The Lie That God Has Never Suffered – Part 2 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Some theologians hold that God is without passion, that He has no feelings and therefore cannot personally suffer. While they theorize, let's see what the Bible says and what it means to you and me.

Stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. We're in a series on ten lies about God and why you might already be deceived. Pastor Lutzer, today you'll explain how God actually chose to suffer, and I have to ask, why would He do this?

Dave, of course, as I mentioned in the previous broadcast, this is controversial. I understand actually both sides of the argument, but I take the position that God suffers in the sense that He voluntarily has chosen to suffer, especially because of the gift of Jesus Christ, who of course suffered on the cross. And when I mention that, let us remember that God is never reactionary, but at the same time, in answer to your question, Dave, the reason for all of this is that He might redeem us, and that's the most important thing for our own hearts. I want to thank the many of you who support the ministry of Running to Win, and at the end of this message, I'm going to be giving you some contact info. I want you to listen for it, because we continue to expand this ministry because of people just like you.

For now, let us listen. God chose suffering. He is still the sovereign one. He is still the king, but He chose to suffer, and therefore He suffers because He willed that He suffer. John Piper, in one of his books, talks about the infinitely complex emotions of God.

I love that phrase. Infinitely complex emotions of God. On the one hand, of course, God is always pleased with what is happening, because He has everything under control. When He looks at it from the long range point of view, but when He looks at it more narrowly, there are things that displease Him, there are things that make Him angry, and all of these emotions are not contradictory.

You and I, if we really feel happiness, we also know what it's like to feel sadness. Now you think of God who, what shall we say, fills the whole universe from end to end. He has a multitude of different emotions, not in conflict, but in harmony, and I want to say today that one of them is even disappointment and sorrow. One day, Martin Luther wrote a letter to Erasmus and said, Erasmus, your God is too human. And Luther was right. In the next message, in fact, I'm going to talk about, very critically, about modern conceptions of God that are far too human. But I want you to know that it is also possible to have a concept of God that is not human enough.

God created us with emotions, and because we're created in His image, we can see in the scriptures that He has emotions too. And with all of that background now, we look at the text that I read just a moment ago. We take a look at the cross. First of all, what was happening here in the passage that I just read? When the sixth hour until the ninth hour, darkness comes over the land and Jesus says, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?

What's going on there? First of all, remember that Jesus became legally guilty, legally guilty of the sin of the world. He was made a sin for us, the one who knew no sin. Imagine holiness and purity beyond our imagination, coming in contact with the impurities of the world, suddenly becoming legally guilty of child abuse and child neglect and rape and all the other sins of murder and greed and selfishness. And now suddenly that is being laid upon Him because He is becoming a sin offering. So Jesus is becoming legally guilty, not personally, but legally guilty of your sin.

That's pretty terrible. Secondly, the Father now is withdrawing. And when the Father withdraws, He does not give comfort to the Son whom He loves, nor does He intervene in the situation. But He withdraws and so the Son says, why have you forsaken me? Jesus is going through existential despair and He is walking through those hours alone. The thief says, call and come down from the cross if you're the Son of God. Could He do it?

Of course He could do it. Angels had to be restrained from coming to help Him. But the plan was that He die and so as He becomes that sin offering, the Father does not intervene.

No wonder it becomes dark. No wonder the hymn writer writes, well might the Son in darkness hide and shut its glories in when Christ the great Redeemer died for man the creatures sin. And here at the cross now you have all of the emotions of God converging. On the one hand you have justice which says I cannot overlook sin. I cannot forgive it. On the other hand, you have love that is saying we have to find a way.

There's got to be a way to resolve this. And so you have anger against sin at the same time that you have the Father pleased with the death of Christ. It says in Isaiah 53, it pleased the Father to bruise the Son because He knows what is going to come as a result of that bruising. And suddenly you have all of these divine emotions converging in what one preacher called this divine catharsis when all of the emotions are finally resolved in mutual satisfaction. Justice got what it wanted. And love got what it wanted. And you find that anger was resolved as it was taken out on the sin offering on Jesus.

And now mercy is extended and all of the things that God wanted to accomplish all are right here at the cross when Jesus is calling out my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now I speak to you fathers, those of you who have had children and mothers as well. What is it like when your child is suffering?

What is it like? I remember when one of our daughters was in the hospital for quite some time and I found I could scarcely work here at church. I was constantly thinking about her wondering, is she getting better? Are they able to analyze what it is that she's going through? And when a child suffers your insides, your what shall we say effective part of you begins to agonize along with them. Are you telling me that the father who loves the son in whom he is well pleased? Are you telling me that it was only the humanity of Jesus that suffered and the father stayed absent and was emotionally passive when his son was dying on the cross?

I don't think so. For as the father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who love him. Let's not have a God that is not human enough. It is God there at the cross. I think Luther was right when he said, if only a man died on the cross, we are damned. The one who died on the cross was the God man and when the humanity died and went through that agony, the deity was affected and God suffered.

William Butterick tells the story of being in a church in Italy in which he says there is a beautiful painting of Jesus dying on the cross and behind that painting there is a shadowy huge figure that extends to eternity and then he says that the nails that go through the hands of Jesus go through the hands of God and the side of the sword that goes in the side of Jesus goes into the heart of God and we can say there then with authority that it was God, the God man on the cross. I know that in a different context I quoted already to you some time ago the words of Phil Donahue when giving reasons why he abandoned Christianity asking that question, if God loves the world, why did he send his son to die? Why didn't he come out of heaven and do it himself?

Said Phil Donahue and the answer that I hope you know from the scriptures is Phil, he did. He did do it himself and that's why we sing amazing love and can it be that thou my God should die for me. Can God suffer? Yes, God can suffer. Did God suffer? Yes, I believe that God suffered on the cross. Does God still suffer today?

There is a story Elie Wiesel, a Jewish writer, Nobel winner, tells the story of being in a concentration camp and the Jews were asked to come and to watch the death of three people. Two men were hanged and also a child and Wiesel said that the two men died quickly but the child, the boy, struggled on the gallows for nearly a half an hour and someone behind him whispered what all of them were thinking was where is God? Where is he? There was a whisper behind him and then Wiesel said that as he saw that he was asking the same question and then there was an answer that was born in his heart and the answer was God is on those gallows. That's where he is.

It is the cross of Jesus Christ that invades human suffering. Where is God? God is in that ghetto where that child is being abused and neglected. Where is God? God is in that suburban home where you have intrigue and greed and where children are subjected to all kinds of expectations and where children sometimes are being so abused and hurt. God is there. God is, dare I say it, God is in that plastic bag in the abortion clinic.

That's where God is and if you say how do we know that God is there, all that we need to do is to point to the cross and to say it is the cross. It is the wounds of Jesus that reminds us that God can suffer. God can suffer and I believe that Bonhoeffer was right as he was standing against Nazi Germany when he said only a God who suffers can help us. We look at the world today and we see that tremendous suffering and people say well why is it that you do not think terrible things about God? What about the cynicism? And it is at the cross that the cynicism ends and we say in the words and the actions and the suffering of Jesus you and I say that God cares about the world and because he loves he suffers. I know that there's a lot of pressure isn't there for us to accept other religions.

In fact in this series of messages an entire message is going to be devoted to the question of whether or not God is obligated to save people from other religions. But there is a story that comes to us from Africa that might help us at this point. The story is that there was a blaze of fire that burned this hut because of the materials with which they are constructed there the houses burn quickly and they're very hot. Everyone died, the family died except for a little boy because the story is that when the blaze was in full what shall we say full strength someone and no one knew who someone went into the blazing house and rescued a child and laid him on the ground and then disappeared into the night. Well everyone was dead in the morning but the child lived and so the elders of the village thought that this must be a very special child possibly because of some superstitions that if the child survived the fire he has to be especially honored. So they called a tribal meeting as they do in some villages to discuss what to do with the child who survived. One nominated that he go into a home where the man was known especially for his wisdom and this would be a good home for the child to be brought up. Someone else said no I think that he should be brought up in this home because we have more resources we have more money and as this discussion was taking place suddenly one man came into the middle of the circle and asked to be heard. They turned to him and he said I think I have prior claim special claim and then he showed them his freshly burned hands and they realized that he was the one who went into the hut and rescued the child.

I know that there are many options out there. I know something of the fact that today there are different religions and different teachers that say we can do this and we can do that and they may even have some truth that is dispensed from time to time but I want you to know that no one else has wounded hands. No one else is at the center of the universe with a God who says I suffered for you and here is proof in the wounded hands of Jesus. The other gods were strong but thou art weak.

They strode but thou did stumble to thy throne yet to our wounds only God can speak but not a God has wounds but thou alone. Can God suffer? Yes. Did God suffer? Yes. Does God suffer?

Yes. Give me proof so that I may not think dreadful thoughts about him you say and I say look at the wounds of Jesus because Bonhoeffer was right. Only a suffering God can help us. Let's pray. Our Father we want to thank you today for the cross of Jesus. We thank you today that there it is that love and mercy and grace and anger and compassion were all resolved mutually satisfying all the demands of God. We thank you that justice got what it wanted and love got what it wanted and we thank you today that we can point to Jesus who said he that have seen me have seen the Father. We thank you that when we see Jesus on the cross we see God perhaps more clearly than we can ever see him until we see him face to face and now even in this moment if you're here today and you've never trusted Christ as Savior he's the only one who has the claim of Savior hood the only one with wounded hands who died that we might be redeemed.

Would you trust him right now? You talk to him and if you know Christ why don't you affirm your love your confession your yieldedness to him and to his wounds. Do in us today Oh Father all that you desire that we might love the Savior with all of our hearts we pray in Jesus name.

Amen. Well this is Pastor Lutzer and of course I understand that what I have just said should be nuanced. God is not reactionary God is not subject to his emotions but at the same time I wanted all of us to understand the work of Jesus Christ on the cross just a little better and to recognize that he suffered for us. I'm holding in my hands a letter from someone who has been listening to Running to Win in Portuguese. Now the reason that this ministry is in Portuguese is because of people just like you but this person writes every day now I'm meditating on each episode of Running to Win your program is impactful with a lot of wisdom. The reason I share that with you is because people just like you make this ministry possible. Would you pray about the possibility of becoming what we call an endurance partner? Well you say pastor I need some info here's what you can do go to rtwoffer.com when you're there you click on the endurance partner button or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. I'm so grateful for the many many people who make this ministry possible. You've heard me say before that Running to Win is now in 50 different countries in seven different languages all because of people just like you and this my friend is your ministry.

Pray for us and go to rtwoffer.com click on the endurance partner button or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Time now for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Our attempts to peer ahead into life after death have led to many viewpoints on what lies ahead. Tony listens to Running to Win and wants some clarity.

Here is his story. I'm confused about how you say we will know each other in heaven. I thought we would all get to know each other after we were all resurrected or raptured into the millennial kingdom. As I understand it is during these 1000 years that we'll get to know each other and become one huge family in Christ and then he will present us to the Father in heaven. If what I'm seeing isn't biblical please show me where I'm going wrong. Well Tony first of all a couple of questions I want to thank you for this question because it really shows you that you're trying to think through some things and I hope I can bring some clarity to it.

I think that there are a few issues that you are conflating together in a way that might be a little bit confusing. First of all you say that how will we know each other in heaven. Well the Bible really doesn't speak to that but there is some evidence that we are going to know one another intuitively. We are going to know even as we are known. So I don't think we're going to need a thousand years to get to know one another. It's very probable that instantly we will recognize one another and even know those whom we did not know on earth. Some of the folks in the Old Testament and in church history I think that we will not need name tags. You know Moses and Elijah were there on the Mount of Transfiguration and I don't think that Peter James and John needed a formal introduction.

They knew who they were and as I mentioned we shall know even as we are known. Then you talk about the thousand years of the millennial kingdom. I think you're right about that and it is after that that we are taken to heaven or heaven comes down to earth according to the book of Revelation and somehow this millennial kingdom ends up being eternity and that will be then the final real heaven. Read Revelation chapter 21 and 22. So you are right. The millennial kingdom isn't quite the eternal heaven yet even though it'll be a remarkable experience and we will go into heaven and during that period of time yes I believe that we will know everyone.

We will of course early on know Jesus and we will live happily ever after as that happy family that you spoke about. Another look into the future with Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you Tony for your question. If you'd like to hear your question answered go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. As you run the race of life get ready for a paradigm shift.

Guess what? God does not think like you do. Never has never will and this means we need to get on his page not the other way around. Next time on Running to Win Erwin Lutzer brings another message in his series on ten lies about God. Don't miss lie number four that God thinks like we do. Thanks for listening for Pastor Erwin Lutzer. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.