
Christians of their privilege, conversion in Christ, and holy lives they ought
to live. 1 Pet 3:14-17; talks about how
as believers should take a stand for righteousness sake, and that will cause
suffering and persecution for His Word’s sake, even within a body of Christ; But and if ye suffer for righteousness'
sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts:
and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of
the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having
a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they
may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
For it is better, if the will of God
be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
Our
response to suffering is learning to trust God in all situations:
LEARNING TO TRUST
Compatibilism
God is absolutely sovereign, but his sovereignty never functions in
such a way that human responsibility is curtailed, minimized, or mitigated.
Human beings are morally responsible creatures – they significantly
choose, rebel, obey, believe, defy, make decisions, and so forth, and they are
rightly held accountable for such actions; but this characteristic never
functions so as to make God absolutely contingent. (Carson, P. 179).
Sovereignty of God never functions in such a way, where the
responsibility of humanity is curtailed. God is all knowing, all powerful, and
all present and He cannot lie and sin and He is consistent with his Divine
character; Psa:46; Jn 6: 37; Isa 10:5; Acts 18: 9-11; Phil 2:12-13; Lev 20:7-8.
Our response to God is to acknowledge His presence inn all situations; Psa 46:1-2;
have the peace of God; Psa: 46:2-3; accept the provision of God Psa 46:4; to
understand the place of God Psa 46: 5-7; and have His protection Psa 46: 8-11.
God should be exalted and we have the privilege of His protection as His
children.
