Suffering comes before glory

"Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” Luke 24:26 (NIV)

Last night I was reading On the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) when God shared an amazing insight with me. Reading over Luke 24:26 (above) we find Jesus reminding His followers that He had to suffer before entering His glory - it was the prerequisite. I was struck by the fact that we, too, must go through the same progression! We know from God’s Word that we must first die to ourselves and be reborn (i.e., John 11:25 and John 3) and many scriptures talk about the suffering we Christ’s followers will endure (i.e., James 1:2-18), however it was God’s revelation to me on why we ourselves must suffer – it’s the only way to glory!

Our Lord Jesus Christ blazed the path to glory, taking on infinite suffering for sins that we, not He, committed. We’ve seen The Passion of the Christ and can somewhat begin to understand, or at least, visualize the physical pain Jesus suffered on His cross to bring us redemption. But we will never know the spiritual and mental pain Jesus endured as God rejected Jesus, His only Son, leaving him forsaken and utterly alone. It brings new understanding to Jesus’ cry on the cross:

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi Eloi, lama sabachthani?” — which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 (NIV)

And it had to happen this way so that God could save us from the certain death sin brings and wonderfully reconcile His children – us! – to Himself!

Thus, as painful as suffering is to us and as much as we dislike going through it, rest in the fact that Jesus Christ Himself has planned it this way so that His glory may be revealed to us in God’s perfect plan in His perfect timing.

Thank you, Jesus, for showing us the true way to glory!