Learning Obedience through Suffering HEBREWS 5:7-8

Have you ever wondered why Jesus had to suffer so much when He came to earth as a man? One might expect that the Son of the living God would live a comfortable life and die a peaceful death. After all, wouldn’t His blood have paid for our sins whether it was shed painlessly or torturously?

But Jesus took on human flesh and came to earth not just to die for our transgressions but also–with the exception of sin–to identify with us in every area of our lives. And that includes suffering (Heb. 2:17-18). How would a Savior who had no experience with pain help us when we hurt? Also, when it’s difficult for us to obey the Lord, we need the help of One who learned obedience from the things He suffered.

Unlike us, Jesus didn’t move from being rebellious to becoming obedient. Rather, He learned by personal experience the pathway we have to walk when God calls us to do something difficult or painful. In His humanity, Christ struggled with the assignment that lay before Him: death on the cross. Even though the Father heard His cries, the plan was not changed, and Jesus walked through all of it in complete submission, just as He had done with every divine “assignment” throughout His earthly life.

The only reason you and I have salvation is because Jesus always did what pleased His Father–had He rebelled in that one area, all hope for lost humanity would be cancelled. If His obedience in suffering resulted in such a great benefit, just imagine what is in store for us when we do what God wants.

We See Thee Face to Face

Yours is the day, yours also the night.

Psalms 74:16

Lord, You do not abdicate Your throne when the sun goes down, nor do You leave the world during all those long wintry nights to be the prey of evil. Your eyes watch us like the stars, and Your arms surround us as the band of planets belts the sky. The benefit of kindly sleep and all the influences of the moon are in Your hand, and the alarms and solemnities of night are equally with You. This is very sweet to me when walking in the midnight hours or tossing to and fro in anguish.

There are precious fruits supplied by the moon as well as by the sun: May my Lord make me a favored partaker in them. The night of affliction is just as much under the arrangement and control of the Lord of Love as the bright summer days when all is bliss. Jesus is in the tempest. His love wraps the night about itself like a cloak, but to the eye of faith the sable robe is scarcely a disguise. From the first watch of the night even to the break of day the eternal Watcher observes His saints and overrules the shades and shadows of midnight for His people’s highest good. We believe in no rival deities of good and evil contending for mastery, but we hear the voice of Jehovah saying, “I form light and create darkness . . . I am the LORD, who does all these things.”¹

Gloomy seasons of religious indifference and social sin are not exempted from the divine purpose. When the altars of truth are defiled, and the ways of God forsaken, the Lord’s servants weep with bitter sorrow, but they need not despair, for even the darkest eras are governed by the Lord and will come to an end at His command. What seems defeat to us may be victory to Him.

Though enwrapt in gloomy night,
We perceive no ray of light;
Since the Lord Himself is here,
‘Tis not fitting we should fear.

¹Isaiah 45:7

Our Savior Understands HEBREWS 4:14-16

We do not have a Savior who’s isolated in heaven with no idea what it feels like to have human struggles. No, our Lord left the glories of heaven behind and added humanity to His deity. He temporarily gave up the use of some of His attributes, applying them only as the Father directed Him.

Jesus understands precisely how we feel because He went through the same types of situations we do. Though details of our lives may not match His, the experiences and feelings are alike. Let’s look at several examples of how He identifies with us:

• Misunderstanding: People constantly misunderstood His claims to be the Son of God.
• Rejection: He was unappreciated by the ones He came to love and die for.
• Pressure: Crowds surrounded Him, begging for help and demanding His attention.
• Exhaustion: He experienced all the weakness of humanity.
• Loneliness: At Gethsemane, when He needed human companionship the most, His closest friends fell asleep.
• Temptation: Satan hit Him with every imaginable type of attack and temptation.
• Hatred: Religious leaders despised Him.
• Injustice: Though Jesus lived a sinless life, He died a criminal’s death.
• Pain: He suffered the excruciating pain of scourging and crucifixion.

Whatever you’re going through right now, remember that Jesus knows how you feel and sympathizes with your pain and weakness. He may not remove the anguish or change your situation, but He’ll always give you the grace to resist temptation, endure suffering, and grow in spiritual maturity.

Caring for His Own Sheep

The sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

John 10:4

What is it that provides the infallible evidence that you are a child of God? It is a foolish presumption to answer this by our own judgment; but God’s Word reveals it to us, and we may walk confidently when we have revelation as our guide. We are told concerning our Lord, “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”¹ So if I have received Christ Jesus into my heart, I am a child of God. That reception is described in the same verse as believing in the name of Jesus Christ.

If, then, I believe on Jesus Christ’s name—that is, simply from my heart entrust myself to the crucified but now exalted Redeemer—I am a member of the family of the Most High. Whatever else I may not have, if I have this, I have the privilege of becoming a child of God. The Lord Jesus puts it in another way: “The sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”

Here is the matter in a nutshell. Christ appears as a shepherd to His own sheep, not to others. As soon as He appears, His own sheep perceive Him—they trust Him, they are prepared to follow Him. He knows them, and they know Him; there is a mutual knowledge—there is a constant connection between them. And so the evidence, the infallible mark of regeneration and adoption, is a hearty faith in the appointed Redeemer. Reader, are you in doubt, are you uncertain about whether you are one of God’s children? Then do not let an hour pass until you have said, “Search me, O God, and know my heart.”² Do not linger here, I warn you! If you must linger anywhere, let it be about some secondary matter—your health, if you wish, or the title deeds of your home. But about your soul, your never-dying soul and its eternal destiny, I urge you to be in earnest. Make certain of this eternal issue.

¹John 1:12 ²Psalm 139:23