The Other Side of Travail
Adapted from the audio message by David A. DePra
In John 16, Jesus sought to comfort His disciples by using the picture of a
woman about to give birth. It is from this passage that the title
emerges of, “The Other Side of Travail.” I could just as easily
have titled this message, “The Other Side of Death” -- which of course is
resurrection -- but I will stay with, “The Other Side of Travail,” because of
the picture that Jesus gives in the passage.
A Misguided Expectation
Let's read starting in John 16:20:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world
shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into
joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour
is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the
anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And
ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall
rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you.
Now let's stop right there. Let's get into the environment and the
context of these passages. Jesus in this passage is once again
telling his disciples that He is going to go away. He has told
them plainly in John 16:16 that He is going to the Father. He has
told them all through John 14, 15 and 16 that it is essential that He goes --
because unless He goes -- He cannot come back down and dwell in them by the
means of the Holy Spirit. He has also told them that He is going
to be betrayed, and that he is going to be crucified and rise three days later
from the dead.
Of course, the disciples had no frame of reference whatsoever for these Truths. This
was not in Jewish teaching from out of the Old Testament. It
should have been. But it wasn't. The Jews, including
the disciples of Jesus, expected a Messiah that would physically reign and rule
from the temple in Jerusalem. Because the disciples knew that
Jesus was that Messiah they expected that this kingdom was going to happen any
minute. From them, Jesus was going to kick out the Romans take His
place in the temple to reign and rule -- and they would be at his right hand.
Jesus had been telling them that their idea of the kingdom was not the Truth. He
told them directly that He would be crucified. He also illustrated
through parables the true nature of the kingdom of God. In this
age it would be a spiritual kingdom – Jesus would come to dwell IN THEM. But
they could not understand Him. Despite His constant teaching to
the effect that things were not going to happen the way they thought they did
not grasp what He was saying.
As the time of His death and resurrection drew near, Jesus more and more told
them that He was going to leave them. That is the context in which
He gives this picture of a woman in travail. That alone gave them
cause for sorrow. Jesus was aware that the disciples knew
something was going to happen – He had told them He was going to leave them --
but that they did not now exactly WHAT was going to happen. What
DID happen was going to blindside them -- and plunge them into a tremendous
crisis.
The disciples didn't expect a Messiah that would die. They
expected Jesus to reign and rule -- with them at their side. All
of their hopes were pinned on this expectation. It was the reason
for which they followed Jesus. In fact, they left their lives, and
risked their lives, upon this great hope.
The disciples had anchored their limited faith in God in this expectation of the
kingdom. But Jesus knew that all of it was going to come crashing down -- and so
he wanted to encourage them. And so, He says to them, “Your
experience now, and in the next couple of days, can be likened to a woman that
is in travail -- that is in great pain because she's delivering a child. But
take heart because there's another side to this travail. There's
another side to this horrible experience – to this death-like experience that is
about to come upon you -- and that other side is not death. The
other side of this travail is a birth – it is unto LIFE.”
A Woman in Travail
Women that have given birth to children obviously have a first-hand experience
of this -- and can relate to this much more than men. There are
women that have gone through labor that has lasted as much as 12 hours or more. And
while that woman is in that labor, she does anticipate the birth of this
wonderful child. But while she's in the labor she wants it to be
over. That's really the case in any season of pain. If
we are in a situation that brings pain and suffering -- if we are in a trial --
we are in labor spiritually. And we want it to be over. We
want the pain to stop. We want OUT of that situation. It's
natural for us to think that way.
Jesus is saying, “I understand that it's natural for you to want to escape
suffering. But have in mind that the pain is going to pass -- that
there is another side; there is a result; there is a birth through this travail. This
birth is LIFE -- this birth is something for which you may not presently even
have a frame of reference. But it's a birth that is coming out
from your suffering.”
Jesus was speaking to them, of course, of the immediate circumstances in which
the disciples were about to find themselves -- that of losing their teacher;
losing their friend; really of losing their faith in God. They
were going to stumble because of their expectation of an immediate, material
kingdom. Note that this kingdom wasn't an expectation that
was apart from their personal faith in God. No. It
WAS their faith in God. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah
-- and they were right. But their interpretation of that the WAY
in which God was going to bring that kingdom to pass -- they did not have a clue
about that. And so when Jesus was betrayed they were plunged into
this travail. It was a cataclysmic experience. It
was a tremendous crisis point. All of their hopes, all of their
dreams, and all of their faith, was vested in what they THOUGHT God was doing. But
it was going to come crashing down.
Have you ever had an experience wherein you really thought God was doing
something – and had all of your faith and hopes pinned to that -- only to see it
die? Have you ever been exposed as one who had more faith in what
you thought God was doing then you did in God himself? This was
the error of the disciples. And quite often, it is the same error
of many Christians.
Jesus is speaking to the immediate situation of these disciples. But
in principle, He is also speaking to the spiritual experiences that believers
will go through. I really love this picture that He is giving of a
woman in travail -- because we do find it elsewhere in the Bible. Jesus
is saying a woman when she is travail has sorrow because of the pain -- because
of the suffering -- but when the life is born, she rejoices because she sees it
was worth it. And she then understands the outcome. Well,
remember that Paul said something similar in Galatians 4:19? He
said to the Galatian church – who had lost sight of the living Christ and were
living under the law -- He said to them in verse 19 of Galatians 4: “My
little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in
you.” I've shared many times how that phrase, “formed in you,” in
NT Greek means, “to be inwardly realized and expressed.” And so
Paul was in travail until this great birth would take place in the Galatians –
he was in travail for them to come into an inward realization of Christ; so that
Christ could be inwardly expressed in them and to them.
This was Paul’s travail for the Galatian church -- as a woman about to give
birth. But of course, each of us will have this same experience if
Christ is to be formed in us. Yet even though it requires much
travail, pain, and suffering, to get to that point of a birth, when, “the child
is born,” we will forget the pain because we will see, “the child,” and know
that it was all worth it. How many understand that if we come into
an inward realization of Jesus Christ -- to where we really know Him – that it
will set us free? It will change us and adjust us to God -- and we
will never see anything the same way again. The BIRTH is THE OTHER
SIDE OF TRAVAIL. The other side of travail is LIFE; it is seeing
Jesus -- because He is now realized within us.
I Will Come to You
Jesus had all along been promising the disciples exactly what he summed up in
John 16:21 – using the picture of the woman in travail – He had been promising
His life in them through the spirit of God. It is also a promise
for us. One other place where He made this promise was in John 14. In
John 14, Jesus is talking about the promise of the Father – the promise of God
sending the spirit of God down to dwell in them. He says in John
14:17: “The spirit of God has been WITH you, but shall be IN you.” Once
again He was giving them this promise because He knows that soon He is going to
physically leave them, and He wants to comfort them.
In John 14:18, Jesus continues. He tells them that He must soon
leave them, but that, “I
will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.” Note that: He
says that HE will come to them even though He is going to the Father. How? He
will come to them by the means of the spirit of God that will no longer merely
dwell WITH them – but IN THEM. Jesus says that is how He will come
to them: He will, through the spirit, dwell IN them.
In verse 19, He goes on to say, “Yet in a little while the world sees me no
more.” Why? Because shortly, Jesus will no longer be
there physically. Yet He also said, “But you will see Me.” Why? Because
He is going to come back to dwell IN THEM by the spirit of God – and reveal
Himself to them in spiritually -- in an INWARD way.
Then Jesus elaborates. He says, “And because (when I come to dwell
in you) I live, you shall live also. And at that day, (when I come
to dwell in you) you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in
you.” Clearly, despite telling them that He is going to leave them
physically – and the world will no longer see Him – He is nevertheless giving
them the promise that He is going to come to dwell in them via the spirit of
God; He is going to dwell in them, and they in Him. He is
promising them the reality of, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Now, let's read on because He makes His promise of coming to live in them even
more clear – and by extension – it is His promise to live in US. In
verse 21, He says, “He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that
loves Me, and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him
– and will MANIFEST MYSELF TO HIM.” So here Jesus is
promising that He is going to manifest Himself to his people. But
HOW? Well, we don't need to guess because Judas asks him that
question. Judas, not Iscariot, asked Him, “HOW is it Lord that you
will manifest Yourself unto us -- but not unto the world?”
Now, again – at this point in time, they have no clue as to what, “Christ in
you, the hope of glory,” means. They have no clue as to what it
means for the spirit of God to come down and live IN THEM. That is
a foreign thought to them. This is why Judas asks his question,
“Why won’t the world see You, but we will be able to see You? They
were ALL wondering the same thing. They were puzzled as to what it
meant for Him to live IN them by the spirit. They could not
understand how they would be able to see Him but the world would not be able to
see Him. That is why Judas asked the question, “How will you
manifest yourself to us, but not to the world?” In verse 23, Jesus
answers:
If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we
will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
So there it is: HOW will Jesus manifest himself to his people, but
not to the world? The Father and Jesus will come and make their
abode with His people, indeed, IN His people. This again is,
“Christ in us, the hope of glory.”
The Necessity of Suffering
Back in John 16, Jesus is making several things very clear to them: He
is going to leave them. But He will not leave them alone – He will
come to dwell in them by the spirit. Yes, they will pass through a
time of crisis and suffering. But they will be as a woman in
travail – it will be unto life in Him.
They could not grasp these things presently. But He is telling
them that if they would hang in there and believe Him despite it all, there will
be another side to this travail -- and that other side will be as the birth of a
child -- that other side will be the manifestation of Himself IN THEM. They
will be brought into an inward realization of the very Christ with whom they are
speaking at that moment.
Jesus’ promise of life from out of suffering is a promise both to them and to
us. There is ANOTHER SIDE to travail – something that will result
from it. And while that other side may not be a change in the
circumstances of our trial, that other side will nevertheless involve a change
in US. We will experience an inward revelation and realization of
the Christ. We may be like a woman in travail for many seasons in
our life. But it is all unto this picture of a birth. It
is all unto knowing Jesus Christ.
How many understand that even if nothing changes outwardly, that if we see Jesus
Christ that everything about us will change -- because it is knowing Him and
seeing Him that sets us free? And so this will be a newness of
life. We will actually experience what we received when we were
born from above.
This is not to minimize suffering. It is REAL. We do
have many legitimate hopes and dreams. We do have friends,
brethren, and family. Sometimes those we love sin against us and
hurt us. Sometimes we get sick. Sometimes we
encounter financial trauma. All of these things can get inside of
us and torment us. But Jesus is promising a solution that is
unlike any human solution. That solution is an inward realization
of Himself.
When we were born from above it was all at once and forever. At
that point, we ARE a new creation. But just as a child must spend
a lifetime to learn what life is, so must we learn what the new birth carries in
Christ. Christianity is, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” -- and
it is the new birth – it happens once forever the day that Christ joins us to
Himself in spirit. But now we must grow, learn, and discover HIM.
Most of the New Testament, certainly after the book of Acts, is a collective
teaching of what Christianity IS. In a nutshell, it can be summed
up in that way it. It is a written revelation as to what it means
to be in Christ, and Christ in us.
And so Jesus says he guarantees that you have sorrow in the world. We
are, in fact, “called to suffer.” Peter writes:
For to this you are called: Because Christ suffered for you,
leaving an example, that you should follow his steps. (I Peter
2:21)
Why is suffering necessary? Is it necessary because God just sort of sat down one day and decided that He was not going to let Christianity be, “too easy” -- and so he just sort of mechanically mandated that suffering be part of the package? No. That is silly. The reason that suffering is included in the Christian experience is because of THE NATURE OF THINGS. Everything you are in Adam is contrary to everything that Christ is in you. God has birthed us out of Adam but into Christ. He has delivered us out of the Adam race into Christ. And since the flesh wars against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh – and both are in us – then IN US is the battleground for war. It is a battle for our will. It's a battle for our faith.
Believers must pick up our cross daily – and that experience of losing our life
for the sake of Jesus -- in a practical experiential sense – will involve
suffering. But as Jesus is trying to tell us through the picture
of the woman in travail – we will find Him as our life. We must
die in our earthly nature in order to live in Christ. We must lose
in order to find. This is the way it is because of the
nature of things. That is why suffering is necessary in order to
bring us into the fullness of Christ.
A Vital Question
It is at this point that all believers MUST ask themselves a question. It
is certainly the question that each of the disciples had to ask themselves --
and every one of them answered in the affirmative, except Judas. Judas
did not answer in the affirmative. They said, “Yes,” to this
question, but he said, “No.” So what is the question?
The question is this: Even if all of our hopes and dreams are
dashed – hopes and dreams that we thought were of God – even if all of our
expectations from the Lord come crashing down – will we go on with Him anyways?
I am not necessarily talking about things that we may have wanted in willful
rebellion – although the question really applies to even those – because even
those are things WE want. But if all of our expectations from God,
even as a believing Christian -- if all of those -- despite us walking as far as
we know it faith and obedience -- if all of them come crashing down, and are
brought to nothing, with no hope or sense that they will ever be resurrected –
will we, by faith, go on with Jesus Christ? Or will we go on with
God only if He does what we think He ought to do?
There are many believers who have walked along in a path that they were
convinced was OF GOD. They expected a certain outcome. After
all, they prayed about it. They had done their best to believe and
obey God. They gathered up Bible verses for an affirmation that
their path was God’s will. Many even thought that God had directly
spoken to them. Some say they had dreams and visions;
confirmations through circumstances -- or even and other Christians. They
claim to have been given signs and wonders to confirm what they believe was
God’s word and promise for them. And then the entire thing
collapses. It doesn’t happen. And there is no sign
that it ever will. The thing is dead.
Of course, many will resort to the notion that even if what they hoped is dead,
that this is all just a TEST. They believe that God will,
“resurrect it.” But in many cases, He never does. The
thing is dead and it stays that way.
Situations like that are crucial tests of faith. But the test is
not whether we believe God will resurrect that for which you hoped. Rather,
the test is whether you and I will go on with God even if He doesn’t. Are
we able to LET IT GO? Are we able to trust that it is sufficient
that God knows the beginning from the end? Are we able to trust
that God will not fail to be faithful to us -- even without our continual
demands that He be faithful? Are we able to realize that there is
a greater purpose of God that can be found in a circumstance, hope, dream, or
desire?
So we have to ask that question: If God were to allow our hopes
and dreams to die, will we go on with Him? Even if doing so costs
us everything? Or will we take the attitude that because God did
not give us what we expected that this proves that God is not faithful?
You will remember that Jesus said, “Whoever will lose His life for My sake will
find Me as His life.” He also said, “Whoever would seek to possess
His life for himself will lose it.” That is the meaning behind
those words. Can we see that when our hopes and dreams are
shattered that this is the choice? That it is at that point that
we are doing to lose ourselves into the hands of Jesus Christ – or that we will
continue to possess ourselves? These are crisis points in the
Christian life. It certainly was a huge crisis point in the lives
of the disciples of Christ.
Judas was an apostle. He followed Jesus until he figured out that
Jesus wasn't going be the Messiah the way Judas wanted Him to be – and so
through betrayal Judas tried to force things. Judas essentially
said, “No! I'm not going on with God unless He does what I want. Jesus
MUST set up the kingdom of God NOW.” Judas was so demanding that
his way be Jesus’ way that when it all came crashing down he hung himself.
I'm sure all of the other disciples had their doubts. Peter
betrayed him. That betrayal arose out of doubt. All
of them probably had their trauma and doubts over this terrible situation. But
the eleven of them went on with God -- regardless of their kingdom crashing
down; regardless of the death of their every hope and dream.
You have to remember that the disciples had pinned all of their hopes and dreams
– indeed, they had risked their lives – on the promise of God’s kingdom. They
were not hoping for a bad thing. They did not desire for something
that was forbidden by the Bible. Rather, they were hoping and
expecting the very kingdom promised in scripture, and about which Jesus had
continually taught. They knew Jesus was the Messiah – and they
were RIGHT. They expected a kingdom – and they were RIGHT. But
they did NOT understand the meaning. They did not understand the
MEANS. They thought that the death of Jesus was the end of any
kingdom. But the death of Jesus was the means of the kingdom. They
thought the kingdom was to be a natural one. But it was to be
spiritual – beginning with CHRIST IN US. Thus when Jesus was
crucified, they were devastated. And that devastation called from
them FAITH. They had to answer the question: Despite
the disappointment, will I go on with God?
Believers are going to face this same kind of disappointment. The
reason is not because God deceives them. No. Read
the gospels. Jesus continually told the disciples the Truth about
the kingdom, His purpose for coming, and what was going to happen. But
they could not understand Him – they were blinded by traditional teaching and by
the very desires they hoped to realize. God is also true to us. But
we are also liable to be blinded. Thus, the only way in which God
can make us to see is by allowing things to take their course. But
at the end of that course we will be faced with that choice: Am I
wholly for the Lord – to the point where I will be adjusted to His purpose, even
though it dashes to pieces my purpose?
How many realize that when God must allow our hopes to be dashed that He is, in
fact, guiding us into all Truth? Sure. I've known a
lot of folks who have believed that God was doing something or other that
fulfilled their desires. They believed and obeyed God to the best
of their knowledge. Maybe it cost them to walk in what they
thought was the will of God -- only to see the whole thing come crashing down to
the ground. Did God betray them by allowing them to be deceived? No. He
had to allow them to be deceived in order to expose the error that was IN THEM –
the ignorance and the blindness – and thus, bring them into the Truth and
realization of Jesus Christ.
Do we want the Truth or not? There are some professing believers
who will not go on with God. If following Jesus Christ leads them
into disaster – as they would define it – they accuse God of betraying them and
refuse to ever trust Him again. But the problem in that case does
not boil down to a need to understand. Rather, it is a need to
BELIEVE and TRUST – without being able to understand. This is a
difficult thing. It is a hard pill to swallow. But
we are dealing with eternal issues that are contrary to earthly and temporal
goals and thinking. Each Christian will have to face it.
God is faithful. All of His ways are true. And just
as was the case with the disciples, if following Him leads us into heartbreak or
disappointment, then we must continue to follow Him – for He is keeping His
promise to lead us into the Truth. Look where He led His
disciples: Into an inward realization of Himself. The
eleven, and Paul, became a foundation upon which the entire body of Christ would
be built.
So the question remains: Will I go on with God? Will
I believe God, regardless of my own inability to understand? Will
I walk by faith, instead of sight? Will I believe Jesus Christ
when He says that there is another side of this travail; that there is a
resurrection? Will I lose my life into His hands? If
I will, He promises that I will find life, light, and Truth. If I
will, “hang in there,” by faith, I will discover a revelation of Jesus. Indeed,
even if I am never given an explanation that clears up my perplexity, it will be
OK -- because I'll see Jesus in a way that enables me to believe.
In That Day
God may never explain to us why He has allowed certain things. But
the answer -- instead of the explanation -- is going to be knowing Jesus Christ. That
is exactly what Jesus Christ says here in John 16.
Now, let's pick it up here where I left off with verse 21: A
woman, when she is in travail, has sorrow because her hour of delivery has come. But
as soon as she is delivered of the child, her pain and suffering is ended – and
now she rejoices in the child. In other words, as soon as the
whole purpose of her birth pangs comes to pass -- as soon as the whole point of
her suffering comes out -- she remembers no more the anguish for joy that a
child is born into the world. In other words, now there is a
BIRTH.
This picture that Jesus is giving is correspondent to the birth of Christ -- or
to a new realization of Christ – that is, “born in us,” through suffering. He
says, “Now you have sorrow. But I will see you again – I will come
to dwell in you – and IN THAT DAY you shall rejoice because you will see Me. And
no man can take from you that joy.”
Of course, the expression, “in that day,” is really referring to the point in
our experience when we see Jesus Christ.
Jesus is talking about what I read earlier -- that He will come to them, and
dwell in them, and manifest Himself to them. But He also says that
IN THAT DAY that Jesus manifests Himself to them in an inward way – “in that day
you shall ask me nothing.”
What is He saying? Jesus is not saying that it's wrong to ask
things of God. It is not wrong to ask God WHY, or to inquire of
the Lord as to what He wants us to do. That's fine and it's good. We
often need to do that -- that we may open ourselves to Him. In
fact, He encourages us to ask. He says, “IN THAT DAY you will ask
Me nothing. But verily, verily, I say to you, whatsoever you ask
the Father in my name, He will give you.”
So it's good and right to ask -- but he is saying that IN THAT DAY that the
birth takes place – IN THAT DAY that they are brought into an inward realization
of HIM in a new way – IN THAT DAY they will not need to ask Him the same old
questions. Why? Because seeing HIM is sufficient. God
may go on to explain something about this or that if it suits His purpose for
us, but the point is that Jesus Christ in us is sufficient.
If we see Jesus Christ we will know he is sufficient and faithful. We
may carry questions and perplexities, and even some hurts and pains, for the
rest of our life over certain things that have impacted our soul and our natural
man. We may. But if we come into an inward
realization of Jesus Christ IT WILL BE OK -- because we will be able to say, “I
do not understand -- but I trust the One that does understand. And
it is sufficient.”
And so Jesus said, “Verily, verily I say to you, IN THAT DAY you shall ask me
nothing but whatsoever you ask the Father in my name He will give to you. So
if you have asked nothing in My name, ask, and you shall receive, that your joy
may be full.” And so He is talking about the fact that when He is
revealed in us -- in other words, when we come into a knowledge of Him – that HE
HIMSELF is going to be the answer. How many understand if we know
Jesus, and Jesus is the Truth, that knowing Him will answer a whole lot of
questions?
But then Jesus goes on to say than from OUT OF that from out of that revelation
of Him, and from OUT OF that relationship of knowing Him -- that we are able to
ask the Father in His name for things that we need – and He encourages us to do
that. And so we are at perfect liberty to ask God anything that's
on our heart. And yet if we know Him we will accept silence as his
answer for us -- if that is presently His answer -- and we will nevertheless GO
ON WITH GOD.
So again -- the question is: “Will we go on with God?,” even if we
don't understand; even if we have been hurt; even if He's allowed
tragedy; even if He has allowed, “our kingdom” -- whatever that is -- to come
crashing down around our ears? May God give us the grace to go on
because it is absolutely vital to our spiritual growth in Jesus Christ.
A Prime Example of the Ways of God
Now in talking about a subject such as this, we can hardly avoid turning to what
we might call, “the template,” for suffering -- and that template is the book of
Job. I cannot take the time to go through the book of Job, but I
simply want to illustrate from the last chapter of the book the fact that if we
believe God, and let Him have his way with us in these matters -- if we hang in
there and lose ourselves to Him; ask Him to do, “what ever it takes,” to bring
us through -- and refuse to give up -- if we do that, that we will see Jesus
Christ in a way we never imagined was possible.
I trust that we realize that when I talk about seeing Jesus Christ that I am not
talking merely about learning new doctrine or a new theological interpretation
of Scripture. Those things will, of course, come along -- because
everything God does is going to be revealed and affirmed in the Bible. But
I'm talking about, “knowing Jesus Christ,” in the way that the Bible explains
it.
Paul, in Ephesians 1, says it this way:
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you
the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The
eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know… (Eph. 1:17-18)
But then there is also Galatians 4:
My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in
you. (Greek meaning: Inwardly realized and expressed.) (Gal. 4:19)
These passages show what it really means to see Jesus and to know Him in a way
that we may have never known Him before. This will SET US FREE. Theology
and doctrine alone can't set us free. Seeing Jesus will set us
free -- and then the theology and the doctrine will absolutely agree.
Well, most of us know the story of Job. Job, through no fault of
his own, was plunged into a terrible time of suffering. God had
said that Job, “…is good and upright man. He also said to Satan
that, “you have incited Me to allow this to come upon him without cause.” So
there was no thought in the book of Job that Job's time of suffering was the
result of his own sin. No. But Job was not perfect. If
he had been perfect, he would not have needed the trial. But he
had not sinned. He had not gotten into unbelief at all. God
never said he did.
How many know that you and I can be completely obedient; completely faithful to
God as much as we know to be -- and still be plunged into troubles? Why? Because
God loves us. He must chastise us -- which means to teach us as
sons and daughters.
Again -- this gets back to, “the nature of things.” It gets back
to what MUST happen if you are birthed into a new realm – and what WILL happen
if you go on to experience Jesus Christ.
Well, in the Old Testament, Job found himself in this situation through no fault
of his own. However, this is one question we must address before
move on: What if my problem and my suffering IS the result of my
sin? What if I have caused it, or if I deserve it? Am
I then a lost cause? Is there any point in me asking for help from
the Lord?
Now if the reason that you are suffering is because of your own sin or unbelief
– absolutely you can turn to God. Give yourself to God. And
then how many know that you and all of your suffering is now in His hands? Repent
and turn to Jesus Christ. Because in the final analysis, we must
ALL lose our lives to Jesus Christ. We must ALL say to God, “Lord,
do whatever it takes to get YOUR WILL in me; do whatever it takes to bring to
pass what YOU want to bring to pass; do whatever it takes to bring me into an
inward realization of Your Son.”
The fact is, we are all sinners. We have all been guilty of
unbelief. Thus, no matter how we have gotten into our trial – what
matters is how we respond to God through it. In the end, it will
matter only whether Jesus is revealed in us through it.
In Job 42, we begin to see the reason why God allowed the suffering of Job. We
begin to see the outcome of this horrible time of suffering for Job -- and what
God was after; what was the purpose. We might say that Job was
like a woman in travail, under great stress, in great pain -- really in every
single facet of his life spiritually and physically. It wasn't
just that Job lost possessions and his family. It wasn't just that
he was covered with boils. All of that was horrible. But
the greatest trial of all was that Job's faith in God was shaken. He
could not understand how somebody who had obeyed God -- and God said that he had
obeyed – he could not understand how a man who obeyed God and believed God could
be allowed this kind of suffering. Much of the book of Job is a
debate over that issue.
Leading up to Job 42, God had come to Job and begun to reveal himself to Job in
that whirlwind. But in Job 42:1, we find that Job answered the
Lord. He said, “I know that You can do everything, and that no
thought can be withheld from You.” And so Job is beginning to
understand that God is sovereign -- that God knows what He is doing and doesn't
make mistakes.
In the second half of Job 42:3, Job continues. He confesses,
“Therefore have I uttered that which I understood not, and things that were too
wonderful for me which I really didn't understand; which I knew not.” Note
that Job is NOT saying, “Therefore have I uttered error.” No. He's
NOT saying, “Therefore have I uttered falsehoods and heresy about the Lord.” No. In
fact, God Himself says in Job 42:8, “Job has spoken of Me that which is right.” This
does not mean that every word Job spoke was perfect. It does not
mean that Job understood what he spoke – in fact, Job is confessing that he did
NOT understand. But it does mean that despite all the suffering
and despair; despite all of the emotional outbursts and perplexity, that Job
rightly represented the nature and character of God. Job held to
God’s faithfulness despite his inability to see HOW God could be faithful.
Job was confessing that he believed and spoke the Truth – but that what he had
believed and uttered was beyond him. Maybe we could say that Job
believed right doctrine and true teaching ABOUT God, but is now confessing, “Now
that I see God Himself. And because I see God Himself, I now
understand that I really didn’t know what I was talking about.”
How many understand that this is a wonderful place to come to? To
com to where you begin to feel this about even your TRUE doctrinal teaching? That
as right as it might be, that all of your biblical teaching just pales into
insignificance in the light of seeing Jesus Christ? The biblical
teaching is essential. It's great and we need to be biblical in
our teaching and doctrine. But the Bible is not a person. Teachings
are not a person. Indeed, the Bible itself tells us that we must
come to see the Person of Jesus Christ. God’s purposes are unto
that end.
And so Job confesses, “My goodness Lord, I have uttered what I did not
understand, and I have spoken things that are too wonderful for me. I
really didn't know what I was talking about. In verse 5, Job says,
“I've heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye sees you. I
therefore repent.”
Now, in the latter part of verse 3, and all of verse 5, we are reading the
outcome of Job's time of suffering. We are reading the other side
of his travail. We are reading that what is born out of his
travail is that he now SEES GOD. He sees the living God. No
longer has Job merely heard about God through teaching and doctrine. He
sees God Himself.
This is exactly what God wants to do for us. He wants to bring us
into an inward realization of Jesus Christ; He wants to reveal CHRIST IN US. That
will adjust our doctrine. And if our teaching doctored has been
false, it will be corrected. But even if our teaching and doctrine
have been true, we will see the Person to whom it points.
So here was Job going through this horrible season of suffering. Again
and again, he was asking God -- WHY? Why, God? -- why have You
allowed this to happen to me? I have obeyed you and I have
believed you. Why have you allowed this?”
You will note that God never answered, “I have allow this because you are a
dirty rotten sinner.” God never said to Job, “Because you stopped
believing in Me.” What God essentially DID say to Job was this:
“It was precisely because I saw that your heart was toward Me; that in
your heart you believed and wanted me – it was precisely because of that -- that
I brought you into this trial. I knew I could bring you to the end
of yourself. I saw that you could be trusted with it.“ (I
hope that it is understood what I mean by that.) Through his
suffering, Job did indeed come through to exactly what God wanted him to come
through to: Job saw God – he saw God in a way that he never
imagined.
Now again – as I noted before, it doesn't matter whether our trial is the result
of our own sin, or our own mistakes. Regardless, we can always
repent of our failings and turn to God. For at the end of the day,
God's goal for us is still the SAME – it is to bring us into the end of
ourselves and into the fullness of Christ. Regardless of where we
are, or how we got there, we are nevertheless dealing with the SAME God, the
SAME Truth, the SAME Jesus – and the SAME purpose of God in our lives. Thus,
our starting point will eventually not matter if God’s gets HIS ENDING.
There are a lot of Christian people, and I can identify with this, that when we
get into trials and tribulations -- we think that the reason that we are
suffering is because we have sinned or broken faith with God. But
that may not be the case at all. If God convicts us of sin or
unbelief we can repent. If He does not then we really should not
torment ourselves over it. For the goal and purpose of God remains
the same: That we might surrender to God and come to see Jesus
Christ.
There are also many of us who have had family or friends, and even brethren do
some terrible things to us. Perhaps we have been betrayed, lied
to, deserted, and even molested. Why did these things happen? Because
people sin. Because people don’t revere God. And we
were in their path. God may allow us to be hurt – although I will
say that we have no idea how many times God may have protected us because things
never got that far. Regardless, we MUST give ALL of these matters
to God. There is simply no explanation that is going to heal us. Only
faith in God and a realization of Jesus is going to give us a life that will be
victory over these terrible things.
Job asked all of these questions throughout the book of Job. And
he never saw the answers to his questions. You never find God
explaining to him specifically why he had to suffer. In fact, you
don't even read of God explaining it to him after God restored Job. No. But
even though Job did not see the answers he sought, he did see something
eternally more important than answers: He saw God.
You will note that once Job saw God that he was done asking and arguing and
going round and round over his suffering. IN THAT DAY, Job did not
ask God any more questions. Rather, it says that Job prayed for
his friends. Notice the shift: Job is still
suffering. Nothing had changed about the trial of Job. But
Job – because he saw God – had changed. He is no longer
preoccupied with himself. His attitude is no longer, “Woe is me.” No. Job
has seen God. This has set him free to leave himself alone in the
hands of God.
Job was set free to such an extent that in Job 42:10 it says that the Lord
turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Some
people have tried to turn this into a formula -- that if you're in a trial just
pray for others and God will end the trial. That's nonsense. If
you want to try that go-ahead. It is not going to work. No. Job
was free to pray for his friends because, through faith, he had left himself
alone in the hands of God. He had finally come to the end of all his
efforts to understand and to please God. Why was he free to do that? Why
did he now have the faith to leave himself alone? Because HE SAW
GOD.
Despite all of that Job had suffered, and despite the silence of God, Job said,
“Yes, I'm going on with God. I'm going on with God, even though He
has not answered me; even though he has not given me the explanations I want. I'm
going on of God because now I see God.”
That is the other side of travail. That's the birth of the child. That's
the Revelation of Christ in us. It is the teaching to New
Testament believers revealed in the book of Job. It is exactly
where God wants to bring each of His people: Into an inward
realization of Jesus Christ.
Israel at the Red Sea
The Bible is filled with lots of examples of these Truths regarding trials and
travail. Job is maybe the primary one. But I want to
give another example from Exodus 14. In Exodus 12 we find that God
had delivered Israel out of Egypt through the blood of the Passover Lamb. Pharaoh
really did let God’s people go. Then, starting in Exodus 14:1 –
which is after Israel begins to leave Egypt, into the into the wilderness, on
the way to the Promised Land, it says:
The Lord spoke unto Moses saying, “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they
turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against
Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea...,” and they did so. (Ex.
14:2, 4)
What we read here is that immediately after leaving Egypt Israel was given
specific instructions by God as to where to encamp. God told them
exactly where to encamp and scripture records, “and they did so.” But
God also told them exactly what was going to happen if they obeyed Him:
For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled
in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. And I will harden
Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon
Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the
LORD. (Ex. 14:3-4)
And so, Israel -- at the direction of God -- went out and encamped exactly where
God told them to camp, and what happened as a result was exactly what God said
would happen: Pharaoh pursued them and they were trapped. On
three sides they were trapped by the mountains and the Red Sea, and on the
fourth side Pharaoh was closing in upon them.
Here we come to yet another important question: How did Israel get
into this predicament -- where it looked as if all of them were going to be
slain? How did they get into what was an impossible situation? Answer: They
got into that predicament by OBEYING GOD.
When Israel came out of Egypt they did not decide to do their own thing. No. God
told them were to encamp and they did so -- and it got them into this impossible
situation. Understandably, they were afraid. They
expressed their doubts. But isn’t their reaction nothing more than
a mirror of how we react when we find ourselves in trials? Especially
if we believe we have gotten into the trial through faith and obedience?
How many also see that it was at the point of this great crisis, that in spite
of all their fear, that they were faced with exactly the same question as was
Job, and as was the disciples: Will we go on with God regardless
of circumstances? Regardless of whether it looks as if He has
forsaken us?
Jesus Christ is THE WAY of Escape
Exodus 14 contains God’s directions to Israel as to what they must do in this
impossible situation. Note that His instructions to them are not a
formula as to how to get out of their dilemma, or as to how to beat the
Egyptians. No. His instructions are a revelation as
to how to believe and trust Him – indeed they are instructions as to how to FIND
God in the impossible.
But let’s pause for a moment and bring in a great Truth. It is
really the same Truth we have been discussing – and that Truth is that Jesus
Christ – seeing Him and knowing Him – is God’s purpose in any trial. Jesus
is God’s way of escape, not out of the trial, but He is God’s way of escape
while we remain in it. If we lose ourselves to Jesus Christ and
abandon ourselves to God, we have escaped UNBELIEF, ignorance, and the wiles of
the Devil. We have escaped these through HIS LIFE – and through an
inward realization of Him. That being the case, NOTHING can take
us captive; nothing can destroy us.
There is a common misunderstanding among believers that God’s, “way of escape,”
is a way out of their trial. Thus, folks pray and search for this
way of escape as if God is keeping it a secret, or as if He will not give it to
them. But this is error. Whether God actually opens
up a way out of our particular trial and suffering – or does not – is a
secondary issue. But regardless of that, God’s primary purpose is
ALWAYS to reveal Christ in us – which is equal to Jesus being revealed as our,
“way of escape,” all the while we remain in the trial. Once God
achieves that IN US, He may deliver us out of the trial that made it possible.
You will note
that if we are to find God IN an impossible situation, we are actually going to
have to be IN the impossibe. If we are to discover Christ as the
other side of travail, we must be IN travail. Obviously, there is
no birth without birth pangs. Sure. If every time we
encountered trouble God gave us an, “escape route,” we would never grow to know
Christ. We would never have occasion to LOSE our lives so that we
could FIND CHRIST. Therefore, when God directs us and we obey,
only to end up in a trial, this is actually the faithfulness of God in our
spiritual lives.
There is a
passage in the Bible to which many of us like to refer when we find ourselves in
a trial. This is the most common passage that folks use to try to
prove that God always provides a secret way of escape OUT of suffering. But a
closer look at the passage sheds another light upon this issue:
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (I
Cor. 10:13)
Note the
final sentence in this passage: The way of escape is so that we
might be able to BEAR the trial. Does that sound like God is
promising a way OUT of the trial? No. He is promising a revelation
of Christ that will enable us – beyond our own strength – to be able to endure
the trial unto God’s purpose. In short, Jesus Christ is THE way of
escape.
Is this not
VICTORY in Jesus Christ? Is it not victory in Jesus Christ for a
believer to face contradiction to faith and the lies of the enemy, and yet to
stand firm in faith? – while still IN the trial? Absolutely.
God desires
to bring us to the END of ourselves – so that we might LOSE ourselves to Jesus
Christ. It is the only way in which we can truly FIND God; find
Jesus Christ as our life. This is God’s purpose in His people: That
we might know Jesus Christ and live from out of Him. God will use
the impossible situation to accomplish this purpose in His people.
Now, God DID
also deliver Israel out of their physical trial. He did deliver Israel, and He
did deliver Job. He may deliver us. But whether He
does or not is secondary to whether Christ is revealed IN US through the trial. If
He is revealed, then we ARE delivered in an inward way. The
outward may follow because we are free.
God’s
Directions
God’s directions to Israel as to how to believe Him – as to how to find Him and
His deliverance in the impossible are found in Ex. 14:15. There
are four dimensions:
Fear ye not, stand
still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will
shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see
them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye
shall hold your peace. And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore
criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go
forward.
These directions are really four dimensions of faith. They
constitute a complete relinquishment and a losing of yourself into the hands of
the Lord by faith.
“Fear NOT -- is the first thing. But if you are, FEARING NOT, then
you ARE believing -- and if you ARE believing, then you will STAND STILL in the
faithfulness of God. You will refuse to be moved from faith and
commitment to Him and His purpose. We do this by telling the Lord,
“to do whatever it takes to get His purpose.” We can say to Him,
“I don't know my way out of this travail. I don't even know why
I’m in it. But I am not going to move from believing you. I
am going to believe you despite the fact that the, ‘Egyptians,’ are coming down
around my neck. I am going to GO ON with You regardless – I will
go on with You by standing still.”
How many understand that standing still is just another way, ironically, of
saying, “I'm going on with the Lord. I’m not going to run off into
my own will. No. I will stand still in His
faithfulness – and ask Him to do whatever it takes to get His will in me.”
If you read Ephesians 6, there you will find a description of spiritual warfare. The
theme is STANDING AGAINST the enemy – by STANDING STILL in the faithfulness and
finished work of Jesus Christ. God could never instruct us to
stand still in the Lord, or in the power of His might, unless He was speaking of
a finished victory. It is the ground of a finished and final
victory that makes it possible to stand still – otherwise we would have to fight
to WIN the victory; win that ground. No. We are to
stand still, by faith, upon the ground of HIS finished victory.
If we fear not by believing Jesus Christ, and stand still in Him, God says we
will, “see the salvation of the Lord.” But WHO is the salvation of
the Lord? It is Jesus Christ. There it is again: HE
is the other side of travail. If we fear not and stand still even
while in our travail and pain – we will come into an inward revelation of Jesus
Christ.
The Lord IS our salvation. Psalms says, “The Lord is my light and
my salvation. Whom then will I fear?” (Ps. 27:1) Jesus
said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11) So
again -- just as we found with Job, and as Jesus taught in John 16, so we find
the same Truth here in Exodus 14: Fear not, stand still, and you
will see the salvation of the Lord -- you will see Jesus Christ Himself in a way
that you never anticipated.
When we are in the midst of great suffering and travail, it may ring rather
hollow to us to be told that Jesus Christ is our way of escape, and that knowing
Him is our salvation. Just as Jesus told His disciples, most of us
are focused on our pain – on getting out of the trial. God may
eventually deliver us. But once we do come to see Jesus Christ we
will absolutely know what Jesus was talking about – and we will absolutely agree
with Him: Jesus Christ is our salvation. The
sufferings of this present time are not to be compared – even during this life –
too having Jesus Christ revealed in us.
The Consequences of Unbelief
Now, of course, there are other possibilities. How many understand
that if we won't go on with God – if we will not believe Him despite our
disappointments and perplexities -- if we won't go on with God by standing still
– then we will NOT see Jesus. The child will NOT be born. We
will not know Christ in that new and inward way. And perhaps more
frightening is the fact that we will be so diminished that we will likely never
even realize what we lost through our unbelief.
I know a lot of people that have broken faith and gone their own way – because
God would not give them what they wanted, or because God allowed travail to come
into their lives. They accuse God in exactly the same way as did
Israel: We believed and obeyed You. But now we are
in great calamity. Have you led us here only to desert us and
allow us to die? We were better off in Egypt.”
For example, I have known folks who got themselves into great religious
deception. They sold themselves to a particular religious system
or group. It cost them years of their life. Perhaps
it cost them their marriage, their family, friends, or even a lot of money. Then
they saw the Truth. Some of these people blame God for allowing
them to be deceived. They blame Him for what they lost. Rather,
they should be thanking Him for showing them the Truth. It is here
that they must ask whether they will go on with God – whether they will lose
their lives into His hands – or demand to own themselves.
What is the penalty for choosing darkness rather than light? Some
punishment from God? No. The penalty for choosing
darkness rather than light is that I get darkness – I become dark within myself. I
cannot see the Truth. I cannot see Jesus Christ. And
if that is the case, then I have no light to guide me in life. All
else that I do will be subject to my unbelief. The terrifying part
of this is that many in this condition become so hardened in their pride and
unbelief that they think they do see. As Jesus warned, “Beware
lest the light that is in you be darkness.” That is deception. They
only deliverance is to come back into the light. Be willing to be
exposed. Repent and turn to God.
Moving Forward
We cannot know specifically what will be born out of death and surrender. We
can only know that it will be a new realization of Jesus. Will we
go on – will we MOVE FORWARD with God -- standing still in His faithfulness,
allowing Him to bring us into His great purpose in Christ? This is
what is being illustrated at the Red Sea.
So God said to Israel, “Fear not, stand still, and you will see the salvation of
the Lord.” But then he added, “Move forward.” That
is a bit humorous, in that if you were an Israelite in that impossible
situation, you might be tempted to ask the Lord, “Move forward to WHERE? There
is only the Red Sea in front of me.”
How many see a principle here: The waters of the Red Sea were a
type and shadow of a baptism into the death of Jesus Christ. Facing
the impossible really does show us the Truth about ourselves -- that WE are
impossible. Yet that death is not the last word. If by
faith we abandon ourselves into the hands of the living God there will be a
resurrection – there will be a resurrection or greater release of Jesus Christ
IN US.
We see this illustrated in what Jesus said on the cross. He said,
“My God, My God, why view forsaken Me? But then, with His last
breath He said, “Into Your hands I commit My spirit.” He stared
death in the face but was surrendering to His Father in that death. He
knew that He was depending one hundred percent on God to raise him up. But
he believed. And this is what it means to MOVE FORWARD – it means
to abandon yourself to God in a baptism unto death. That is our
Red Sea.
This principle of life from death in Christ is all through scripture. As
noted earlier, it is essential because of, “the nature of things.” Thus,
it may be dark now, but there is a morning. There may be great
anguish now. But in Christ there is a birth; there is another side
to travail – a resurrection and life side.
Light in His Life
There is another question here that we need to ask: Why does
relinquishment to God -- why does losing your life to Jesus Christ -- result in
a greater realization of Christ? Because if you give yourself to
Jesus Christ you will decrease and He will increase IN YOU. And He
is the Light.
In Matthew 16, where Jesus said that if anyone would lose his life for Jesus’
sake, he would find his life in Christ – we find this principle. If
you lose yourself to Jesus what you find is Jesus as your life – and all light
and Truth is found in Him; in His life. You will be brought into a
greater realization of Jesus. Losing yourself to Jesus Christ
breaks the spirit of self-possession -- and a spirit of self-possession
blinds us to God more than anything else. Thus, losing yourself to
Christ really means that you have taken a step out of darkness into the light.
Encouragement from the New Testament
Now I want to wrap this up with a couple of verses from the New Testament. These
are ones that most Christians know because there are ones that are often quoted
for encouragement.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Rom.
8:18)
Paul is, of course, drawing a contrast between this age and the next age.
In this age we will realize, “Christ in us,” and He will be our hope of
glory for the next age. But in the next age, Christ in us will no
longer be merely our HOPE of glory – but we will be the realization of HIS
glory. That's yet to come. There is a certain amount of His glory
that we can come to realize in this age – and our sufferings make that possible. But
this is just a foretaste. In the next age, there will be a full
release of His glory IN US.
Another passage:
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more
exceeding and eternal
weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen,
but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal;
but the things which are not seen are eternal. (II
Cor. 4:17)
Paul knows that travail is a part of life. He knows that we sin
and bring consequences upon ourselves. He knows that others sin
against us. He knows that bad things happen to good people – if
you know what I mean. Certainly all of the above, and more,
happened to Paul Himself. But he is trying to tell us WHY God
allows it – God allows it because IF – and it is a big “IF” – we will lose it
all into God’s hands, even if He does not explain it, that these temporal
sufferings will be used by God for eternal purposes. And all of
those eternal purpose are going to be built upon the revelation of Jesus Christ
that God wants to bring IN US.
When we all finally go to be with the Lord, and we look back on this age, those
seasons of great suffering which may have lasted decades for some, will THEN
seem as like, “light affliction,” in comparison to what God got out of it IN US. How
many understand that when you and I leave this world that all of our suffering
and all of our circumstances are going to pass into history? No
circumstance or situation – no cause of either suffering or enjoyment can pass
through into eternity – all of that is going to be left behind. All
that can live forever is what God got in us of Christ through it.
This brings us full circle back to John 16:21, where Jesus gives us the picture
of a woman in travail. Pain is real. People do hurt
us. We ourselves do make mistakes. Some of them are
bad mistakes. And we are going to suffer as Christians – it is the
nature of things that we suffer. Jesus understands that it is
expected that we react to pain. We want it to stop, and until it
does, our mind will be on it. But He is telling us that the pain
is only temporary. But what is BORN out of that suffering is
eternal. God wants to reveal Christ in us. And in
this age, Christ in us is our HOPE of experiencing HIS glory. Yet
in the next age, Christ in us will be our full realization of HIS glory. Jesus
says, “You will KNOW that all of the travail had another side – and you will
rejoice in the life that was born out from it.”