31
in Him there. We are invited to know and have
the mind of Christ there (Phil. 2:5). To be
baptized into Him, to abide in Him, to go
through the same stages of His progressive
humiliation, that we might share in His eternal
glorification (Phil. 2:5-8). He there is God
beckoning to us, we in this world of suffering,
we who alone know the pain of our own
hearts… to find love, love to be experienced
and lived out within our suffering world,
within the suffering of our own minds and
bodies. He there… re-phrases the question of
‘Why me?’ to ‘Why Him?’. Why would the only
sinless, guiltless man, who only ever did good…
have to die, and to die that death? He there
was and is our representative; not a substitute
for our suffering [for why then should we now
suffer?], but our representative.
He had our nature, knew our pain, our hunger,
to the end. It was love for us, the love that
seeks to identify and empathize with the
beloved, that held Him there to that stake of
wood- and not the nails. Someone, some-
where, knows all about your sufferings, and
the suffering of this world. Maybe you are
right in feeling that there is nobody on this
earth who can understand what you have
passed through; even if they sat and listened
to you telling your story for a month, paid
attention and agreed and sympathized… you
would still feel they could not quite feel it all
for you. And… there were bits you forgot,
aspects you didn’t express well,
parts you misremembered. But
there is someone, now, who
does completely understand-
the Lord Jesus, the Man who
suffered and died as He did for
you. Whatever our questions
about suffering and why God
permits it, the gift of God’s Son
overarches those struggles with the fact that
God is love. And He has demonstrated that.
It’s not that on one hand He loves us, but on
another hand He doesn’t, and we are to come
to some synthesis of the positions. No. God is
love. Somehow, all the suffering works
together for the final good of His purpose,
which is centred around love. We do not now
understand the how; but that is our limitation.
To expect to understand it all is, frankly,
immature; and carries the deep inappropriacy
which at times goes with immaturity. Such a
demand assumes we are more than human-
when we are not. In the cross of Christ, God
was with us; Emmanuel. Man is not alone; you
are not alone, I am not alone. God is with us.
Because His Son knew exactly our human
condition, and identified with all its pain
through being nailed to a cross, naked,
despised, rejected, forsaken by all; He who
there ‘learned obedience through what He
suffered’ (Heb. 5:8). That is for all time a
statement of His humanity, how He was not
God, not part of a Trinity or other mistaken
human philosophy. He was one of us; and again,
He there for all time showed that suffering has
a purpose. Once we bring into view God
Himself, human sin and mortality, Divine grace,
salvation and the things of God’s Kingdom.
What Should I Do Now?
“He who believes and is baptized shall be
saved” (Mark 16:16). Have the faith which is
trust. Humble yourself to realize your own
desperation, accept God’s love and identify
yourself with Christ. Rejoice in the sure Hope
of God’s Kingdom; give your life to sharing
that hope with others. And walk humbly with
your God.
We would be so happy to help you study the
Bible further and to be baptized into Christ.
There is more information about baptism at
offer you free hard or soft
copies of the following books:
• New European Version
Bible with commentary:
• Bible Basics, a study
manual going through all the
doctrines of the Gospel:
• The Real Devil, a study of satan,
the devil and demons in the Bible:
The Real Christ, a study of the nature of
•
the Lord Jesus Christ, deconstructing the
false doctrine of the Trinity and presenting
the Biblical Jesus as God’s Son, of our
| Duncan Heaster
“He who dwells in
the secret place of
the Most High will
rest in the shadow
of the Almighty.”
Psalm 91:1