March 17, 2002

Humility & Suffering

I don't watch a whole lot of TV, but when I do, one of the things I like to watch is the Discovery Channel, or the History Channel. If you watch them much at all, you know they are big on stuff with titles like: Mysteries of the Ancient World. Or, Mysteries of the Deep. Mysteries of Atlantis. Mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle. Whatever. A lot of that stuff is silly, or speculation, and a lot of it is just plain wrong. Somebody's imagination. Something that I notice that they always get wrong, is when they try and deal with the mystery of the death of Jesus Christ.

The death of Jesus Christ, why He died, God's plan of salvation for which His death was everything, is something that unsaved people just can't seem to comprehend. They can't appreciate it. I know that back before I got saved, I didn't comprehend it or appreciate it. I knew that Jesus had died on a cross, but the idea that He had died for me, to take away my sin; it just didn't register.

Two weeks from today we celebrate Resurrection Sunday. That ought to be the happiest day of the year for every Christian. That ought to be the one day out of the year when even the Presbyterians and the Episcopalians get happy feet. Resurrection Sunday ought to be better for us than Christmas, New Years, Superbowl, - Saint Patrick's day, - your birthday, your kid's college graduation all rolled into one. It really is that great. It is God giving to us the ultimate gift, verified in His Son, by His Son winning for us the greatest of all possible victories: the victory over death, and sin, and hell.

In order for us to appreciate what a great victory was won, I think it would do us good today to spend a little time thinking about the terrible struggle it took for the Lord Jesus to win it. We need to spend some time thinking about what Jesus went through in order to claim that victory for us. Along with that, God has been showing to me the incredible humility that the Lord Jesus demonstrated during this difficult time, and I want to share that with you as well. God has been speaking to me about that this week. I would like for today to be mostly a time for us just to sit and think. Take some time out and reflect on what God did and why He did it. What it cost Him, and the price that He paid to save us.

>From the day that sin first came into the world, God never had any other plan to save us other than the death of His Son. Even before the world was ever even made, God never had any other plan to save us, other than the death of His Son.

When Adam and Eve first sinned, and God had to deal with their sin on that same day, He told Satan that the day would come when the seed of Eve would bruise Satan's head, and Satan would bruise His heel.
Immediately after that, we see that God made coats of skins and clothed Adam and Eve. We see the first hint that in order for God to make us acceptable to Himself, an innocent creature will shed it's blood to provide a covering between a holy God and sinful man.

We see this concept reinforced again in the story of Abraham taking his son to the top of Mount Moriah, thinking that he would need to be sacrificed to God. But Abraham's son did not die, Abraham has his son returned to him as if from the dead, because an innocent ram dies instead.

When John the Baptizer pointed Jesus out to his disciples, he told them: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." In the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, Jesus Christ is referred to as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus Christ is the one who created the heavens and the earth, and even as He was creating them, it was with the knowledge that someday He would suffer and die to redeem them.

I wonder when the incarnate Jesus, as a young boy, first began to realize what it meant for Him to be that Lamb? When He was twelve years old, on the occasion of His speaking with the teachers at the temple in Jerusalem, He asked His parents: "Do you not know that I must be about my Father's business?"
What was His Father's business? Redeeming the world, through the atoning death of a perfect substitute, the sacrifice of a perfect Lamb, His own Son. Jesus was that Son, He was that perfect lamb. When do you suppose Jesus - as a boy, or as a young man- first began to realize that?

Do you suppose it was when He read Psalm 22? " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
:2 O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
:4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
:5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
:6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
:7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
:8 He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
:9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
:10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
:11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
:12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
:13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
:17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
:18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
:19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
:20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
:21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns."

As Christians we look to the Holy Spirit to illuminate the Scriptures for us, to show us and teach us what the Word of God is saying. What do you suppose went through His mind when the young Lord Jesus realized that these verses spoke of Him, and the Holy Spirit showed Him what His future would be? We can only wonder.

>From the time Dale & Jennifer were little, we have always had video games around our house, and one of the common themes of most video games is always something like; "The evil bad guy is about to conquer the world, and it is up to you to rescue humanity. If you fail, then the world is doomed!" But there was a day in history, when that's the way it really was. And more than that, all the rules were backwards. The Lord Jesus didn't get to play by the same rules that everybody else takes for granted. He didn't get to win by winning, He had to win by losing. He could only win by losing.

When God told Satan that he would bruise the Savior's heel, that seems to me like a bit of an understatement. Never was there a bruising like the Lord Jesus went through. Never had a victory been obtained at so high a price. But that was the battle that was ordained for Him.

I can sort of imagine the Lord Jesus reading that Psalm and the Holy Spirit causing Him to understand: "That's me that David is writing about. I am the one whose hands and feet have been pierced. I am the one who will be laughed to scorn. I am the one who will even be forsaken by God - by my Father- during this terrible event. That's hard. That's a hard thing." Yes. Very hard. Very humbling.

I have met a few people in my lifetime that had enough ego that they thought that they were God, and some of them were teen aged boys. Jesus was a young man who really was God. The Son of God, and the Bible told Him that His destiny in life was to die a shameful death on a Roman cross. Think about when He first learned about crucifixion, and thought about Psalm 22, how it all came together that this was exactly what the Scripture was referring to, and this was how He would end His earthly life.

However old He was when He first realized it, from that time on, He lived the rest of His life under the shadow of the cross. I wonder how we would act if we knew that we had a cross in our future? If we had a future like we see described in Psalm 22? Would we be gloomy? Would we be depressed? Would we be all stressed out? Seems like we are always hearing about people that are discouraged, or depressed or stressed out because of this or that. What would we be like if we knew beyond any doubt that our destiny was a cross?

On the night that He was betrayed, we read in John 13 verse 1: "Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end."
Nothing here about a pity party. No bitterness. His disciples were about to scatter like a bunch of sheep, no loyalty, no friends, nothing ahead for the next 18 hours but degradation, shame, abuse and incredible pain; how did He act? He loved His disciples. He loved them until the end.
Verse 2: "And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;
:3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;
:4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
:5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
:6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
:7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.
:8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
:9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
:10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
:11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
:12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?
:13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
:14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.
:15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
:16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
:17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."

Imagine such a thing! Within a few hours, the pain and torture is going to begin, and it won't quit until He is dead, but He has time to humble Himself in love to His friends. And also His enemies, even to Judas.
Why is He doing this? Because He wanted all of us to understand that His victory, and our victory, comes not through winning, but through losing.

Most of us have no real concept of humility, I know I don't. We all have trouble with a lot of everyday things in a lot of areas, but here is humility on a scale that we can't even begin to imagine. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is about to willingly subject Himself to crucifixion; the most horrible, degrading experience that sinful human imaginations can come up with, but first He humbles Himself to wash the feet of His friends.

Do you suppose that just maybe God is willing to go to any lengths to save you, to sanctify you, to try and get your attention that the world's way is not His way? The world's way of thinking, the world's way of acting; He is not like that. To be like Jesus is to be very different from the world.

The word pride is mentioned 49 times in the Bible, and it is never associated with Jesus. It is something that is totally foreign and hateful to God. The one person in all creation who has a right to be proud; Jesus Christ? He hates pride.

Not only does He give us this incredible object lesson demonstrating the love of God both for His friends and His enemies, -for Judas was still there, he got his feet washed too, - after He gets done washing their feet, He finishes this object lesson up with some practical truth.

God does this sort of thing for you all the time. He has done it before, He will do it again. God comes down to your level in mercy and grace. God condescends to humble Himself to come and do for you whatever you need to get you cleaned up, sorted out, and taken care of, even if you are not His friend, even if you are His enemy.

He tells them that if He had humbled Himself for them, then they ought to humble themselves for each other. If God is willing to humble Himself for us that much, then we ought to humble ourselves in a similar fashion towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. I think we fall a bit short there. I think we might still need some work.

What is most interesting is that He tells them that this will make them happy. He tells them in verse 17: "If you know these things, you will be happy if you do them." We think we will be happy if other people see things our way. We think we will be happy if other people do things our way. Jesus says no. Jesus tells us that we will be happy when we truly learn humility. I wonder how many of us will ever learn to be happy?

Something else that we need to think about in our meditation on the Savior is what happened that night in the garden. In Luke 22, and verse 39, we read : "And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.
:40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
:41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
:43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
:45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,
:46 And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation."

Was there ever a more earnest prayer than this prayer? Was there ever any person in the world that prayed harder or more fervently than Jesus did that night? But even while Jesus is in this incredible prayer struggle, look what He tells His disciples: pray for yourselves, that you don't get tempted. He didn't ask for prayer for Himself, although He needed it more than anybody ever needed prayer, God even sent an angel to strengthen Him.

His humility exceeds itself. Instead of asking them to pray for Him, His thoughts were on them and their needs even more than His own needs; and His needs were incredible. That ought to teach us something about priorities. It ought to teach us something about humility, and loving others.

In verse 42, we are told that Jesus prayed to the Father; "If thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening him." In Matthew's and Mark's accounts of this prayer, we learn that He prayed this prayer three times, and Matthew adds that Jesus said: "O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done." In Luke's gospel, it says that he was in agony and prayed even more earnestly, and that His sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground.

The Lord prayed this same prayer three times and the angel apparently came and strengthened Him after the first time. That ought to teach us something. Sometimes the answer that God gives us to our prayer is not to get us out of our problem, but to strengthen us for the much greater problem that is about to come upon us.

As the Lord prayed to His Father, the Father answered Him by sending Him strength to struggle even more terribly with what was about to happen to Him, and that was the cup that He was about to face. The cup. Was that cup the torture that He was about to receive from the Roman soldiers? Pilate apparently didn't originally intend to crucify Jesus, instead he planned to flog Jesus and then let Him go. It didn't work out that way.

So in addition to being crucified, Jesus was also flogged with a Roman whip. When the Jews whipped someone, it could not exceed 40 lashes. That law did not apply to the Romans. The Romans stripped a person of their clothing, tied their hands to a pole above their head, and then flogged them until the centurion in charge had decided that the person was in danger of dying, and then they quit. They used a whip that had a number of leather thongs with bits of bone and little dumb bell shaped lead weights at the end of it. It would have left the Lord's back, buttocks and the rear of His upper thighs looking like a plowed field.

They plated a crown or a skull cap of thorns and crammed it down on his head and then beat on it with a stick.

They placed a purple robe on Him, mocked Him, and then ripped it back off. Imagine what that would have felt like on His back shredded by the whip.

Was that the cup that the Lord Jesus was afraid to drink? No, I don't think so. I think it was something a lot worse than that.

I think that when the Lord refers to a cup that he has to drink, He is referring to a combination of two things. Taking our sins on Himself and thereby being made sin for us, and being separated from His Father, because He was made sin for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21tells us: "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

He was thirty three years old and He had never sinned. He knew no sin. He was apart from sin. He had lived a perfectly innocent and pure life, He had never done anything wrong, He had never sinned.

Sometimes we hear about people who do terrible, evil things to little infants, who commit evil sins against little babies. When people like that get put into prison, they have to keep them separate from the other prisoners, because even hardened criminals have standards of right and wrong, and that sort of evil person doesn't last long if the other prisoners can get hold of him. Even the most hardened criminals recognize and despise a person who will violate a pure and innocent child.

The Lord Jesus was an adult, He knew what kinds of sin were in the world, and He had a pretty good idea of what it was that He was going to be dying to atone for. And all his pureness, all His innocence, was about to be violated in an unthinkably overwhelming way. That pure soul, that pure spirit, that pure imagination was about to be buried in all the evil and filth that man has ever been able to come up with.
Everything rotten and corrupt that you and I have ever done, ever thought of doing, or improperly entertained in our imaginations, was poured into that cup for Him. We violated Him. We violated His innocence with our sins.

And not just your sins and mine, although that would be more than enough to horrify His purity, He was about to have to take on the sins of the whole world. And if it was not enough that those sins would be laid upon Him, it says that He was made sin for us. What does that mean? I'm not sure, but it has to mean that all that filth wasn't just superficial, it got to Him right to the core of His being.

Is it any wonder that He sweat great drops of blood? Is it any wonder that He was in an agony of soul?
And that was not the worst of it; He knew that He was going to have to go it alone. Remember how it said in Psalm 22; "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?"

After an eternity of perfect fellowship and communion with His Father, He was about to be cut off. He was about to be separated from God. What does that mean? The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one. How can there be a separation? I don't know. I don't know. I can't explain it. But what Jesus suffered for our salvation was as bad as it gets.

Lest we allow these things to overwhelm us, we need to remember that not only was there a horrible crucifixion, there was also a glorious resurrection. We need to remember along with these other things, that Jesus thought it was worth it. That's how much he values us and loves us.

Hebrews 12:2 tells us: "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." For the sake of the joy that was set before Him. As bad as it was, as terrible and awful as it was, He knew it was worth it, and He did it voluntarily, because He knew it was worth what it cost.

What kind of joy is it that would cause someone to go through what He did? The joy of having people like us to become like He is: without sin. Wonderful to be around, us enjoying Him, and Him enjoying us. Forever. The day will come that we will be with Him and be like Him, be without sin and be able to fully enjoy Him and appreciate Him. To be with Him where He is.

As hard as it has been to understand and appreciate the pain that He suffered, and the humility that He showed, this is just about harder to comprehend. Us becoming like Him.

But that is what He intends for us. That is why He did it. That is what His death is all about. To reclaim what is rightfully His, to redeem all of creation to Himself. To complete perfectly what He started back in the garden.

What will it be like to be with Him? I haven't got a clue, and I doubt that you do either, but it's going to be wonderful. It is going to be joyous. It will be worth whatever it costs us, because He knew from the foundation of the world that it would be worth what it would cost Him. And compared to what it cost Him, whatever it costs us is nothing.

Isn't God good? Aren't you glad to belong to Jesus today? Don't we have a wonderful salvation and a wonderful Savior? Won't it be great to see Him and be like Him? Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.