August 6

For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. - Hebrews 2:18.

WE have seen the Lord as the Sufferer and the Succourer of his suffering people; and we have now to view him becoming the Succourer through his being the Sufferer. And we see in another passage how he obtained this, as we read, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience through the things which he suffered;” “And, being made perfect through suffering, he became the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him.” The ability, therefore, is relative, and may be exemplified four ways. The first regards his atonement. Without this, the sacrifices of old would be unmeaning and absurd; but observe the relief that the Christian sufferer derives from this in his sufferings. How important it is for us to know that there is nothing penal in them, however numerous and great they may be! The cross is the tree which, thrown into the bitter waters of Marah, renders them sweet while we pass through the wilderness.

Secondly, By his example. “He suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should tread in his steps.” And by viewing him as a sufferer we may learn every thing in regard to our sufferings. Then the glory of God and the salvation of sinners is advanced by it. He could say, “With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.” “I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” The feeling is quite consistent with submission. He bore a cross and carried it for us, and carried a much heavier one than we are required to bear, so that we may say, with Watts,-

“Now let our pains be all forgot,

Nor longer dare repine;

Our sufferings are not worth a thought,

When, Lord, compared with thine.”

Thirdly, By sympathy. He is thus able to enter into our case, and knows what is required in our condition. Experience is necessary to the exercise of sympathy. When we hear of the distress of another, we may feel some common pain, but we cannot sympathize unless we had felt the same; it is then that distress runs into the sensibility of another and we “weep with those that weep.” He who has felt the hand of God upon him will not be able to view with indifference, nor with an insensible heart, the sufferings of his fellow-creatures. So it is in consequence of our Saviour’s humiliation and sufferings he knows how experimentally to sympathize:-

“He knows what sore temptations mean,

For he has felt the same.”

Do we think of dying? We must think of dying, and we must die alone as to our fellow-creatures; Christians will find their fellow members and their ministers may attend them and endeavour to comfort them, but they cannot speak from experience; they do not know what it is to die; but He then will be with them that does know! Are they afraid of the grave? He entered it: there lay “the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley,” and left a long perfume.

“The graves of all his saints he blest,

And soften’d every bed:

Where should the dying members rest,

But with their dying Head?”

Fourthly, By his efficiency. Pity is not power. We can sympathize when we have not the means of curing and relieving. But it is otherwise with the blessed Saviour. His ear is not heavy that he cannot hear, neither is his arm shortened that he cannot save them. He has all power at his command, and all things at his disposal. “The Father loveth the Son,” and made him a present of the universe, so that providence and grace, and the whole dispensation of the Spirit in his miraculous and ordinary operations, are in his hand.

Nothing, therefore, is too hard for him; whatever our dangers are, he has a sufficiency to secure us.