Hello and welcome back to the A United Front course. As you have completed the lessons in this course, it has been my prayer that you would find hope and comfort in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ as well as help in becoming a united front with your spouse.
In Matthew 5:4, speaking to His disciples, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." And He follows this with the promise that when He left, He would send another Comforter to be with and in His people (John 14:16-17 KJV) - the Holy Spirit.
For today's lesson, we will delve into what it means to be comforted by God and how those who are comforted respond. Let's begin by considering 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ, we share abundantly in comfort too."
Question 1. According to 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, who comforts us and why does He do it?
Paul speaks to the Corinthians in praise to God, who comforts us so that we may be able to comfort others with the comfort we’ve received in Jesus. Notice how we share in Christ’s sufferings and how that through Christ, we share in His consolation. Primarily, we find comfort in the message of the cross, the love Jesus poured out to forgive us and set us free. Like the beggars who shared their bread and riches (2 Kings 7:3-10), we share the powerful message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified with others to provide them with the same comfort we’ve received in Christ at the foot of the cross.
So that we can be confident in the message of comfort we have received, let’s pause and remind ourselves by reading some passages from Isaiah 53.
“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” Isaiah 53:3-4
To comfort us and relieve our distress, our Jesus suffered being despised and rejected by man. He carried our griefs (anxieties, diseases) and our sorrows (anguish, pain) (Philippians 4:4). He was struck repeatedly with fists and whips, and even worse, He was smitten by God, stricken by Him and afflicted.
My heart aches with gratitude to consider how our perfect and innocent Lord endured all this so that we might be accepted, welcomed, and received with pleasure by the Father (Ephesians 1:6). We can cast our cares and anxieties on Christ (1 Peter 5:7) and know joy even in the worst circumstances because Jesus has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Jesus received and drank all the cup of God’s wrath against sin so that we could drink the cup of freedom. What a relief to know that we, as believers, will never be without hope because our hope is anchored to Christ and His finished work on the cross (Hebrews 6:19). What a comfort!
“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--everyone--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” Isaiah 53:5-7
Question 2. Which one of Christ’s sufferings from Isaiah 53:5-7 stands out the most to you and why?
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