1 Peter 1:10-12
The Suffering Messiah
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
God revealed to the prophets, that a Messiah would come...God had this plan and it was revealed to the prophets...God also revealed to the prophets that our Messiah would suffer...And after He suffered, something glorious would follow...Our Messiah suffered and died on the cross...Jesus would make the ultimate sacrifice...That glorious following that St. Peter writes about is His resurrection...It would show that God can and would give us an eternal life with Him...
There are times in our lives that we too will suffer...And at the these times, when we suffer, it seems we are alone...But we are not alone in our suffering...It was predicted that Jesus, our Messiah, would suffer even before He was born...Jesus understands suffering...He suffered for us...This suffering for us, was the ultimate of suffering, because He would die for us...Our sins caused His death...When we think about it, we can say, "this is what my sins did to Him, my sins caused His death"...Is there any other way to look at it?...
The great thing is God sent His Son for us...Because God sent Him for us, it shows the love God has for us...God sent the Messiah to redeem our sins...Someone had to pay our sin debt, and He sent His Son to die for us and pay our debt...How great a love He has for us...
God relates to our pain and our suffering...When we suffer, it is personal...But when we are not alone, when we suffer...Sometimes, when we suffer, its seems like the only place to turn is the One who suffered for us...It is great to have a Father, who loves us...A Father, who would send His Son to suffer and die for something we do and did...
It seems like sometimes, if not all the time, we must suffer or sacrifice to get some of the good things in life...Those who believe in Him and have suffered, may find glory after their own personal suffering...Our words cannot explain or answer suffering, but the glory of His resurrection and eternal life, make suffering bearable knowing, we will be united with the Father and Son in the Kingdom of Heaven...