Look past the sufferings and pains to great future results.

“And it was right and proper that God, who made everything for his own glory, should allow Jesus to suffer, for in doing this he was bringing vast multitudes of God’s people to heaven; for his suffering made Jesus, a perfect Leader, one fit to bring them into their salvation.” Hebrews 2:10.

God has a bigger plan and purpose than we can see in all aspects of our life. Nothing happens to you without His understanding and approval. The incarnation and earthly life of Jesus were not different, either. Our today’s insight says, “it was right and proper that God, who made everything for his own glory, should allow Jesus to suffer.” Please stop and think about it! Was it right and proper for God to allow Jesus to suffer? Our verse, yes, it was. When you and I go through difficult and painful circumstances, we question God why He allowed this to happen to us, don’t we? However, remember, Jesus could see the purpose of God in his suffering. What was the purpose behind the sufferings of Jesus? It says there, “for in doing this he (God) was bringing vast multitudes of God’s people to heaven”. That was the purpose of God behind allowing the cruel suffering to Jesus.

Secondly, it says, “His (Jesus’s) suffering made him a perfect leader, one fit to bring them into their salvation.” Another translation says He became the pathfinder for many to come to God and receive God’s salvation and eternal life. You see, it was right and proper that God allowed Jesus to suffer. Because by the suffering of Jesus, he became a perfect leader, pathfinder, or perfect savior for people’s multitudes to come to heaven. In short, the sufferings of Jesus made Him fit to bring them into their salvation.

Amid severe suffering and pain, He did not focus on it. He looked past the suffering and pain to the glorious results coming out of it. The same applies to every one of us. Your circumstances are not hopeless, gloomy, or desolate. Jesus could have thought the same way. However, he refused to give himself to such thinking of anguish or dejection. He saw the purpose of God and the future reward behind it.

The Bible says in Hebrews 5:8-10 that even though He was Son, Jesus learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. You see, suffering and obedience in suffering have significant potential of reward if you look past and focus on the ultimate good results.

The lowliness of Jesus was beyond comprehension to any human mind. You can read about it in Philippians 2:6-8. It says there Jesus being the eternal Son of God, being in very nature equal to God, took the very nature of a man, more than he became a servant of all. He was obedient to death –even death on a cross! That is mind-boggling from the position of the eternal Son of God to man, a servant, obedient to God in all his sufferings and pain, to death-even death on a cross. In the process of it all, He weighed the purpose of God behind his sufferings and pain highly. To become a perfect savior, to bring many to God by offering perfect salvation.
Only a perfect savior can offer perfect salvation. Through the suffering, He proved himself and designated by God, the Father, to be a perfect savior.

The Bible says because of His perfect obedience to the lowliness, sufferings, and pain, God exalted him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Every tongue acknowledges that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. “Philippians 2:9-11.  You see, one day, every knee will bow, all in heaven and on earth and under the earth before Him. He will be acknowledged as the Lord and Savior of all.

Beloved, your sufferings may be too hard to explain. I am not belittling it. However, as we all increasingly learn and understand, we can endure many sufferings and pain that we once thought we would not be able to.  And God always has a bigger plan and purpose behind it. He makes you perfect through your obedience in it.  I faced with life situations that looked unbearable and hopeless. However, when I thought I could not bear it anymore, somehow, God would make my feet like the deer’s feet and enable me to tread on heights with the right response of faith and trust in Him.

Did you also notice God made Jesus the perfect savior, the source of eternal salvation? Did you know God designated Jesus as ‘the High Priest’ between humanity and God, not in the order of any human priests but the order of Melchizedek- the king of righteousness, without father or mother, without genealogy, without the beginnings of days or end of life, who remains the priest forever? (Hebrews, 7:3).

“Father in heaven, help me in my sufferings to see your purpose and plan. May I focus not on the immediate aspects but the future and final results. I agree I am a sinner. Please forgive my sins and help me to respond with faith and obedience. I believe Jesus is the perfect savior, source of eternal salvation, and the high priest forever, by his death, burial, and resurrection for my sins. I accept Him as my savior and Lord. In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen. “