One of the most common ideas in Christianity is that suffering has purpose because God determined it beforehand. I don't believe that is the picture the gospel gives us.
If God intentionally ordains suffering in order to accomplish His purposes, then the cross becomes difficult to explain. It would mean that God first inflicts suffering on humanity, only to later enter history and suffer alongside the very people He caused to suffer. The incarnation and the cross become a solution to a problem God Himself deliberately created.
The gospel tells a far more beautiful story.
Scripture never presents suffering, death, or evil as inherently good. They are enemies. Paul calls death "the last enemy" to be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26). Jesus spent His earthly ministry healing the sick, delivering the oppressed, forgiving sinners, and raising the dead. He never treated suffering as something to be embraced because it was God's hidden will. Instead, He confronted it wherever He found it.
Then comes the incredible mystery of the incarnation.
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14)
God did not remain distant from human pain. In Jesus Christ, He entered it.
He experienced hunger, weariness, rejection, betrayal, grief, injustice, temptation, physical pain, and death. As Hebrews says,
"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things..." (Hebrews 2:14)
And again,
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)
This is the beauty of the incarnation. God does not merely understand suffering intellectually. He knows it experientially. He has lived our humanity.
But Christ did not simply come to sympathize with us. He came to overcome.
Jesus Himself said,
"In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
Notice He does not promise that suffering will disappear in this age. He promises that we can face it with courage because He has already overcome it.
Our hope is therefore not merely future, although it certainly is future. Our hope is present.
Because Christ lives in us, we do not simply endure suffering—we overcome through Him.
Paul writes,
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37)
Notice he says in all these things—not after them, but in the midst of them.
This is also an important distinction. The New Testament never presents suffering itself as the goal. It never tells us to seek suffering because suffering is somehow inherently holy or pleasing to God. Rather, it calls us to remain faithful to Christ in the midst of suffering.
James writes,
"Count it all joy... when you meet trials... for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." (James 1:2–3)
Notice that James does not say suffering itself produces maturity. It is the testing of faith—our continued trust in Christ through difficulty—that produces endurance.
Paul makes the same point:
"We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." (Romans 5:3–5)
Even here, Paul is not celebrating pain for pain's sake. He is celebrating what God is able to accomplish in people who continue trusting Him through suffering by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, suffering has no intrinsic virtue. Christ is the virtue.
Pain alone changes no one. Many people become bitter through suffering. Others become hardened, fearful, or hopeless. Suffering itself guarantees none of the fruit of the Spirit.
It is Christ's presence within us that transforms suffering into an opportunity for endurance, deeper trust, greater love, and living hope. The goal is never suffering itself. The goal is becoming more like Christ as we remain united with Him.
Peter also reminds believers that Christ did not only die for us; He showed us how to live through suffering.
"Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps." (1 Peter 2:21)
Jesus demonstrates what humanity filled with the Spirit looks like in a broken world. He endured injustice without returning evil for evil. He remained faithful in suffering. He loved His enemies. He forgave. He trusted the Father. Then He overcame death itself through resurrection.
The incarnation therefore gives us more than comfort—it gives us a pattern.
The cross is not God justifying suffering; it is God entering into humanity's suffering in order to defeat sin, death, and the powers of darkness. The resurrection declares that suffering and death do not have the final word.
This is why suffering finds its meaning, not because God caused it, but because Christ entered it.
When our suffering is placed in Christ, it becomes a place of communion with Him. We discover Emmanuel—God with us. He suffers with us, strengthens us, and forms His character in us as we continue trusting Him.
Paul could therefore say,
"That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings..." (Philippians 3:10)
He was not glorifying pain. He was describing fellowship with Christ even in hardship.
And because Christ overcame, we have hope that we too can overcome.
Not merely someday when He returns—though that hope is glorious—but today.
By His Spirit we can endure, love, forgive, remain faithful, and walk in victory even while suffering continues around us. We are not victims waiting for escape. We are sons and daughters being conformed to the image of Christ, participating in His life here and now.
John writes,
"Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked." (1 John 2:6)
And Jesus promises,
"To the one who conquers I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also conquered..." (Revelation 3:21)
One day every tear will indeed be wiped away (Revelation 21:4). Suffering will finally be abolished.
Until then, we do not walk alone.
The incarnate Christ walks with us, strengthens us, and empowers us to overcome just as He overcame.
The gospel is not that God planned our suffering.
The gospel is that God entered our suffering, defeated its ultimate power, and now shares His life with us so that, even in the midst of a broken world, we may overcome through Him.