An Eternal Weight of Glory, Part II.featured

No one can deny that the world is full of suffering and pain. It seems that a frequent obstacle to believing in Jesus is the fact that there is so much suffering in the world and that God is to blame.  But what is the cause of suffering?

God’s Original Intention

Everything that God plans is good and perfect, so what happened to God’s creation that we see so much suffering and death?   Let’s first go back and see what was God’s original intention for man. In Genesis 2:8 and 9 we see that God put man in the garden of Eden (which means pleasure) and placed him in front of the tree of life. 

From Genesis 3:22 we realize that if man had taken of the tree of life, he would have lived eternally.  Therefore we see that God wanted man to have pleasure, not pain and suffering, and that He wanted to give Himself to man as eternal life symbolized by the Tree of Life.

Man’s Fall

Regrettably, Satan wanted to corrupt the man that God created.   Before man even had an opportunity to eat of the tree of life, Satan tempted Eve to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  This caused sin to enter into man and in this state man could not receive God’s divine life. 

When sin entered into them, it spread to all mankind and even God’s entire creation.  This event is referred to as “the fall” by believers.  

In Genesis 3:14-19 we see God’s judgment of this where He first cursed the serpent (Satan). In verse 15 it says that Satan would bruise Jesus on the heel signifying Jesus’ crucifixion; on the other hand, Satan would be bruised on the head signifying that he would be destroyed.  

Because of the fall, God declared that Eve would have pain in childbearing, the ground would be cursed, and Adam would have to toil and labor for food. So here we see that because sin came into man, man would have to labor and have pain, suffering and eventually death (Romans 5:12).  Sin and Satan are the cause of suffering.

Praise the Lord that God didn’t give up on humanity.  He sent His only begotten Son firstly to redeem man, forgiving his sins and secondly to give him His divine life. This was God’s original intention:  That man would receive Him as eternal life.

The Life that Jesus Lived

Now I would like to show you what kind of man Jesus was.  We see in the book of Isaiah 53:2-3: “For He grew up like a tender plant before Him, And like a root out of dry ground.  He has no attractive form nor majesty that we should look upon Him, Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him.  He was despised and forsaken of men,  A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised; and we did not esteem Him.” He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, and one acquainted with grief. 

Can you imagine being the very Son of God, and even one with God since eternity past, full of power, and willingly choosing to grow up in a despised town and region?  And let’s not forget his excruciating and unspeakable death at the cross that He experienced.  The Lord Jesus is well able to sympathize with all of the pain and suffering that we go through in life.

The Purpose of Suffering

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 says, “For our momentary lightness of affliction works out for us, more and more surpassingly, an eternal weight of glory, Because we do not regard the things which are seen but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”  From an eternal standpoint, our suffering is momentary and light, and when we come to the Lord in our suffering, we receive something weighty and eternal.  Gold has to be refined through fire to become valuable, and diamonds require heat and pressure to be formed. In the same way, our sufferings can wrought into us an eternal weight of glory.

Additionally, Romans 8:28-29 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” These verses say that all things work together for good. All things include both good things and bad things. Even our sufferings work together for good. What is good in verse 28? The answer is in verse 29.  All things, including suffering, work together to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. 

God’s wisdom is made manifest as He allows our sufferings to transform us into the image of Christ on the one hand, but on the other hand He uses them for the sake of others.   For example, we see on 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassions and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction that we may be able to comfort those who are in every affliction through the comforting with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”  Isn’t it wonderful that what we have passed through and the Christ wrought into us through our experiences can be an encouragement and comfort to others? 

No More Suffering

Certain sufferings seem so horrible that we don’t know how they could even be allowed.  In those situations just know that if it breaks our heart, it also is heartbreaking to God. We are His children and when children suffer, the parents also suffer. There are many things we cannot understand now but maybe in eternity many of those things will become more clear.

Psalm 56:8 says, “You have counted my wanderings.  Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?”  Even our tears are meaningful to God and saved by Him.  Revelation 21:4 says, “And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor will there be sorrow or crying or pain anymore;  for the former things have passed away.” 

In eternity those who have received Jesus as their Savior will have no more tears, death, sorrow, crying or pain.  God’s desire was never for us to suffer and this will be fulfilled in eternity. If you have not received Jesus, know that you can receive him and it is very simple.  Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;  For with the heart there is believing unto righteousness, and with the mouth there is confession unto salvation.”  Simply say:  “Lord Jesus, I believe in You.  I believe You were raised from the dead.  Thank you for dying for my sins.  Come into my heart.” 

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