Sermon on Lord’s Day 15⤒🔗

37. Q. What do you confess when you say that He suffered?
A. During all the time He lived on earth, but especially at the end, Christ bore in body and soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race.[1] Thus, by His suffering, as the only atoning sacrifice,[2] He has redeemed our body and soul from everlasting damnation,[3] and obtained for us the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life.[4]
[1] Is. 53; I Tim. 2:6; I Pet. 2:24; 3:18. [2] Rom. 3:25; I Cor. 5:7; Eph. 5:2; Heb. 10:14; I John 2:2; 4:10. [3] Rom. 8:1-4; Gal. 3:13; Col. 1:13; Heb. 9:12; I Pet 1:18, 19. [4] John 3:16; Rom. 3:24-26; II Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:15.

38. Q. Why did He suffer under Pontius Pilate as judge?
A. Though innocent, Christ was condemned by an earthly judge,[1] and so He freed us from the severe judgment of God that was to fall on us.[2] [1] Luke 23:13-24; John 19:4, 12-16. [2] Is. 53:4, 5; II Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13.

39. Q. Does it have a special meaning that Christ was crucified and did not die in a different way?
A. Yes. Thereby I am assured that He took upon Himself the curse which lay on me, for a crucified one was cursed by God.[1]
[1] Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13.

Scripture Reading: Nahum 1:1-11; Isaiah 53

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 9:7,10
Psalm 66:5
Psalm 94:6,7
Psalm 27:3,6
Hymn 21:1,3

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

The suffering of Jesus Christ has recently come again to the attention of the world. At least, that was the intention of Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ. And I understand that some youth who saw this film were indeed so touched, so subdued, by Gibson’s portrayal of Jesus’ passion that they had no words left, and no appetite for jesting and jostling. Perhaps that’s a good thing.

Yet I want to ask this question: can anybody comprehend what Jesus’ suffering really was? To put the question differently: was Jesus’ suffering somehow in the same category as the sort of suffering people experience in this broken world? Can Gibson even begin to do justice to Jesus’ passion?

The question is important. We all suffer in some way. How can Jesus’ suffering help us in our suffering? If His suffering was at bottom no different than anybody else’s, then, at the end of the day, His suffering is of no more benefit to us than, say, Nelson Mandela’s sufferings were. Yet the Bible is emphatic: Christ’s suffering can benefit us only if He through His suffering has taken away the cause of our suffering, has –in the words of the Lord’s Supper Form- taken away "the cause of our eternal hunger and misery, which is sin."

So there is the question for today. What was so special of Christ’s passion, Christ’s suffering that He through His suffering could take away the cause of our misery? It turns out to be this: His suffering was "the only atoning sacrifice", and so "He has redeemed our body and soul from everlasting damnation, and obtained for us the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life." That puts Christ’s suffering very much in a league of its own.

I summarize the sermon with this theme:

Christ’s unique suffering takes the curse out of our suffering

1. The extent of Christ’s suffering,
2. The uniqueness of Christ’s suffering,
3. The benefit of Christ’s suffering.

The extent of Christ’s suffering←⤒🔗

The Apostles’ Creed, it appears, skips some 33 years of Jesus’ life. The Creed mentions that the Savior was "conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary" – a reference to Christmas. We covered that material last week with Lord’s Day 14. Hard on the heals of that confession, the Apostles’ Creed mentions that Jesus "suffered under Pontius Pilate." That’s obviously a reference to the events preceding His crucifixion and death, at the end of His life at age 33. No mention is made of anything that happened in the intervening years.

Yet it needs to be clear to us, brothers and sisters, that the 33 years of Jesus’ earthly life certainly had its purpose – also for our redemption. Recall: the Son of God left the glory of heaven to take upon Himself the form of a servant. That is: He entered our broken, sin-filled world with the specific purpose of obtaining our redemption. By so doing, the Lord exposed Himself to all the suffering that characterizes life on this side of the Fall into sin. So, though He was true God and born of the lineage of David, His cradle was a feeding trough, and His blankets were swaddling clothes, rag. Though He was true God and born of royal stock, He had to flee in the face of Herod’s rage; He had to go to Egypt, that land of bitter memories for God’s covenant people. In childhood already He experienced what John later wrote: "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him" (1:11). Straightaway, at birth already, there was rejection. And, when Jesus came to know of these events, this involved for Him suffering.

I can mention too the events that took place when Jesus was an adolescent. At age 12 He engaged the temple leaders in a discussion. His parents did not understand that He had to be about His Father’s business, had a place and an interest in the temple. Point: He wasn’t understood, even by His parents, those nearest to Him. And we all know: to be misunderstood involves suffering.

I can tell you of the suffering that characterized our Lord’s work in His public ministry. He preached and He taught – and the crowds disappeared (John 6); they were turned off by His frank and unflattering preaching. He spoke the truth – and the crowds thought to push Him off the cliff (Luke 4). On another occasion He identified Himself with the Father, and the Jews responded by seeking to stone Him (John 10:31). The hardness of His hearers’ hearts grieved Him (John 11:35). All in all, there was so much suffering throughout His life; yes, His life was characterized by suffering. And that while He was without sin, true God.

And what shall we say of His suffering after His arrest, the scourging and the mocking and the spitting He endured – to say nothing of the crucifixion itself? I need not draw it out, for we realize it well: here was suffering, terrible suffering. In the words of our Lord’s Day: "during all the time He lived on earth, but especially at the end," He suffered.

But: so many people in the course of history have suffered! Some of us have visited the remains of the penal colony in Port Arthur, in Tasmania. How those people suffered! And not just for three hours or twelve hours, but years on end! Jesus’ adult life surely wasn’t like that. Pictures in the media show us children in Third World countries who are no more than skin over bones, except for a big swollen stomach. Talk about suffering! Jesus’ youth surely wasn’t like that. I read some time ago a book about Brother Yun, a Chinese pastor who spent years in China’s prison system. He doesn’t hesitate to describe some of the tortures with which he was afflicted, tortures that make your blood cold. His suffering went on, and on, and on….

In comparison to such suffering, brothers and sisters, we are left with the conclusion that Jesus’ suffering was not as bad as the suffering of others…. Then the question comes at us again: of what value is all His suffering? If the sufferings of those Australians in Port Arthur years ago doesn’t help us (except perhaps that they contributed in some way to building Australia), in what way does Jesus’ suffering benefit us? That brings us to our second point:

The uniqueness of Christ’s suffering←⤒🔗

On the one hand, congregation, we need to be aware that Christ suffered as we do. The apostle to the Hebrews writes that Jesus partook of our flesh and blood (2:14) with all the consequences thereof, and so has suffered as we do that in turn He might be able to aid those who are tempted (vs 18). Here’s encouragement for us to approach our only High Priest in prayer in the midst of our sufferings. He understands.

Yet that’s definitely not the whole picture of Scripture. He suffered as we do, and much worse. In that added element, Jesus’ suffering was unique.

To appreciate that added element, we need to have fixed in our minds Who our God is. This almighty Creator is holy, infinitely, perfectly holy. Concerning this God the prophet Habakkuk says He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness" (1:13). Yet the wonderful world God created was dragged, by man’s obedience, into sin, evil. God from heaven above looks down upon this world, and is deeply upset by what He sees. His world – evil! That man –created in God’s image!- should ruin it so: it provokes His holy anger! Lord’s Day 4: God "is terribly displeased with our original sin as well as our actual sins" and "will punish them with a just judgment." In the words of Nahum: "God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies" (1:2).

But what’s His wrath like? Says Nahum in vs 6: "Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him." Imagine it, beloved: a wrath so holy, so fierce, that having it poured over you is like having fire poured out over you. We have heard enough about the horrors of Bali to have some idea of what it’s like to have fire poured out over you. Well do the kings and princes, the big men and little on the earth cry out in the face of God’s anger for the mountains to fall on them and the hills to cover them! How terrible, how devastating is His anger!

And let this be fixed in our minds, congregation: this anger ought to fall upon us. The worst suffering imaginable, hot fire pouring over us and yet we do not loose consciousness – we deserve it! Suffering beyond what we have ever experienced before!

Marvel, then, beloved, at who your God is! "The Lord," says the Spirit through Nahum, "is slow to anger and great in power" (Nahum 1:3). What does He do? He sent His only Son into this world – why?- to take a place between holy, righteous God and us, wretched sinners. The eternal fury of God ought to pour upon us like fire (Nahum 1:6), but Jesus Christ takes a place between holy God and us so that the wrath God pours out falls upon Him. This is propitiation: Christ receives the wrath we deserve – so that we need not experience that terrible wrath of God! See there His life work, see there the purpose of His coming into the world. Mt 20: "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but [He came] to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many" (vs 28).

But taking that wrath upon Himself: what was that like for the Savior? That was suffering. It began early in life, and continued throughout His earthly sojourn. The intensity of that suffering grew to its climax at the end of His life; in the final hours The Passion of the Christ was the worst.

The Catechism points to two instances in the final hours of Jesus’ life to draw out the intensity of His suffering under the hot fires of God’s fury. Question & Answer 38 asks why He suffered "under Pontius Pilate as judge". Pilate: He was the local arm of the legitimate Roman authority. What Paul later wrote was true of Pilate: "there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." More: the authority "is God’s minister to you for good" (Romans 13:1,4). This authority –God’s servant- heard Jesus’ case, and pronounced his verdict: this man is innocent, undeserving of death. But this same man handed Jesus over to his soldiers for torment and crucifixion! Here was gross miscarriage of justice: a declaration of innocence and at the same time a sentence of death. We may shake our heads at this perversion and wonder how it’s possible, but Jesus, beloved, Jesus knew that His Father was behind it! That is: by the hand of the governing authority, "God’s minister", His Father was rejecting Him, His Father was pouring His wrath out on Him like an endless bucket of fire. And how could He stand under that?! Yet He had to! Behind every blow from the soldiers’ whips, behind every mocking word, behind every mouthful of spittle, was the wrath and fury of holy God upon sin – and Jesus knew it! Here was suffering in a manner we cannot begin to comprehend!

The second example the Catechism mentions relates to His crucifixion. Why, the Catechism asks, was Jesus crucified? "Does it have a special meaning that Christ was crucified and did not die in a different way?" Let’s face it: almighty God could have had His Son die through an accident, or sickness, or even stoning. Why crucifixion? The answer is not: this is the worst form of suffering possible. Yes, crucifixion is a terrible way to die, perhaps the worst people could imagine. But in that case the robbers crucified with Jesus suffered more on account of crucifixion than Jesus did. After all, when the soldier came to break their legs, Jesus was already dead, while the two were not. So he took his hammer to their legs…. They suffered an agony Jesus did not suffer….

But crucifixion, brothers and sisters, has an element in it far worse than the agony of getting your legs smashed. Back in Deuteronomy the Lord God Himself spoke a word about hanging. I refer to Dt 21:22f:

If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.

A man of Israel could commit a sin deserving of death, and the people put him to death, on God’s command. But the evil he committed could be so heinous that a sentence of death was not sufficient. Then the people could hand the evildoer over to the Lord for His punishment. That was symbolized by hanging the dead man’s body on a tree. And God assured the people: "he who is hanged is accursed of God." Cursed. That’s banned, excommunicated from God’s favor in any way, subject only to the judgment of God, subject to hell.

The Lord in His providence led things in such a way that the Roman practice of crucifixion was the norm in Jerusalem for run away slaves and for rebels against the Roman Empire. Jesus was numbered with such transgressors, and sentenced – alive!- to such hanging between earth and heaven. Point: God His Father let Jesus know that He was cursed, rejected not just by men but also by God in heaven! Cursed He was, banned, excommunicated, and so the full load of God’s fury was poured out over Him on the cross like fire.

How deep, then, the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ! He suffered not just the agony of the crucifixion – something Mel Gibson can perhaps draw out for us in his film. But He suffered so much deeper, so much more intensely, in that the cross spelled out that He was rejected by His God and Father! More: He suffered so much more deeply and so much more intensely than anybody on earth can comprehend because He experienced what it was like to have God’s fury poured out on Him like a bucket of unending fire – and He could not pass into unconsciousness to take the edge off the pain! Make no mistake, beloved: here was a suffering the human heart can never understand, a suffering that film can never convey. Despite all the lashing and all the blood on Gibson’s film, he cannot do justice to the depths of the sufferings Christ Jesus experienced. It was unique because He alone of all people on the face of the earth felt the fury of God’s wrath poured out like fire, and He did not perish, did not pass out, but endured it consciously and continued to endure it – until He had taken away the cause of that terrible expression of God’s wrath – our sins.

So we come to our third point:

The benefit of Christ’s suffering←⤒🔗

For there, beloved, is the glorious gospel of it all. God’s legal representative, Pilate the judge, had declared that Jesus was innocent, and so He was. Exactly as an innocent man holy God placed Jesus Christ between Himself and us, so that wrath we earned through our sins might fall onto Jesus Christ. That load of heavenly anger fell on Jesus –He suffered!- but He was not consumed by it! He bore the wrath of God, and did not perish; He survived. By that perseverance on His part He atoned for our sins, satisfied the justice of God. So was fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities" (53:5). And: "the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (vs 6). More: "The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed" (vs 5). There’s the gospel! What did it take for God to be at peace with us? Chastisement we earned through out sin, heavenly fury we deserved. But that chastisement was laid on Him – so that we might be reconciled to God, might receive peace from God instead of strife! In truth: here is the gospel! The infinite buckets of God’s fiery wrath were poured out on Jesus Christ so that those buckets are now empty – there is no wrath left for us! Free, free we are of the curse of sin, reconciled to God, at peace with God! How glorious the gospel! In the words of A 37: "by His suffering as the only atoning sacrifice, [Christ] has redeemed our body and soul from everlasting damnation, and obtained for us the grace of God, righteousness and eternal life." And A 38: "He freed us from the severe judgment of God that was to fall on us." And A 39: "He took upon Himself the curse which lay on me." He received what I deserved, and so I’m free, free of the judgment of God! Grace instead of damnation, righteousness instead of judgment, eternal life instead of curse! How rich, how rich!

Question. What does this gospel look like in real life? No curse, only grace…. Yet we all suffer, each of us in our own way…. Is that not the heavy hand of God, a taste of His fury?

The Catechism speaks of Christ having borne "the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race." Yet with that statement the Catechism does not wish to say that all men receive now only God’s grace. Back in Lord’s Day 7 already the Catechism had said that not all men are saved by Christ as they perished through Adam, but only those are benefit from His work who "by a true faith are grafted into Christ." When our Lord’s Day says that Christ bore "the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race," the Catechism confesses that Christ’s suffering was sufficient for all, yes, that people of every tribe and tongue and race can benefit from His work.

At the same time we need to notice that the Catechism is personal. A 37 speaks about Christ having redeemed "our body and soul," and about Christ having "obtained for us the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life." That’s to say: here the believer is speaking, the one who confesses with Lord’s Day 1 that "I belong with body and soul to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ." The believer says that Christ has freed "us" –that’s the believer- from the judgment we deserved.

So, back to our question. What does this gospel look like in real life – given that daily life is so full of suffering? For unbelievers, congregation, suffering is indeed the wrath of God on sin. Paul says in Romans 1 that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," and even gives some examples of what this wrath looks like. He speaks of idolatry and its hopelessness as evidence of God’s wrath. He mentions also the lusts of the heart, having one’s mind absorbed with the body. He mentions sexual diseases, etc. It’s the wrath of God on sin, a wrath people can taste, feel.

But what about Christians, believers, those whose sins bother them and they find their comfort in the blood of Jesus Christ? Such people still suffer, suffer even the consequences of their sins. Is it God’s wrath that they feel??

No, beloved, it is not! Christ suffered the penalty we deserve, bore the wrath of God against our sins. So there is no wrath left for us! Why, then, do we suffer? We suffer for different reasons. Jesus puts it this way in John 15: "every branch that bears fruit [the Father] prunes, that it may bear more fruit" (vs 2). The apostle Paul repeats the point with different words: "we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5:3f). And Hebrews 12: "whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives" (vs 6). In a word: the suffering which the child of God experiences in this life is expression not of God’s fury but of God’s care.

True, we do not experience it that way, certainly not in the midst of our sufferings. But faith embraces the gospel of Christ’s suffering, accepts that Christ suffered for us so that we might escape the fury of God. Faith embraces that Christ reconciled us to God – though our sins abound- and so there is for us only grace, righteousness, life – and the sufferings of this life are evidence of grace, mercy, love, care.

Our Savior suffered, suffered far worse than any man can suffer, far worse than any man can imagine, far worse than any film can portray. I believe it: the full load of God’s eternal fury –I deserved it!- fell upon Him, and He was not consumed; He instead bore it, and so atoned for sin, my sins. Now God is my Father, who in this vale of tears "averts all evil or turns it to my benefit." So I’m comforted in my tears. Amen.