Romans 8:16-17 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (17) and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
In this section we are answering the question as to why we are called to suffer. God always has a purpose in everything that He does (Ezekiel 14:23), and as we have seen in the previous section, God uses suffering to teach us obedience. So why is it so important to God that we learn to be obedient? In the ages to come God has ordained that His children will reign over all of His creation, for as quoted in the above passage of scripture He has made us joint heirs together with His Son Jesus Christ. In our natural thinking we have no concept as to just what that really means. God however, knows exactly what that means. And so God in His infinite wisdom has ordained that He will test His children in this life, to determine the level of reward that He can entrust them with in the ages to come. Notice in the above passage that God directly links our inheritance to the suffering that we endure in this life, for the scripture says that we will be joint heirs with Christ “if” indeed we suffer with Him. That word “if” denotes that it is up to each individual believer to decide for themselves if they will be prepared to suffer with Christ or not. For as I have already stated the Lord does not force His saints to suffer with Him, for our freewill always reigns supreme in this life.
Philippians 2:8-11 “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (9) Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, (10) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, (11) and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
As we have said time and again in this teaching, our Lord Jesus Christ is our ultimate example in everything. And we have already seen that Jesus the Man performed the greatest act of obedience to God that had ever been made through the greatest act of suffering that had ever been incurred. And as a result Jesus has been rewarded by God, with the greatest degree of reward that has ever been given to a Man. For in the above-quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit reveals to us that because of the obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, that God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.
Ephesians 1:20-22 “which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, (21) far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. (22) And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church.”
Because of the obedience of Christ, God the Father has given all things into His hands. In other words Jesus has become the heir of all things. The above-quoted passage of scripture states that God has placed all things under the feet of Jesus and given Him to be head over all things to the church. What that means is that Jesus is the heir of all things, and that we His church, are to be joint heirs together with Him. Within the body of Christ however, not all will have the same level of inheritance. For our inheritance in the age to come is directly linked to the degree of our obedience to our Lord Jesus in this age.
Revelation 2:10 “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
As we have already said, none of us will be called upon to suffer to the degree that our Lord Jesus did. Nevertheless, God does call us to varying degrees of suffering to test our obedience to Him. And so for those who pass the test, they can expect to be rewarded accordingly on that day. In the above-quoted passage of scripture our Lord Jesus confirms the truth that for His saints that endure suffering in this life that they can expect great reward from Him in the life to come.
Michael E.B. Maher
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