There is an amended verse in one of our old hymns in which the view seems to be taken, and I think rightly, that the atonement is not only the basis on which pardon can be righteously vouchsafed, but the very certainty of its being vouchsafed. The stanza is this:
"But never shall my soul despair
Thy pardon to secure,
Who knows Thine only Son has died
To make my pardon sure."
The whole matter of suffering is dealt with at length in the twelfth chapter of The Hebrews. Over and over again it is described as chastening. It is not penalty. The penalty has been paid. Suffering henceforth is Fatherly chastisement. And the intention and effect of chastisement are clearly intimated. It is said that we are not to despise the chastening of the Lord; for that He chastises us for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Again it is said that chastening afterwards yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness. That is the idea exactly. There is no word of punishment. The punishment has been endured in the sacrifice of Christ; and it is now clearly recognized that His sacrifice was offered on behalf of the whole world. But the necessity for chastisement remains. It is one means of our spiritual development, and but for the necessity for it, it would never be inflicted. Hence Jeremiah could say, "He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men."
An example may make this clearer. Take the case of Manasseh. He was one of the worst kings of Judah. It is recorded of him that "he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord;" that "he made his children to pass through the fire;" that he "made Judah and Jerusalem to do worse than the heathen;" that he "shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other." But he repented. We read that "when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him; and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication."
Yes; but we read that "notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal."
Now there we have an example of the fact that a whole people was ordained to suffering in consequence of the evil wrought by one man. Such suffering cannot be penal, for we are told very plainly that it was due to the wickedness of one person; and even he had repented and was forgiven. In that case there was no room for penalty. It would be entirely out of place. But there was room for discipline. The monstrous evil that Manasseh had wrought would in part survive, notwithstanding his personal reformation. So the suffering could not be penalty; but it could be chastisement. There might be "the fierceness of great wrath," as we read there was; but there was love behind. The people might not have the spiritual discernment to see their suffering in that light; but we have a clearer revelation than they had; so we read that "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth."
Even now we witness the sad spectacle of God's own people—the very people to whom we have been referring—being made a byword and a hissing among the nations. And wherefore? Because of sin? Certainly. But not as a punishment for sin, but as a necessary means of reformation. A superficial view of the case may deem it punishment; but a deeper view recognizes it as chastisement. The fundamental fact is, that Christ bore their sin, and all sin, "in His own body on the tree." Surely, justice will say that it has not to be borne again. Hence, all suffering that is now inflicted, is not inflicted as a punishment, but as a discipline. "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Then, "he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." That glorious fact should settle all difficulty.
Suffering, then, is appointed solely for the uplift of character, both in this life and the next. When it has done its work—and in some cases it may take long—it will cease.
These profound questions require us to extend our outlook into the next life. And nothing can be more truly natural. For with God there is no limit as to time or space. The history of our world, and of our race in this lower life, is but a span in the eternal years.
The trouble has been that men have had no idea of the operation of grace beyond this life. This is no disparagement of the limitations of able and saintly men in the past. We have simply had a growing revelation. It is no credit to us that we have larger views.