Reading: “Then He [Jesus] said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day” Luke 24:46

In all the vicissitudes of this troubled life the Christian cannot look at Scripture without seeing a suffering Saviour. Right from the beginning of time Christ is set forth as suffering for his people and with his people and it is to this suffering Saviour that the Christian is perpetually pointed to.

The Israelites enjoyed the provision of water in a dry and barren wilderness through “that rock that followed them.” We, like them, must see our Rock smitten before we can enjoy its benefits. Like Him, our life and work on earth is matured and completed through suffering (Hebrews 2:10), and in suffering the gifts and graces of the Spirit are manifested in suffering.