One of the great themes of the Hebrew Scriptures is that God identifies with the suffering. There are all these great texts that say things like this: If you oppress the poor, you oppress to me. I am a husband to the widow. I am father to the fatherless. I think the texts are saying God binds up his heart so closely with suffering people that he interprets any move against them as a move against him. This is powerful stuff! But Christianity says he goes even beyond that. Christians believe that in Jesus, God\u2019s son, divinity became vulnerable to and involved in – suffering and death! He didn\u2019t come as a general or emperor. He came as a carpenter. He was born in a manger, no room in the inn.<\/p>\n
But it is on the Cross that we see the ultimate wonder. On the cross we sufferers finally see, to our shock that God now knows too what it is to lose a loved one in an unjust attack. And so you see what this means? John Stott puts it this way. John Stott wrote: \u201cI could never myself believe in God if it were not for the Cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?\u201d\u009d Do you see what this means? Yes, we don\u2019t know the reason God allows evil and suffering to continue, but we know what the reason isn\u2019t, what it can\u2019t be. It can\u2019t be that he doesn\u2019t love us! It can\u2019t be that he doesn\u2019t care. God so loved us and hates suffering that he was willing to come down and get involved in it. And therefore the Cross is an incredibly empowering hint. Ok, it\u2019s only a hint, but if you grasp it, it can transform you. It can give you strength.<\/p>\n
And lastly, we have to grasp an empowering hope for the future. In both the Hebrew Scriptures and even more explicitly in the Christian Scriptures we have the promise of resurrection….<\/p>\n