The Suffering of Jesus Christ - Lesson 3

Review

Isaiah 53:

Isaiah 53:3–12 ESV

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

2- To Please His Heavenly Father

Key Point: Jesus Submission to the Fathers Will

John 6:38–39 ESV

38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

Question: Was Jesus death for us or for the Father?

Isaiah 53:3 NASB95

3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Isaiah 53:10 NASB95

10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

3- To Learn Obedience and Be Perfected

Key Point: Learn Obedience? and Jesus active obedience

Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die Chapter 3: To Learn Obedience and Be Perfected

Therefore, when the Bible says that Jesus “learned obedience through what he suffered,” it doesn’t mean that he learned to stop disobeying. It means that with each new trial he learned in practice—and in pain—what it means to obey.

Welcome to a Reformed Church: A Guide for Pilgrims Active Obedience

Christ’s active obedience is His obedience to the law of God in thought, word, and deed from the moment of His conception through the end of His earthly life. The Heidelberg Catechism speaks memorably of Christ’s active obedience when it says His “perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness” become our own by faith alone (Q&A 61). The Westminster Larger Catechism also gives great attention to the lifelong obedience of our Lord on our behalf:

How did Christ humble himself in his life?

Christ humbled himself in his life, by subjecting himself to the law, which he perfectly fulfilled; and by conflicting with the indignities of the world, temptations of Satan, and infirmities in his flesh, whether common to the nature of man, or particularly accompanying that his low condition. (Q&A 48)

This also is how the apostle Paul explained our justification, saying: “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:18–19).

The truth that the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone is the foundation for our justification has profound practical effects in us, such as peace of conscience from the terrible judgment of God (Rom. 5:1). The apostle Paul’s desire for the benefits of justification was so strong that he described his intense desire to “be found in him [Christ], not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Phil. 3:9).

Passive Obedience

Welcome to a Reformed Church: A Guide for Pilgrims Passive Obedience

Passive Obedience

When we speak of our Lord’s passive obedience, we do not mean that He passively allowed things to happen to Him. Instead, we are speaking of His passion. The Latin word passio speaks of His sufferings on our behalf. Again, the Heidelberg Catechism is very helpful, because it tells us the passive obedience of Christ has to do not merely with His death but with His entire life:

What dost thou understand by the word Suffered?

That all the time he lived on earth, but especially at the end of his life, he bore, in body and soul, the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race, in order that by his passion, as the only atoning sacrifice, he might redeem our body and soul from everlasting damnation, and obtain for us the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life. (Q&A 37)

Because of our gratitude for the work of Jesus Christ alone in both His active and passive obedience, which culminated in His once-for-all accomplishment on the cross for us, we desire “to know nothing … except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2), and we “count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:8).

4- To Achieve His Own Resurrection from the Dead