The “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah 53, until Messiah arrived, was understood to be Israel as a whole. Christians saw that the Christ and the Suffering Servant were one and the same Person. God did not sit above the suffering of humanity, but entered it by incarnation. By suffering, He sanctified suffering. We are invited to take the normal things of our human suffering and join it to His; in this way, we KNOW Him, not so much in a deeper way, but as He is, the suffering God. Frankly, I would rather see Him in a sunrise and a sunset or experience Him on the mountain while I enjoy its vistas. Though I know Him in all of these ways, I know Him fuller as I enter into His suffering. Few of our desires match Paul’s who said, “that I might know the fellowship of his suffering.” Ponder it!
“I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!” (Philippians 3:10-11 NLT)
You are reading “Sonlight for the Soul” by H. Lamar Smith
