THE sufferings of Christ are, and ever will be, the theme of praise of all who love Him. During His life on earth He was the Sufferer. He was “a Man of sorrows” and acquainted with grief. When He healed the sicknesses of men He sympathized with them in their sufferings in such a deep way, that He bare their infirmities. “They brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils: and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” (Matt. 8:16, 1716When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: 17That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. (Matthew 8:16‑17)). The heart of the Healer was afflicted because of the afflictions of His people.
But the sorrows of His heart in suffering with men are very different from His sufferings for men! He healed the sick with His word, or with His touch; He saved our souls by dying for us on the cross. He was with us in sickness, as a mother suffers with her child; He was for us in relation to our sins, as a Substitute suffers in the stead of another. Jesus had no sympathy with sin, and were we to regard His goodness as the Healer, in a similar way to His atoning grace as the Saviour, we should indeed make light of His sacrifice. The sufferings of the Lord for the sins of His people stand ever by themselves.
The sorrows of the cross cast their dark shadows upon Him when He was in Gethsemane. He entered that garden with the three chosen disciples. He went thither with them, seeking from them their sympathy! But we see Him going before them, alone in His grief! He was removed from them about a stone’s cast; and, though they were near Him, He was solitary!
Ah! who can enter into these sufferings of Jesus? Of necessity He must be alone with His Father at such a moment. The very greatness of His agony demanded that this should be the case. No mere man could penetrate that grief, nor comprehend its depths. We follow, as it were, at a stone’s cast, and with reverence consider Him. He kneels down and prays, “Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.” (Luke 22:4242Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. (Luke 22:42)). And as He prayed “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” The unutterable sorrow of the cross, with its cup of woe, because of sin, was before Him. But in that hour of grief He took the cup from His Father’s hand. He surrendered Himself to His will.
Shortly afterward His disciples forsook Him and fled, and Jesus was left in the hands of His enemies! They mocked Him, they scourged Him, and they bound Him to the cross. They pierced His hands and His feet. “When they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him.” Then Jesus turned His heart towards heaven, saying, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:33, 3433And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. 34Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (Luke 23:33‑34)). His forgiving love, His interceding cry arose from the cross. Men might spit upon Him, buffet Him, crown Him with thorns, crucify Him, and add mockery and taunt to His wounds; but the very blood our hands caused to flow washes away our sins.
The dark hours of Calvary wore on, and our blessed Substitute “His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” (1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)). He “suffered for sins”; what those His sufferings were we shall never know, they were infinite. “He poured out His soul unto death,” and Jehovah made “His soul an offering for sin.” (Isa. 53: 10, 12). If in Gethsemane the favored three could but sleep for sorrow, and at His bidding must needs remain at a distance from Him, how shall we consider His sufferings on the cross? Yet while unable to measure His woe, we can remember Him, and thank Him for His atoning blood, and for His sacrifice of Himself.
God forsook Jesus upon the cross. God in His righteousness turned away from Him, fore Jesus had taken the sinner’s place, and God made Him, who knew no sin, sin for us. Nor did His sorrows end until the sin bearing had ceased. So long as there was any suffering for sin to be endured, He bore it; but having completed the work His Father gave Him to do, He cried, “It is finished!” Then of His own will and by His own power He gave up His spirit.
Yes, Christ has suffered for sins, but He has done so once, once and forever! He will never suffer more for sins. The work of atonement is finished, completed once for all time and for all eternity. There is no more sacrifice for sins, for the sins of all His people are forgiven, (Heb. 10:1818Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. (Hebrews 10:18)) by virtue of His suffering for sins. Jesus is no longer the Sufferer. For having put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. He is in heaven at the Father’s right hand.
When He was on earth, men rejected Him as the Sufferer—they wanted power, rule, glory; now that He is in heaven they reject Him as the Glorified, supreme in rule and in power—they want a sufferer! They want a dying victim, an “unbloody” sacrifice! Away with such thoughts! He has ONCE suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. His work cannot fail; its results are everlasting. He did suffer for our sins; He did suffer to atone for and to put them away; He suffered to the shedding of His blood, and to the endurance of God’s wrath against sin, but His blood flows no longer, it has been shed once and forever, and He lives to die no more. The life is in the blood, and His life has been given and the blood poured out for us.
He bears no longer the wrath of God against sin—the wrath has been borne once for all. Does anyone consider that Christ upon the throne of God is still bearing sins—still enduring God’s wrath due to them? Can such corrupt thoughts lie in the soul of a Christian? A sacrifice for sin without suffering is no sacrifice.
Christ, by His suffering once for sins on the cross, has brought all who believe on Him to God. Believer, rejoice in what He has done for you. Surrender not to your own doubts and fears—surrender not to any teaching from any lip, the greatness and the glory of the result of the cross in your own particular case; you are brought to God—you are near to God, Once you were afar off in sin, but now, your sins being atoned for, you, being in Christ, are as He is in this world. (1 John. 4:17).
He, the Just One, once suffered for you, the unjust; He took your place, and bore your penalty. Now He has brought you to God, and, in loyal love to Him, you must seek to own the favor of the grace in which you stand. You do but honor Him in His suffering upon the cross for your sins, by rejoicing in the extent of the blessing which is now yours in Him.
We look around, and what do we see in Christendom?—a system of religious service that denies the great truth, that “Christ has once suffered for sins.” Its priests teach that it is necessary that He should suffer often in the sacrament, which, they declare, but continues the sacrifice of the cross. Again, we see men denying that Christ did so suffer “that He might bring us to God.” We must do our part, they teach, to get near to God in our own holiness and goodness; we need a religion that shall bring us step by step towards God; we need a gradual purification; we cannot know in this lifetime whether we shall be eventually saved or not, we must wait until and at the judgment day.
Believer, have none of these things, but thank the Lord for His suffering once for sins—for your sins; thank Him that your sins are gone— thank Him that He has brought you to His God.