The Moral Excellence Of Suffering
THE MORAL EXCELLENCE OF SUFFERING
It is on my mind to speak of the beauty in the sight of God and the moral excellence of suffering. None of us naturally appreciate suffering, or would seek to go in for it, but the Scriptures make it clear that Christianity is a system of suffering.
Suffering has been seen pre-eminently in Jesus, but it is also intended to appear in the saints. In the early history of the assembly, God’s people suffered greatly for the name of Christ, and I believe that the feature of suffering is what the Lord intends to bring about in increasing measure in His people today.
The altar in the tabernacle system, I believe, stands for that, for it sustained the offerings and sacrifices. The altar in that way stands out beautifully, as well as the offerings upon it, as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ in His supreme ability and readiness to suffer in order that what was pleasing to God should be presented to Him; and hence we find that when the tabernacle was to be taken down with a view to movement, the priests covered the altar with a purple cloth. No other article of furniture connected with the tabernacle was covered thus: the altar being distinguished from every other by this purple cloth. Purple, I believe, in Scripture is the colour connected with universal rule, it is the imperial colour, showing that it is the one that suffers who, in the mind of God, is morally worthy to reign. The altar was covered by the priests, for it is only those who are in nearness to God who have any divine estimate of suffering.
It is recorded in Mark and John that the soldiers, when they mocked our Lord Jesus Christ, clothed Him with a purple robe. Granted, it was done in mockery; but there it was, that Jesus in the moment of His supreme suffering was clothed with purple.
Suffering has always been a feature of the testimony of God. It started with Abel, who having part in the testimony of God suffered for it. He was murdered by his brother, but he maintained the truth of God in suffering. It is fidelity to the truth of God that brings suffering. If we are unfaithful we shall not suffer; but in measure as we are committed to the truth, and in measure as the truth controls us, we shall find that in one way or another it involves suffering—and who is so worthy to reign for God, who is so worthy to have influence and administration in the glory of the world to come, as those who have been prepared, for the will and rights and truth of God, to suffer rather than sacrifice them? In this the Lord Jesus, of course, is pre-eminent, and He leads the way. One cannot go into the details of the sufferings of Christ, but would just draw attention to one feature which comes out in Mark’s gospel. When it is a question of personal accusations brought against the Lord Jesus, He answers nothing, He is not there to vindicate Himself, He is not there to justify Himself, but commits His cause to Him that judges righteously. But when a question is asked Him which involves the testimony—which involves the truth of God—then He immediately answers, even though His answer involves reproach and suffering. They began to spit on Him, Mark 14: 60-65. Pilate asked Him, “Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it”. That was a question involving the testimony, and He answered, “Thou sayest it”, and then it goes on to say “the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing”. The sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ in the closing moments of His life afford us much help as to the character of demeanour that is pleasing to God. Think of the suffering that the Lord Jesus sustained at that moment in order that the offering He was about to offer, when He offered Himself, should go up without spot to God. Think of the testing He was put to, and it only brought out the perfection of the sacrifice that was there, but it was indeed a lamb without blemish and without spot, and it brought to light also the greatness of His devotion to the will of God. Here was the altar on which the burnt offering was to be offered up, in the fulness of His devotion to the will of God. The altar, as a piece of furniture, had nothing outwardly ostentatious about it. It is true it had horns about it, suggesting strength, and a priestly eye looking at Jesus could see there the ability to sustain every form of suffering in order that what went up to God should be for His pleasure.
The presentation of the sufferings in John’s gospel is in keeping with the greatness of His Person; and so He is presented not as the Victim, nor indeed are His sufferings enlarged upon, nor does it say He was led forth, for that would not be consistent with the light in which the glory of His Person is resented, but it says, “Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe”. All through the Lord moves in the commanding greatness of His own Person, in order that those who love Him should be induced to follow. The idea through the gospel is that one after another is attracted to Him. His Person being enough to command the affections.
He came forth; it was His own dignified movement. Not now in this gospel presented as an object of scorn and ridicule, but as having reproach and indignity heaped upon Him, and accepting it and moving forth in dignity as accepting it; and Pilate says: “Behold the man!” The only Man worthy to command the attention of the saints. Reproach and indignity have been dignified by the fact that the Son of God has carried them. And so bringing it down to us we find that no Christian can avoid reproach in some degree—one is thankful for that. Even to Peter in the moment of his greatest downfall, when he denied the Lord, they said to him, “Surely thou art one of them”. There was a something about Peter, in spite of His denying the Lord, that made it clear he was one of the Lord’s. And so in that way he did come in, even in that moment of his weakness, for a measure of reproach. There was nothing of that sort said about Judas, he had no part in the matter at all. If we see the beauty and dignity of suffering in the sight of God, we shall desire by the Lord’s grace that we may have part in this, for I believe the Lord is working in these days that no feature that has marked the testimony of God at the beginning should be lacking among the saints at the end.
And so Peter says: “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you”. There is a feature there of Christ that the Spirit of God will commit Himself to, and not only that, it is the spirit of glory. It is not going to be suffering always, as the apostle Paul says: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”. The suffering is to be there, but it will be covered with a purple cloth. One pre-eminent in suffering shall wear the purple of universal rule, and come forth as King of kings and Lord of lords, and He desires that His people shall bear the same features so as to be in moral correspondence with Him in that day.
We do not want to suffer as evil-doers. Christ has once suffered for us in flesh in connection with our misdeeds and our sins, and that should suffice, and we are to fill up the rest of our time for the will of God, “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf”.
The suffering of which we have been speaking has been suffering in the presence of those who are opposed to the truth of God. But there is another kind of suffering which perhaps the saints know something of at the present time. I do not say they do not know anything of the other kind of suffering. I am sure they do, especially in certain walks of life, those who are true to Christ find a good deal of suffering amongst their fellow men. But suffering among the saints is often more searching. In 2 Corinthians we see how Paul suffered in serving the saints, and in the eleventh chapter he gives a catalogue of the sufferings that he had endured in connection with his service amongst the people of God to bring the truth of God to the saints, and his service in the gospel. I need not go through the catalogue, but at the end he says: “Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches”. We are not apostles, and our spiritual stature as measured alongside the apostle is very small indeed, but in our measure, if we are devoted to the interests of Christ, we can take this up in principle—the care of all the saints. That is, we are not limited in our thoughts to ourselves or even our local meeting, but in our prayers we take up the exercises connected with the saints in a wider way. You hear of the enemy seeking to bring in trouble in a certain place; he is not really aiming at the saints, but at Christ, and seeking to nullify the testimony of God in that place, and you take it up in your prayers in secret, you take up the care of that assembly. It may mean you have to stay up a little longer at night, you find so much to pray about. It is a little way in which we may have our part in the sufferings which are the distinctive feature of the present dispensation—the care of all the assemblies. Think of Paul, with the depth of knowledge and interest he had in the things of God, thinking of the present condition of the various assemblies, going over them all in his mind and taking them up in prayer before God. What a service, what suffering, what self-denial it would entail. You see how the Lord would encourage us in our measure—we must all feel how small the measure is. Paul felt things sympathetically, “Who is stumbled”, he says, “and I burn not?” He did not burn in a fleshly way and add to the trouble by talking about it unwisely, but if he heard of someone being stumbled, spiritual indignation arose in his breast—he felt it keenly—and as feeling it keenly he would doubtless take up the attitude of supplication and prayer.
In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul says: “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved”. What a spirit to bring into a local company of saints! How far this would go, if only we had the moral power for it, in settling conditions of difficulty amongst the saints! Paul would not surrender the truth; he would not seek to please those opposed to the truth, but would maintain the truth in a way that involved sacrifice for himself. That is love in activity, not seeking its own, but seeking the good of its object. That was a feature of the divine nature in Paul. God loves; He does not wait to see whether His love is appreciated or not; He loves because He is love—it emanates from Himself—and that found its reflex in Paul That involved sacrifice, but it is another feature of the altar. How far can I go on that road? If I go any length on that road, I am in that way in accord with the altar. There is something there worthy to be clothed with purple.
But it is not to be all suffering; soon, at a time not far distant, we shall hear a voice saying, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready”. The Lamb is to come forth in public honour, commanding the attention of all, not now in ridicule and scorn, but in honour. The saints are found in that day in accord with the occasion, for “his wife hath made herself ready”. How are we going to be in accord with the occasion? By accepting reproach and suffering now.
May the Lord help and encourage us! We do not naturally embrace the idea of suffering, but the consideration of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, going forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, not putting them from Him but accepting them, will help us so that we may in some measure come into correspondence with it.
KINGSLAND
From Words of Grace and Comfort 1934
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