THE SUFFERINGS AND GLORY OF JESUS

Luke 24:25-27; 1 Peter 3:18; Hebrews 2:9,10

I was reminded earlier today of what the Lord Jesus speaks of in this passage in Luke 24. He says, “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?”. I desire to speak of the sufferings of Jesus and of His glory. In this passage, the Lord Jesus speaks to these persons about a principle which is true for man, that suffering precedes glory. As Man, He endured sufferings and then He entered into His glory. I trust that all here have some appreciation of the magnitude and extent of the sufferings of Jesus and have some valuation in their souls of the glory of that blessed Man. His sufferings were greater than any. His glory surpasses all others. What a Man we have to speak about. Many have spoken and written before about His sufferings and His glory, and you may have read good books which help us to appreciate more the sufferings of Jesus and His glory. But I would like to speak about them again today.

The passage in Peter speaks of His suffering for sins. I trust that everyone here can speak of something which is personal, that is, what He has suffered and endured for you. But the sufferings of Jesus were extensive. They include what He suffered from men, what He suffered in His spirit on account of what sinful man is and for righteousness, and what He suffered at the hand of God. His sufferings at the hand of God are beyond the comprehension of any of us, such were the depth, extent and concentration of them. But I would like to speak of them because how essential they were if the claims of God were to be fully met and you and I were to be blessed.

Now the Lord Jesus suffered as a righteous Man, as a holy Man, One that was without sin. How different Jesus was to what you and I are by nature. We find that there is sin within us, and on account of that, we sin. But with Jesus, the scripture speaks of Him as One who was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners”, Heb.7:26. The Lord Jesus ever stood apart entirely from all others on account of the intrinsic holiness of what He was; not only who He was in His person, but what He was in His blessed manhood, and He remains the same, though now in glory. He was a Man without sin, and He suffered on account of that.

Jesus suffered from men and on account of what was in them. He suffered from His own race, particularly from the religious leaders; there was envy with them and they refused to receive Him. The scripture tells us they delivered Him up through envy (Mark 15:10). There was envy and hatred there because what He was and what He expressed exposed them for what they were; He exposed the hypocrisy that marked them. They were those that took God’s word upon their lips, but it was not in their hearts. The Lord Jesus suffered on account of that. He suffered reproach, He suffered condemnation from man. At the point when He was delivered up, that which hitherto had been expressed through the accusing words of those religious men took on another character which further exposed what was within their hearts. They came out against Him with swords and sticks; they held Him and beat Him. Think of what it meant to the holy soul of Jesus to suffer at the hands of His own nation. There He was, amongst His own people, among whom He had moved doing good. He had healed those that were oppressed with the devil. He had brought in physical healing. I have no doubt that there were those who were thankful, but in the nation at large there was only hatred and malice shown to Him, which culminated in what today we call violent physical abuse. The Roman soldiers entered into this too; they spat upon Him, they struck His head, they crucified Him; they nailed Him to the cross through His hands and His feet. Even in so-called civil society today, such things would be regarded as abhorrent. Think of how much that holy, harmless, sinless One suffered and endured at the hand of every kind of man. All were opposed to Him. He suffered without a murmur. Peter tells us “who, when reviled, reviled not again; when suffering, threatened not.” 1 Pet.2:23. The One who was here, a blessed Man in suffering humanity, is in His person the Son of God. He could have called on His Father to furnish Him with twelve legions of angels. But no, in the blessed perfection of His manhood, He bore it all without complaint. He did not bear it in a stoical way; Jesus bore it with immense, holy feeling.

Now Jesus also suffered in His spirit on account of what was in man. What could one say as to that? How much the Lord Jesus must have felt the effects of sin upon mankind. Those feelings were part of His sufferings. We get instances of it as He came into contact with persons. He groaned at one point; how much Jesus felt the condition of man that sin had brought in. He wept at the grave of Lazarus. Persons said, “Behold how he loved him!”, John 11:36. Undoubtedly that was true, but I think that in the tears of Jesus there was more than loss and sympathy expressed. His were the deep feelings of a holy Man who saw the consequences of sin in relation to one whom He loved and knew well. Death had come in. The wages of sin is death, it is the penalty. How He must have felt that.

How much Jesus bore, what He suffered in His spirit, what He suffered from men and on account of what is in man. The Psalms bring out the feelings of Jesus. Dear fellow believer, I trust you might be desirous of being deepened in an appreciation of the sufferings of Jesus. Read the Psalms, read other scriptures that are well known, read Isaiah 53. These passages in the Old Testament, prophetic in their character, illustrate and illuminate for us the feelings and the sufferings of that blessed One.

But then He suffered at the hand of God. Peter says in this passage “Christ indeed has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”. The sufferings that Jesus endured from men were immense. I do not think that we can really place a measure on them; how intense they were, but the sufferings that Jesus endured at the hand of God surpassed them all. The sufferings of Jesus at the hand of God were borne on the cross. Jesus went to the cross. How much that must have meant to Him, the cross with all its shame. That entered into His sufferings too. Now while He was on the cross there came three hours of darkness, and during those hours of darkness the Lord Jesus endured suffering at the hand of God. The scene was clothed in darkness. It was not for man to observe and man could not comprehend what transpired in those hours of darkness, for in them the Lord Jesus became the Sin-bearer. He was not the Sin-bearer before, but He became the Sin-bearer then. He who knew not sin was made sin for us, 2 Cor.5:21. He became the very thing that He was not, in order that God might judge sin there in Him. It necessitated a holy offering, and Jesus was that holy offering. Only Jesus was able to take up the matter of sin before God. Only He could do it and in wonderful love He came to this earth in order to do it. He did it there on Calvary’s cross in those hours of darkness. He came from the heights of glory; glorious in His person, for He is God, and ever remains so, but coming into manhood, He came into the condition of flesh and blood in order that He might suffer on account of sin and sins, and that He might die. The Lord Jesus was made sin; God heaped upon Him there His just judgment in respect of sin, the very thing itself. That entered into the suffering of Jesus at the hand of God.

What that must have meant to Him; who could say? Who can comprehend the greatness of the judgment that He bore except God alone? But He bore it and thank God He exhausted it. What a glorious Man, alone able to sustain the holy wrath of God, the fire of God in all its intensity. The judgment which would have consumed you or me, the Lord Jesus in His blessed perfect manhood was able to sustain and to exhaust it. In these three hours of darkness, the whole matter of sin was resolved before God. It will not have to be judged again. Sin has been fully judged once and for all; a wonderful aspect of the precious work of Jesus. What He endured in that, what sufferings were His, sufferings at the hand of God. His feelings come out in Psalm 22. Dear friend, read it, it is well worth reading. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (v1). What feelings were the feelings of Jesus when He was forsaken of God.

Dear friend, consider this. God forsook Jesus. He will never forsake you. However dyed in sin you are, God will never forsake you, but He forsook His beloved Son. Does that not affect your heart? It was necessary if He should suffer for sin and for sins that this blessed Man was forsaken of God. What it must have meant to His holy soul. Until then, nothing had disturbed His relationship with God, nothing had affected His communion with His Father. But that communion was suspended when God forsook Him as Man. He was there truly alone in those hours of darkness. Jesus was truly alone, without God and without man. There was no help, none to turn to. What sufferings were His. None of us ever could know what it is to be truly alone. In our lives we may have experiences that may cause us at times to feel almost alone, but you will never feel alone like Jesus did. He was truly alone. And He bore, as the One who was truly alone, the wrath of God and endured it and exhausted it.

Now I hope that everyone here can say, as I and others here can, that in those three hours of darkness, He bore my sins. Can you say that He bore your sins in His body on the tree? Jesus bore the sins of all who believe on Him. How immense was the work. Who knows the number of those that have believed on Him? Thank God there must have been millions down through this dispensation who have stretched out in faith and believed on the Lord Jesus. All their sins were borne by Jesus. How intense was the suffering that Jesus endured on account of every one of those sins. What a work! We do not want to be occupied with our sins; the devil would seek to occupy us with them, but I wonder if there is anyone here that can remember all their sins? I cannot remember all mine. And alas, I would have to say that sometimes I must have sinned without even being conscious of it. How dull at times we become, even as believers. But those sins have not been overlooked by God. They may have been overlooked, or even not recognised for what they are by me, but God has taken account of every one of them and every one of them was borne by Jesus. What sufferings were His. He “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet.2:24); “the just for the unjust”. It required one who was just to take up the matter of our sins, and that One was Jesus. He alone was able to take up the matter of our sins before a holy, righteous God, and to satisfy Him fully in relation to them. He did it, friend, for God, but He, the Just One, did it too for you and me, the unjust ones, that we might be brought to God.

What grace, what love He displayed. We sing ‘Tis love displayed by Jesus, when alone at Calvary’ (Hymn 212). What depth and fulness of love was expressed in those holy sufferings of Jesus at the hand of God, there alone upon Calvary’s tree. What it must have meant to God to forsake the only One who had truly pleased Him in every way. He forsook His beloved Son there. It was necessary; there was no other way, and Jesus suffered alone. What sufferings were His; He suffered the death of the cross. The Lord Jesus went into death and He shed His precious blood, and He was buried. All are part of the great vicarious work that Jesus has done. How wonderful that work is. Let us be occupied afresh with what was truly His by way of suffering in that great work. I hope everyone here can say with the assurance of faith that He did it for me. I was amongst the unjust and the just One took up my cause before God at tremendous cost to Himself and in immense suffering to Himself in the bounty of His love.

Now the sufferings of Jesus are over, He is out of the grave, raised, ascended and crowned with glory, remaining a Man for ever though now in a glorious body above. We sometimes sing, ’How rightly crowned is Jesus, (Hymn 212). I trust you can sing that with conviction. The believer on the Lord Jesus is conscious that the blessed Saviour in boundless love has suffered, and is joyful that the One who has suffered has now been crowned with glory above. It is, we might say, the moral consequence of what as Man He is and did. It was impossible that the Lord Jesus should be held by death. He had to come out of death and the pleasure of the Father was in it too, for He raised Jesus by His own glory. And not only has He been raised, but He has been glorified. That is a moral consequence. I mean by that, dear friend, that God is righteous. He does what is right. Jesus was found here in holy perfection; He took up the holy will of God and in full obedience and in suffering love completed everything to God’s eternal satisfaction. He met every claim of the throne of God, displaying in fulness the love of God to men. What would be the righteous consequence? It could only be that He has been crowned with glory and honour by God.

How wonderful is the glory with which Jesus has been crowned as Man. There is the glory of Jesus that He ever had on account of who He is in His person. Even in the lowliness of His manhood, there shone out here in humble circumstances the glory of One who in His person was and ever remains the blessed Son of God. One lover of Him could say, “we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father”, John 1:14. The glory of the person of Jesus came into expression and was seen by those near Him. But then there is the glory with which He has been crowned as Man. That glory is a wonderful consequence of His sufferings. Hebrews speaks of us seeing by faith the One “who was made some little inferior to angels on account of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour”. Is He still in death? Is He still in the grave? No, the eye of faith sees Him where He is, crowned with glory and honour. What a distinctive place has been given to Jesus. It belongs to Him alone; it does not belong to any other man. The Queen of this country honours persons, and we respect her right as sovereign to do so, but her honours are not worthy to be compared with the honour that has been given to Jesus. He has been honoured by God. Is there any other man who has been given that honour? Only Jesus has been honoured in this way by God and glorified. Where? Here on the earth? No; in heaven. How wonderful that is. That is the place where His glory shines. It will shine in the coming day here on the earth.

Men will take account of the glory of that blessed One; the whole earth will be filled with it. It will not remain hidden then. But where does it shine now? It shines where He is, in heaven. Have you seen Him there? Dear fellow believer, is your eye in faith on Him where He is? Are you occupied with Him where He is? You will not see Him if your eye is on the earth, if you are occupied with the things of this world. No; for what you will see here is quite contrary to the glory above, but the eyes of faith look upward to where Jesus is. What do we see there? Do we see Him in humiliation and in lowliness and in suffering? No; we see Him now in glory as the One that has been crowned with it and honoured above all others.

So that it says here in Hebrews, “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings.” He has been introduced there through suffering; the note says, “initiate into an office” (note g). It is a consequence. God works on moral lines and we see that personified in what He has done with Jesus. God has worked in that way; Jesus has been given that distinctive place in the presence of God, there in all His glory and honour. The eye of faith can see Him there and, dear fellow believers, we are among the many sons brought to glory. How wonderful that is. That is the portion of the believer, to have part there above as a son. We are not there in actuality with Him yet. We are still in circumstances of limitation below and in these bodies of humiliation which we all feel. But we look for that day when He will come for us and we will be changed and we will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. We will be in bodies of glory like His. What a wonderful prospect that is; freed not only from sin, but from all the weakness that attaches to us. By faith and the Spirit, we can have part now in that view of Him where He is. Indeed, through Him we ourselves have been brought to God. How blessed that is.

How immense were the sufferings of Jesus and how great is His glory. Let us ponder them. They are well worth considering. What a wonderful glory is His. In a coming day the whole universe will take account of it. The One who bears the glory will be seen in all His perfection. The One who has suffered here at the hands of men will be recognised and given His rightful place by men, and not only by men but by every being. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess Him. That will be a wonderful day. The One who suffered here unjustly at the hands of men, who was put to naught, will be recognised in the very scene of His shame and rejection. His glory will be seen and His rights will be acknowledged. What a day that will be.

These are wonderful matters. May we be affected by them. I hope that everyone here knows this Person of whom I have sought to speak. I hope that you do not just know of Him; many persons may know of Him, but I hope that you know Him, as a result of having to do with Him personally. I trust that everyone here can speak with conviction of what He has done for them, that He suffered for ‘my sins’ and that He bore them there on Calvary’s tree ‘for me’. Is there anyone here in any doubt about that? The opportunity is given to you to believe on Him tonight. Do not put that off. If you are still in your sins, do not put it off to another day. There may not be another day, neither may there be another hour. Now is the accepted time. That does not mean in the next hour or so, it means now. How urgent is the moment. If there is anyone here who is unsure, God would present to you that blessed One, the One who has suffered, the One that is now in glory, that He might become the object of your faith. Paul said “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved”, Acts 16:31; those ten words spoken to a soul that, if matters had been left in his own hands, would in a moment of time have entered eternity unsaved.

How urgent is the moment. Just believe. For any that might be concerned or doubtful, the work of Jesus has met every claim of God and God is fully satisfied with that work. The testimony to that is that Jesus has been raised and that He has been glorified. So you can be sure. Your salvation as a sinner, dear friend, does not depend upon how much you understand of the work of Jesus. Would to God that I understood and appreciated more of that precious work, but your eternal salvation is dependent not upon that, but upon your faith in Him. If you believe on the Lord Jesus then the efficacy of all that He has done is yours. How blessed that is. Would to God that we all might grow in our appreciation of what He has done. But for any unsure or troubled, if you stretch out in faith to God’s salvation, then the meeting of every claim of God in respect of what you are and in respect of your sins is fully satisfied and you are viewed by God as righteous, having the righteousness of God which is according to faith. He views you as fully clear of every liability. That is a wonderful matter.

So, as we sometimes sing,

‘The sinner who believes, is free,

Can say, The Saviour died for me’. (Hymn 357)

May that be the assured portion of every one, and for those of us who believe, may we grow in our appreciation of that blessed One, His sufferings and His glory, for His name’s sake.

Preaching of the Gospel, Colchester

1 November 2015

M I Webster