Between the Two Gardens

Living Life as an Exiled Sojourner ¹

As Christians, we live in the time between the two gardens. We are cast out of Eden for our rebellion against God, and though we live with the certain hope and guarantee of the blessings of the New Earth, its peace and comfort can seem so far away. In times of trial, we often find ourselves echoing the words of the Psalmist,My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?² It can feel as though God has forgotten us, the world goes on without us, and we are left all alone—destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. ³

But God has by no means forgotten those whom he has chosen. Indeed, the Scriptures hold forth not only that God is with us in all of our sufferings, but even that he sovereignly intends the hardships of our lives for good.⁴ And instead of leaving us to our own devices, the Lord has graciously given us descriptions and examples in his Word to help us know what will come upon us and how we ought to act under it. Christ in his humiliation and the church as sojourners and exiles are two examples that teach us how we ought to live while we await the final Sabbath rest for the people of God,⁵ when all of our sorrow will finally turn into joy.⁶

Christ in His Humiliation

Although Jesus was both absolutely sinless⁷ and, as God, impeccable (unable to sin),⁸ he still endured many trials during his life on earth, even apart from the cross. He was born into abject poverty in the ancient world, and so lowly was his estate that he was laid in an animal feeding trough when he was born.⁹ Christ was moved even to tears by people's sin,¹⁰ suffering,¹¹ and death,¹² and yet never failed to minister to them. Even Christ's temptations were accompanied by suffering that ranged from the extreme to the extraordinary: he fasted for 40 days before being tempted by the devil,¹³ and such was his anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane that he sweat drops of blood as he prayed.¹⁴ If anyone has ever suffered in this world—and that, unjustly—it was Christ. Even without considering the cross, his suffering far surpassed what any man has had to endure.

But if Christ was both undeserving of judgement and without need of discipline, for what purpose did he suffer? First, Christ is the fulfillment of Old Testament Israel. Because Christ's sacrifice is the only sacrifice that can take away sin,¹⁵ all of Old Testament worship, and especially the nation of Israel as a whole, took on a symbolic and future-oriented form. You can see this especially in Paul's teaching that the Old Testament events and rituals were, symbolically, Christ, when he says, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.¹⁶ As Christ, hearkening back to the manna in the wilderness, even called himself the bread of life that had come down from heaven.¹⁷ Thus, although the Old Testament saints did not know Christ directly as we now do, they did know him and the salvation that he offers through the symbolic events and rituals of the Old Testament.

Conversely, just as Israel symbolized the Christ yet to come, Christ in his life on earth fulfilled not only the law of Israel perfectly, but even the afflictions that Israel experienced. Just as Israel was first a small nation in a lowly estate,¹⁸ Christ was born as the son of a carpenter and laid in a feeding trough. Just as Israel sojourned in Egypt,¹⁹ Mary and Joseph hid Christ from Herod in that same land.²⁰ Just as Israel hungered and thirsted for 40 years in the wilderness, being tempted to deny God, Christ fasted for 40 days in the wilderness and was tempted by the devil himself; even the devil's temptations mirrored the temptations of Israel.²¹ Most importantly, in his life and death, Christ fulfilled all of the prophecy about Israel's salvation.²² Though Israel failed again and again to obey the law that they had been given, Christ fulfilled the law perfectly. Though Israel fell and grumbled in the wilderness, Christ stood strong when tempted even by the devil. Though Israel could not even pay for its own sins when captured and exiled, Christ, as God, suffered once on the cross and thus paid the price due for all of the sins of his people. Our Lord, in every way, fulfilled in his own body every affliction of the people of Israel.

Not only did Jesus fulfill in himself the suffering of Israel, he also suffered in order that he would be an empathetic and compassionate High Priest for us. Though he is impeccable because he is God, Christ did not rely upon his divinity to remain sinless, but was sanctified exactly as we are, through suffering, as it is written,

Because Christ suffered, we worship a God who is intimately and personally familiar with human suffering. We can be confident when we draw near to God that he knows our pain; God is not distant and aloof, but near and aware. Likewise, because Jesus was sanctified through suffering, we can be confident that his fatherly discipline will be never an ounce more severe than is necessary for our good, and we can draw near to him in faith, knowing that he has himself felt the depths of all of our misery, that he understands it, and that, in Christ, he will strengthen us to endure. Our Lord's suffering during his life has become for us the source of our joy and confidence when we draw near to him in our suffering.

The Church as Sojourners and Exiles

As we are united to Christ in his resurrection, so also, while we await his return, are we united to him in his suffering and death. We are told, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings.²³ Our Lord himself told his disciples, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.²⁴ Peter calls his audience sojourners and exiles.²⁵ Hebrews takes this idea even further by indicating that the church in this present age is in the same situation as Israel in the wilderness. We await the final Sabbath rest of the heavenly promised land, of which the earthly promised land and our weekly Sabbath rest are but dim pictures in comparison.²⁶ The consistent picture painted by the New Testament is that, for the Christian in this life, suffering is a given.²⁷

But just as the afflictions of Christ were not meaningless, neither are the afflictions of the church. As Christians, the pain that we endure in this life takes on a distinctly different character. Instead of punishing us in his wrath, God graciously chastises us with his fatherly discipline. The author of Hebrews exhorts us,

Christian, the suffering that you endure in this life is not random, it is not meaningless, and it is not malicious. Far from being at the arbitrary vicissitudes of the world, you are firmly in the hands of your loving Father. Puritan theologian Thomas Boston put it well in his book on suffering:

This is a great comfort to the suffering believer. It is not as though we are afflicted for our sins, for we know that Christ has paid the whole price for them already on the cross²⁹—indeed, even this gift of fatherly discipline comes because we are adopted as sons of God.³⁰ Rather, [God] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.³¹

Joy Through Sorrow?

But there is yet an even greater comfort for the suffering saint. By our afflictions, not only are we conformed into the image of Christ in his holiness,³² we are also prepared for eternal blessedness in Glory. We may properly say that our suffering—even the very pain therein—becomes for us a source of joy when we see Christ face-to-face. The Apostle Paul put it this way: we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.³³ When Jesus was preparing his disciples for his crucifixion, death, and resurrection in John 16, he said,

In a sermon on this passage, Rev. Dr. Carlton Wynne beautifully described the joy that emerges from suffering, saying,

It would seem contradictory to the eyes of the world that we would rejoice in our sufferings.³⁵ And yet, as Christians, we may indeed have true joy in suffering. It's not a false joy that pretends that suffering doesn't exist—we are commanded even to weep with those who weep³⁶—but a true joy, one that admits to the reality and difficulty of suffering, and yet one that sees even the very pain and hardship therein with the eyes of faith, knowing that it is but for a little while,³⁷ that it comes by the hand of our most wise and kind heavenly Father,³⁸ that it is for our good,³⁹ and that it is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.⁴⁰ We may be, as the Apostle described, sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,⁴¹ through faith in the God who turns our sorrow into everlasting joy.

Conclusion

As we live in this world, kept between Eden lost and Eden restored, we will have tribulation, but take heart, Christian: Christ has overcome the world.⁴² Learn from Christ, that your affliction is not because you have sinned, but in order that you might not sin, and that you have a great High Priest who is intimately and personally familiar with your pain. And learn from the Scriptures' teaching on the church, that you may know that God's discipline is for your good—that you may share His holiness—as each affliction prepares you more and more for that great Day, when all the sorrows of this life will turn into joy.