Psalms 22:16 “For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet.”
Another area of suffering that does not get mentioned very often in the church, is the area of suffering evil. The main reason that this area is not spoken about, is because of ignorance. Nevertheless, this is another area of suffering that the church is not meant to go through. The evil I am referring to is the evil that occurs in individual lives, such as accidents and “natural” disasters. And so as with all the areas we have looked at thus far, we look again at the example set for us by Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus never experienced any form of accidents in His life. You will recall that the devil quoted the scripture to our Lord when he tried to tempt Him in the wilderness, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over You,' and, in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.' “(Matthew 4:6). That is exactly how Jesus walked this earth, i.e. He never even once dashed His foot against a stone, for God had given His angels charge over His Son to bear Him up in their hands. God is no respecter of persons, and that which He did for His Firstborn Son; He will also do for the rest of His sons who are in Christ. In this section we have seen evidence of our Lord Jesus walking free from any accidents occurring in His life. So what about His substitutionary sacrifice in this area? The above-quoted passage of scripture speaks about the nails that were put through both the hands and feet of our Lord Jesus when He hung on the cross. And so even though He had walked His entire life on the earth never once being cut or bruised, when He went to the cross His body was pierced for us so that we can walk free from evil in this life.
Isaiah 53:5 “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”
The above-quoted passage of scripture, in reference to the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus, tells us that Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and that He was bruised for our iniquities. And so again we see that Jesus suffered in His body so that we don’t have to. There can be no doubt, that based on the example given to us in the life of our Lord Jesus and through His substitutionary sacrifice, that it is very clear that Christians are not meant to suffer evil in the form of accidents and “natural disasters” in this life.
2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”
There is one last area of suffering that I want to address in this section, which is the area of suffering lack or poverty. Again there are many believers that incur this form of suffering in the church today. And so, the question is raised as to whether believers are called to suffer in this area or not? In order to answer that question we will again look at the example of our Lord Jesus, and we will also look at scripture to see if Jesus incurred a substitutionary sacrifice for us in this area. Firstly, let’s examine the example of our Lord’s lifestyle in this area when He walked in the flesh. If you study the gospel accounts of the life of our Lord Jesus when He walked the earth, there can be no doubt, that as far as this world’s standards apply, our Lord Jesus walked the earth as a poor, homeless man. When I make that statement however, I am referring specifically to the period of our Lord’s life when He walked in ministry, for the scripture gives us very little information about His life before He entered the ministry. So does that mean that Jesus suffered lack and poverty during His earthly ministry? The answer to that question is a resounding “no”, for although our Lord Jesus owned nothing in this life except for the clothes that He wore, never once did He lack for anything. For God our Father took care of His every need in this life, and that is exactly how Jesus taught His disciples to live (Matthew 6:33). Even when our Lord had to pay taxes, God took care of that need by sending a fish to retrieve the required money from the ocean floor (Matthew 17:27). And so the point remains clear that although Jesus owned nothing in this life, He never once suffered any lack. Clearly the example set before us by our Lord Jesus is that as His followers, we are not meant to suffer any lack in this life. One, who never lacks anything, cannot at the same time suffer poverty, even if they own nothing. And so we must be careful not to measure poverty by this world’s standards, for heavens standards are different from this world. So did our Lord Jesus incur a substitutionary sacrifice for His church in this area? The above-quoted passage of scripture clearly says that He did, for the scripture states that He became poor for our sakes. And so the substitution that Jesus performed for us in this area is that He gave up ownership of all of God’s creation, to stand in a place where He owned nothing. Jesus did that so that we could be taken from the place where we owned nothing, to stand in the place where we own all things.
1 Corinthians 3:21-23 “Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: (22) whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come--all are yours. (23) And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.”
The above-quoted passage of scripture confirms the truth that in Christ Jesus we now own all things. Although both passages of scripture quoted above also refer to our eternal inheritance, the context of both passages relates to riches and ownership in this life.
Galatians 3:13 “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree").”
We looked at the above-quoted passage of scripture in relation to our suffering sickness and disease, but the same passage also relates to this area of suffering lack and poverty. As we have already said, the above passage of scripture states that Jesus became a curse for us because He hung on a tree. The scripture states that the reason Jesus did that was so that He could redeem us from the curse of the law. Deuteronomy chapter twenty-eight lists all the curses of the law, and it is these curses which Jesus has redeemed us from. What that means is that as believers, we are no longer subject to any of the curses as recorded in scripture and we can walk completely free from them. Lack and poverty is very clearly listed under the curse. And so there can be no doubt that as a result of our Lord’s substitutionary sacrifice in this area and based on the examples given to us by our Lord’s lifestyle, that as His disciples we are not called to suffer lack and poverty in this life.
Michael E.B. Maher
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