501. 1PE 2:21. THE SUFFERINGS OF JESUS

1Pe_2:21. The Sufferings Of Jesus

"Christ also suffered for us."’971Pe_2:21.

Every word in the text is important. The person spoken of is Christ; God’s anointed Son; the Messiah of Israel; the salvation of the Gentiles; the joy of the earth; and the glory of heaven. That to which the text refers is deeply interesting: "He suffered." Christ’s sufferings were unparalleled, and in every respect extraordinary and marvellous. Those for whom those sufferings were borne: "For us;" us men; us sinners; but especially in their efficacious and saving power’97us believers. The whole of these particulars is too comprehensive for one discourse; we shall therefore just glance at the sufferings of Christ, as presenting a mirror in which we may see our natural desert, and thus be led to view those sufferings as especially vicarious, i.e. as endured for us. In these sufferings,

I. There was the advent of Christ from a world of glory to our earth of sin and sorrow.

In this first step Jesus must have been very painfully exercised. Behold him possessing the glory of the Father,’97the glory of regal pomp and splendor,’97the glory of angelic adoration and worship,’97the glory of heaven’s palace and temple, all elevated and pure, arrayed in his holy nature and perfections. Behold, then, the scene of his visitation: the earth, his original footstool; but not only so, but a world of pollution, guilt, blighted, cursed, &c. Think of an oriental monarch dwelling in the filthy hut of a New Zealand cannibal: yet this is nothing in comparison to the humiliation of Christ’s advent into our world. He thus suffered to open a way tor us to heaven, that men might ascend to the realms of light and glory.

II. There was the assumption of our nature, and its eternal union with his divine glory

We can never fathom the depths of this mystery. Deity clad in human flesh, God tabernacling in humanity; "God manifest in the flesh," &c. Had the loftiest seraph assumed the form of a worm &c., this would have been the transition of a creature into the form of another creature. The abasement would bo great, but with Jesus the abasement was infinite immeasurable, &c. This he suffered that we might be partakers of the divine nature, and attain the adoption of sons.

III. There was the life of adversity and humiliation which Jesus lived during his sojourning in our world.

Invested with the reins of the universe he became poor." The child of a poor virgin; the son of a poor, hard-laboring family. Poor throughout life,’97more poor than the fowls of the air, than the beasts of the field. The fowls had their nests, the sheep their fold, the foxes their holes, the fierce tiger its lair; but Christ had not where to lay his head. He borrowed his first residence and couch from the animal creation; and his sepulchre was not his own, but the property of another. If he crossed the lakes it was in other men’s boats; if he entered Jerusalem as a king, the colt on which he rode was another’s; and the last meal he had, was in a room borrowed by his disciples from a friend. In this we see again the insolvency in which sin had involved our world. By the treason of our transgressions we had forfeited every thing, and God might justly have withholden every bounty from us. But Christ’s poverty was designed to open the treasury of the eternal riches of God’s love and grace.

IV. There was the shame, and scorn, and insults, to which Jesus submitted.

His reputation maligned; his motives, his acts all misrepresented; his person insulted; his life hunted with hellish ferocity, &c.; his arrest; his mock trial; his being clothed in the attire of a mad man; blindfolded; spit upon; the hair plucked from his cheek; long furrows ploughed upon his back. Now in all this we see the degradation and ruin which sin had brought upon man. Here we see into what depravity can transgression plunge its victims. Besides, in this we see how our spiritual and celestial glory was obtained. Man was to be raised, elevated, glorified, and therefore Christ suffered thus that we might be kings and priests unto God and the Lamb.

V. There was the descent of God’s glittering sword into the bosom of Christ, when he agonized in the garden.

These sufferings were entirely mental and spiritual. Now he was retired from the calumniating world. Now no human hand was upon him. As yet he had not endured those corporeal inflictions to which we have referred. Yet, behold his fear. See how he trembles. His soul was seized with horror. Thick mists of darkness settle on his spirit. He falls prostrate to the ground. His agony causes him to sweat as it were great drops of blood. We feel assured these were his deepest and most intense sufferings. It was now his soul was offered up: and wherefore? That the spirits of guilty sinners might not suffer the anguish and despair of eternal wo! Oh yes! now it was he expiated and procured our deliverance from all the black horror of those doomed to the everlasting prison of the second death.

VI. There was his ignominious and painful death upon the cross.

Sin and death were united in the first threatening: "The wages of sin is death." Sin produced spiritual death; opened the grave for the dying body, and the regions of eternal death for the soul. Christ therefore suffered death for us, and this, in connection with his agony in the garden, constituted the atonement for sin. Thus he was the great sacrifice for transgression, and obtained eternal redemption for mankind. By his death the river of life was opened, so that its saving streams might resuscitate our guilty world. Thus, my dear friends, we have seen in several striking points wherein "Christ also hath suffered for us."

Application

1. Have you right views of these truths?

He suffered not for himself; not for angels; not for devils; not that wicked man might be saved in sin, but that the guilty might have in him a way of approach to God’s mercy and eternal life.

2. Are you personally interested?

Do you feel that you are resting your all here,’97body, soul, &c.

3 Be ready to suffer for and with Christ.

"If we suffer," &c. There must be conformity between the members and the head, between the soldiers and the captain of our salvation.

Autor: JABEZ BURNS