Christ’s Life of Suffering
Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered so many things during His earthly life that it sometimes seems His life was nothing but suffering. Indeed, there is no more fitting way to describe His life than to say, “He suffered.”
He endured poverty, so much so that He said to a would-be disciple, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head” (Matt. 8:20). In the end, they even took the little He had, parting His garments and casting lots for His robe.
He was “despised and rejected of men” (Isa. 53:3), hated without cause (John 15:25), a stranger to His own brethren (Ps. 69:8), contradicted by sinners (Heb. 12:3), cast out by His own (John 1:11), forsaken and denied by His disciples (Matt. 26:56, 74), and “numbered with the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12).
He was accused of being a friend of publicans and sinners (Matt. 11:19), of blasphemy (Mark 2:7), of being in league with Satan (Matt. 12:24) and of being a danger to national security (John 11:48). He was rejected in favour of the vilest criminal (Luke 23:18-19) and even hated Caesar was preferred to Him (John 19:15). Many times His own people sought to kill Him (John 5:18).
In the end they spat in His face, struck Him, mocked and ridiculed Him, scourged and crucified Him. How He suffered!
In all this suffering, however, it was not chiefly the shame, humiliation, rejection and pain that mattered, but that He suffered for our sins and under the wrath of God. This the word of God teaches in Isaiah 53:3-6: When He was “despised and rejected,” when He became intimately “acquainted with grief,” it was not merely that we “esteemed Him not,” but that He was “smitten of God and afflicted” (4). In all His suffering He was “wounded for our transgressions” and “bruised for our iniquities.” The Lord laid on Him “the iniquity of us all.”
This was necessary for our redemption. Not only did He have to pay the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross, but because our whole life is lived in sin, He had to suffer all His life long. By obeying perfectly in all that suffering, He made restitution, repaying that which He had not taken away—the great debt of obedience we owe to the glory of God. Of this Christ Himself speaks in Psalm 69:4: “Then I restored that which I took not away.”
Hebrews 5:7-9 sums it all up: “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” Rev. Ron Hanko
Quenching the Spirit
“Quench not the Spirit” (I Thess. 5:19).
This verse from Paul’s letter to the congregation in Thessalonica presents certain difficulties.
At first glance, it appears to teach that the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the hearts of God’s people, can be banished from the believer’s heart. In this way the verse is often interpreted, and it is then used to support the idea that one who is saved can lose his salvation, that the saints can fall away.
If this interpretation were correct, the text would deny the fifth point of Calvinism, the preservation of the saints.
The difficulty with this view is that it plainly contradicts other passages of Scripture which teach that a child of God can never fall from grace. Consider John 10:28 and Philippians 1:6.
Another problem arises as well. Do not the Scriptures teach that the work of the Holy Spirit is irresistible? Those who hold that the doctrines of grace are the truth of God’s word confess irresistible grace as one of the five points of Calvinism.
Thus two of the five points are at stake.
Yet there is no contradiction.
We must remember that the Holy Spirit works salvation in such a way that God’s people not only receive the blessings of salvation in Jesus Christ, but also consciously experience them. This is a great wonder of grace. God not only saves His people, but causes them to know that they are saved.
It is to this conscious experience that the apostle refers.
The word “quench” makes this clear. To quench is to extinguish. When a flame is quenched, it is put out. It is not the Spirit Himself who is quenched, but the conscious enjoyment of His work.
When the Holy Spirit begins His saving work in the heart, He never departs. That work continues until it is perfected in heaven. But sin can extinguish the conscious experience of that work. God has ordained that the enjoyment of salvation is experienced in the way of obedience.
This should not surprise us. If we retained the assurance of God’s favour while walking in sin, we would conclude that sin does not matter. But when the sense of God’s favour is withdrawn, we are driven to repentance. Even this is the work of the Spirit, who remains present.
Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” This stands in contrast to the works of the flesh (19-21).
How then do we quench the Spirit?
We do so when we despise God’s commandments and walk in disobedience. God does not give the sense of His favour in such ways. The flame of the Spirit’s blessing is extinguished.
It is also possible to quench the Spirit in the life of a congregation, and this is no small matter.
I remember being in a congregation that was divided. False doctrine from the pulpit produced sectarianism, strife, bitterness and enmity. The Spirit was quenched. This was evident in the breakdown of the communion of saints, in the dread of hearing error from the pulpit, in the absence of blessing from the preaching and in constant quarrelling. The fruits of the Spirit were absent.
But when false teachers were removed and the congregation was again united in the truth, though smaller, peace, joy and unity returned. The work of the Spirit burned brightly once more in the lives of God’s people.
No wonder Scripture exhorts us to seek the unity of the church (Eph. 4:1-6; Ps. 122:6-9).
Let us heed the apostolic command: quench not the Spirit. How vital this is for our joy and peace in this present world. Prof. Herman Hanko
Did Moses Write Deuteronomy?
We have the following question to answer in this issue of the News:
“Deuteronomy speaks of Moses’ death and also states that it was written by the prophet Moses. Did Moses have foresight of his death and write the account himself, or did Joshua finish the book?”
Some, of course, raise this question to cast doubt on the Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy. In spite of what Scripture and our Lord teach—that Moses wrote the law (Ex. 24:4; Deut. 31:9, 24; Mark 12:26; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:46-47)—many claim that it was written long after his time. This is simply a denial of the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture and must be rejected.
We believe, therefore, that Moses wrote the final chapter of Deuteronomy, including the account of his own death, under divine inspiration. This is no more remarkable than the many other instances in which Scripture reveals the future, such as Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Cyrus, king of Persia, Jeremiah’s prophecy of Israel’s return from Babylon, or the detailed prophecies of Christ’s birth—that He would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem, of the tribe of Judah and of the royal line of David.
Unbelief refuses to accept Scripture as the word of God and denies that it contains clear revelations of the future. Faith, however, receives Scripture as the word of God, who declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done (Isa. 46:10).
Deuteronomy itself contains other examples of such revelation. Deuteronomy 17:14-20 speaks of Israel’s future monarchy, and Deuteronomy 18:15-19 foretells the coming of Christ as the great prophet of God’s people. Why then should it be thought strange that Moses, by inspiration, also recorded the account of his own death?
Scripture shows that much was revealed to Moses beforehand concerning his death:
- That he would not enter the land of Canaan (Deut. 31:2)
- That he would die on Mount Nebo (32:49)
- That God would show him the land before he died (32:52)
It is not difficult, therefore, to believe that God also revealed to him where he would be buried and what the Lord would say to him before his death (Deut. 34:4-6).
The real issue is whether Scripture, in every part, is the infallible word of God. If it is, then even in matters such as these it must be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Ps. 119:105). If it is not the inspired and infallible word of God, then we remain in darkness without any light to guide us. Rev. Ron Hanko
