In order to save us, Jesus had to leave Heaven and descend into the hell of our pain. As a human being, he endured every vile thing imaginable that satan could bring against him. He was kicked out of church, beaten by Roman soldiers, spit upon, slapped, slandered, accused, publicly stripped naked, and finally crucified. What a hellish experience for a holy God!
And yet, the Bible tells us that the violent cross became God's greatest triumph in the earth, for through it satan was exposed and defeated, Heaven was secured, and fallen mankind received the gift of redemption from eternal death. Colossians 2:9-15 From this example of the suffering Christ, I have learned that his followers also must walk a path of suffering, for like him, we also must descend into the pain of others in order to rescue many. Matthew 10:16-42
When Christ descended out of Heaven, he came down and lived among us sinners, paving a path of life for us that we might find a way out of the hell of sin's unrelenting torment. In the same way, when Christians suffer, the Jesus that lives inside us is once more descending into the hell of that particular suffering, and as we submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit's teaching and discipline, our Godly responses to our difficulties becomes a path of life for others to find and escape the anguish of their own sin-damaged experience.
An example of this is recovered alcoholics, who have greater power to rescue other alcoholics, because they know exactly what their fallen brothers and sisters are going through, and they know how to speak a language of comfort, strength and encouragement to one another.
So it is with all the other various hells that fallen human beings find themselves in. When we Christians endure these same terrible things, Jesus gives us comfort, which we then use to pave a path of life for sinners to find and follow, that they might escape from the torments of their own personal hell. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
