For all of the victory that was accomplished by Jesus Christ on the cross, there often remains a question mark on pain, suffering and death. If Christ’s work on the cross was a full and complete, once and for all victory over sin and death, why do we suffer? Why do we experience pain? Why do we die?
For the Christian, we accept the hope that is ours in death. We know that death is not the end but rather an entry into a glorious new fellowship with God and His people. While we may have questions about what things will be like and look like after we die, we accept the comfort and assurance of knowing that those who die in Christ will rise with Him at the resurrection. 1 Thess 4:13-18.
Despite being assured of what happens after we die it is what happens before we die that causes us the most trouble. CS Lewis wrote about this in his book titled ‘The problem with pain’.
In the fellowship of the cross of Jesus Christ we can find life and power while we are still living. Christ overcame sin and death while He was alive. His dying to sin was from Gethsemane through to ‘It is finished’ on the cross. From there He offered His Spirit into the hands of the Father, breathed His last and entered into His eternal glory.
Our understanding of suffering and the cross of Christ should be applied in life. There is application ‘today’. To know victory in death is to firstly know it in life. God does work in all things for our good when we love Him and pursue His calling and purpose even in the midst of pain and suffering.
The answer is not as Job’s wife suggested – ‘to curse God and die’ because it appears unjust or unfair. Neither is it to question whether God loves us or loves others. The impact of sin in this world is devastating for those who continue to live separate from the hope of the gospel proclaimed in the cross of Christ. The answer to the ‘problem of pain’ is found in the way established by Jesus Christ in the cross.
On this ‘way’, we find fellowship with the One who took all our grief and suffering and pain and made it His own. As we do this, we find that ‘today’ we enter into something that is so much greater than the futility of life under the sun. We enter into the overcoming fellowship of Jesus Christ and are perfected in our sonship.
Jonathon Wills