Suffering
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Jesus began his ministry by reciting the following scripture from the prophet Isaiah:
Jesus said to the people listening: "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." This was a true saying, as Jesus ministry was to the meek, blind, brokenhearted, and captives. However, Jesus closed the book of Isaiah before finishing the full prophecy of the Messiah. The part that Jesus omitted was as follows:
By closing the book, Jesus was telling the people that the "day of vengeance" was still to come, and the promise to "comfort all that mourn" was still to come. In otherwords, there would still be suffering on the earth until the Messiah declared that the "day of vengeance of our God was at hand".
The reason for suffering
The reason for suffering is that the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God's one commandment. As a result, both they and their offspring were subject to a number of curses, abbreviated as follows:
But knowing the cause of universal suffering is like knowing that a shark ate your arm: something bad happened that you have no power to change, and you now have to deal with the consequences. If you do not deal with the consequences, it will jeopordize your life, and if you don't learn from what happened, you will probably make the same mistake again.
How to deal with suffering
The book of Job is probably the oldest book in the Bible, and it deals with the suffering of one man, Job, who lost his wealth, family, and health, and had all of his friends turn against him. At the end of the book, a young wise man named Elihu and God reveal to Job the folly of blaming God for his problems. If you have any of the same problems that Job had, it would be good for you to read his story. Here is Elihu's secret:
Elihu continues:
The Lord also answered Job, out of a whirlwind, and confirmed Elihu's preaching. God said:
So, as far as suffering goes, we are subject to the law of death as a result of the decision of our forefathers. In justice, God could have condemned the whole human race to annihilation, or simply left us in our anguish. However, God, in His mercy and grace, sent His only Son Jesus Christ to suffer and die for our sins so that we might be reconciled to God. Because of this, suffering shouldn't matter to anyone that has accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as we have been promised a new body and life eternal. Complaining about suffering, for a Christian, is like complaining about your job the day before your retirement.
The end of suffering
If a shark ate your arm, you should probably do two things: first, deal with the wound, and second, avoid shark infested waters. The same holds true with human suffering, first, we need to deal with the wound - if we are able, and second, we need to avoid the cause of the wound. Humanity's wound was caused by disbelief in the Word of God, which is more commonly known as sin. On our own, we have no way to deal with the wound of sin. The only way to effectively deal with sin is to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Son of God. The Bible says that Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection, and that the last enemy to be defeated is death (<KJVBible>I Corinthians 15:23-26</KJVBible>). So, God will defeat death in his own time, and until that time we must live like Abraham by believing God's promise is true even though we may see no physical evidence of the reward. The only way to avoid sin in the future is to believe in the Word of God. Just as Jesus' death brought his resurrection, the scriptures invite you to die to the lusts of the flesh in order to live in righteousness. This is called the new birth - it is God living in you through His grace. Like a seed, you need to die in good ground in order to bring forth life. That good ground is the Word of God. Die to yourself, surrounded by the Word of God, and your life will bring forth good fruit in the midst of a suffering generation. A seed has no part in becoming a tree - it simply dies. You have no part in becoming a new creation - just accept Jesus Christ in faith, and he will raise his own life inside you.
The "day of vengeance" will either be a wonderful day, or it will be a terrible day - depending on who you are. If God has saved you, there is no doubt that it will be a day to remember.
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