Suffering Before Glory
Clarice, one of our members, had the opportunity to bring her grandmother to church on Easter for the service. She reflects on how this chance prompted her to think about the truth of the resurrection.
”为什么你们的耶稣要死在十字架上?” (Translated: Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?) asked my unbelieving grandmother mid-way through the Easter Sunday chinese service.
Her simple question lays bare the realism of the message of the resurrection—it would be incomplete without first understanding and accepting the message of the cross. Mark 15 is striking in the portrayal of the suffering and humiliation that Christ had to endure on the cross. For many unbelievers, the degrading message of a crucified Christ, whom Christians claim to be God, is difficult to accept. If I were to paraphrase my grandmother’s question, she is asking—Why do you believe in a God who had to die?
Reading about the creation account in Genesis 1-3 opened my eyes to the beauty of the cross. The cross was God’s plan from the beginning to restore creation back to its Edenic origins. God had originally purposed His creation for good, and mankind were created by God, set apart as His image bearers, to steward and bring His glorious rule into creation (Gen 2:15; 2:19). Genesis 2 presents a perfect order of mankind enjoying sovereignty under God’s rule. But mankind had spurned God’s generosity. Tempted by Satan, Adam and Eve fell into sin by disobeying God and wanting to be God themselves (Gen 3:6). The consequence is a broken relationship with God, with one another, and the curse of death which looms over everyone.
Yet, in Genesis 3:15, God graciously, promises a serpent crusher when He says, “[the woman’s offspring] will bruise [Satan’s] head. And [Satan] shall bruise [the woman’s offspring’s] heel.” What God declares in Genesis 3:15 is profound. It shows that God purposed for the redemption of His fallen people to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection. As Ray Ortlund summarises in his book, Marriage and The Mystery Of The Gospel, “Christ who was wounded by the Serpent at the cross, but by that wounding the conqueror of Serpent.” This is corroborated by the eyewitness accounts in the gospels, which proves that Christ resurrected from the dead, conquering sin and death. Revelations 21 presents another brushstroke of the beauty of the cross, where Jesus Christ says that “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end”, mirroring what He said in John 19 before He died, “It is finished”.
It was also encouraging to witness a baptism and to welcome the transfer of new members on this Sunday morning. This was a timely reminder that this risen Christ is still at work in our world, in our midst today, to bring people from their sin and darkness, to Him! Just like how the early eyewitnesses testified to the reality of the risen Jesus, the sharings by our new members also called people to come and see this Jesus, who has saved and ransomed us from sin and death.
We praise God for the testimonies of (L-R) Megan, Mark, Angel, Kate, Elizabeth and Natalie, and warmly welcome them to GBC!
To my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, my prayer for you is that as sufferings, trials and temptations may abound in this fallen world, we will fix our eyes on our Saviour, Jesus Christ’s finished work on the cross. May God put a deep yearning in our hearts for the glorious new creation that awaits us. Revelations 21:1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”