“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18

God Suffered

Walk His Way Revisited

First Posted April, 2015

God’s plan was good from the start. He always knew how it would go. He knew His people would not do what He wanted them to do, would not live as He wanted them to live. He knew what it would take, in the end, to redeem them.

His plan began at the beginning, as all good plans do. He made promises and covenants with the patriarchs of the faith; allowed both good and evil to dwell side-by-side, so that all would have an equal chance to choose; rescued them when they fell into trouble by their own doing; never forgot them even when they forgot Him; kept His promise even when they did not; sent messengers, priests, prophets and angels, to warn them. His kindness was met with scoffing, scorn, rebellion.

Sin was a stench to His nostrils, and something had to be done. The time came to send One who could accomplish redemption.

God put on flesh and came down. According to his genealogy, He could’ve been royalty even on earth, but He didn’t choose that. He left His royal dwelling place, left His comforts, His glory and majesty, and became one of us. His physical pain began as He left a comfy womb and was put in a feeding trough. He endured suffering at the hands of Satan in the wilderness, where He resolutely determined not to momentarily ease His suffering so that later He could accomplish redemption for us when the time came. 

Everywhere He went, He carried the knowledge of His impending crucifixion. He endured the whispering, the accusations, the unbelief of the whole world. He healed, loved, blessed, gave, fed, and taught everywhere He went; at the same time, He held the universe together, orchestrated the lives of all peoples, fed the beasts and birds, directed weather and stars and planets, watered crops and generally directed all of creation. 

Then, pure evil began its work in His disciple, Judas. Jesus addressed it directly: “Do it quickly.” His friends were oblivious. They ate, sang, prayed, took a walk, slept. Jesus prayed for His disciples, but they didn’t know it. Finally, He looked to His Father to ask if there was any other way. There wasn’t. Everything up to this point in the history of man had found another way; but this time, it could not be.

God claimed to be God, and for this He was crucified. This same God continued to give breath to a soldier even as he drove the spikes into His flesh (Colossians 1:17, Acts 17:28). The very nerves that He and His Father designed at Creation now brought Him unimaginable pain. 

The agreement between the Father and the Son was this: the Son would take on all the sins ever committed, or that were yet to be committed, and be punished in our place. He would feel His Father’s fury and judgment, as if He Himself had done those things. And when He called out to His Father, He got no response. The Father turned away.

Stay tuned for Easter. No matter what you are suffering, always stay tuned for the victory.

Father, can it be true? We are unworthy of so great a salvation. We have done nothing to deserve it, yet You gave it anyway. May we never forget. In Jesus Name, Amen.

*My special thanks for the thoughts of Joni Earekson Tada in her book When God Weeps.