Everybody knows what pain is. Pain and distress are common to mankind. Children already early in life learn that. Job said, "Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward" (5:7).

These experiences are the result of sin. They reveal the comprehensive power called death. God told Adam in the state of rectitude that if he would eat of the forbid­den fruit he would die. He did eat and he did die. Spiritually, he died immediately and, physically, death also immediately began to work in his body and finally brought him into the grave to return to dust. God also told Eve that she would have to endure pain and that her sorrows would be multiplied. Sorrow, pain, anguish and distress are results of the destructive power of death. And the world became a place of all kinds of suffering and grief, with life ending in death.

There is also another kind of distress and pain that is completely different from many which God brought upon man because of sin. That kind of pain would also be a result of sin, to be sure, but its outcome and result would be completely different. That is the pain a woman must endure in bringing forth a child. The Bible (in older versions) calls it "travail." Think of an older person in a hospital who is afflicted with an incurable cancer. He lives in pain, as he daily dies just a little more. For him there is no hope of living on in this world. His pain is a result of the power of death, which will drag him into the grave. In that same hospital, on another floor perhaps, is another person in pain, a woman in birth pains about to be delivered of a baby. But her pain and her attitude towards it are completely different from that of the old man dying of cancer. The result of the pain of this mother is not death but life. She is about to bring into this world a new life. In the Bible this kind of pain is often used as a symbol of God's redemptive acts of grace in Christ. Man has chosen death. As far as he is concerned that will be his way of life in this world with its accompanying suffer­ing, pain and adversity. And the end will be the com­plete victory of death in the grave. But the almighty God changes all this in the lives of His people. He will bring forth life out of this destructive power of death. He will do this not just in spite of death, or at the end of life when people die in the body, but in and through their suffering and pain He brings forth a new life, the life given by Jesus Christ. The travail of a woman is a pic­ture of this, pointing us to the work of almighty grace, with God bringing forth new life through the experience of pain, sorrow and death.

There are beautiful Scripture passages that speak of this kind of blessing that God gives to His people. The pains and sorrows of life are made productive pains that give us rich blessings of the Spirit, comfort, joy and peace. In Isaiah 42 we read, (The Lord Himself speaking):

For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their generations ... I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.

The prophet speaks here of the Lord's "birth pains" which finally point to the work and suffering of Jesus Christ. Israel is here in Babylon. Due to their own sins God's people suffer punishment in this strange land. How painful it was in many ways. But some great thing, with which the Lord Himself, as it were, has been preg­nant is now about to be born. He is to lay waste all hin­drances for His people's return. And the result will be that they will again live in the land of Canaan. It is interesting that this will take place through the very "birth pains" of the Lord Himself. Jesus in His life on earth was the "man of sorrows," "acquainted with grief." He was constantly enduring death, the punishment of sin. Pain and suffering, both spiritual and physical He had to bear all of His life. What for us would have been death, eternal death, He bore for His people. By God's grace they were made to be birth pains. A new life is brought forth, a new church, perfect and pure. And it will culminate in the new creation of heaven and earth. God Himself makes our pain and death productive and fruitful, giving us an unspeakable glorious new life with Him forever. We find the same thought in Romans 8 regarding God's creation:

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who sub­jected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth up to the present time.Romans 8:20-23

With sin, creation was cursed and made subject to death. But it will not end in death and destruction. By the grace of God in the redemptive work of Christ, crea­tion is in productive birth pains so that God brings out of it a new heaven and earth.

Which Christian does not know Romans 8:28?

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Here again we read of the sufferings of God's people, both spiritual and physical. Again these sufferings manifest the destructive power of death. But on the basis of and through the work of Jesus Christ, God makes them all work together for the good of His peo­ple. Be sure to see that He does this with the very suffer­ings of death which are the result of sin. He turns them around and makes them work for our good. Through these sufferings, and in them the child of God is drawn closer to the Lord and becomes more heavenly minded. And his hope is fixed in the Lord and His precious promises. Also these sufferings are really productive birth pains. Some of God's children have intense and long-lasting birth pains. But such people are often the strongest Christians. The new life shines through more clearly than with other people who also profess to be Christians. They are less earthly-minded and have a bet­ter appreciation of what things in life have real value. They show more love and concern to other Christians in suffering. They walk closer to the Lord. And they will be given greater blessings in heaven.

The Lord cites the same principle regarding the necessary self-denial of the Christian. We know Matthew 16:24:

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Self-denial hurts, and can be difficult to practice. It is a part of the process of conversion, which according to the Heidelberg Catechism is a dying to self. This kind of self-discipline is possible, of course, only by the grace of God. Jesus didn't say, "If anyone will come after me let him enjoy himself in this world, and let him be drunk with the happiness of material things." On the contrary, he must denounce himself and all that is part of self with all of his selfishness. A dying life is of itself very pain­ful. In doing this we experience in the end that these little daily deaths will destroy the pain of our final dy­ing. And with them we will have a coming to life of the new life and a heart-felt joy in our Lord and His pro­mises. Again, productive birth pains.

Finally there is also the "birth pain" of death itself. For many people dying can be a long and painful process. And often one of which we are much afraid be­cause it remains our "last enemy." But the Lord in His mercy also makes this work together for our good. To Christians who are daily literally dying, being subject to the destructive power of death, and trying to accept this in faith, the Lord gives the power of faith. That new life can shine through beautiful testimonies on deathbeds, which become effective "pulpits." In this process, many children become mature Christian people. Pastors and elders, who visit them can see them grow in the Lord. What does this mean? That our gracious Lord uses this very result of sin, namely death, and turns it to our good. He makes our sorrows and pains productive and fruitful. And the future is eternal glory involving the complete deliverance from sin and all of its results.

May we all increasingly see what we have brought upon ourselves in that destructive power of sin and death.

May we all increasingly see the sovereign love of God in the birth pains of Jesus Christ to bring forth His own, new church.

May we all have more faith to accept our pains and distresses as means in the all-wise and all-loving hand of God to make us more heavenly-minded.

And with that faith may we all increasingly see that the buds are beginning to blossom into new life, blessed and beautiful. These are fruits of the painful travails in this life.

And as sinners saved by God's great love may we all even now begin increasingly to say, "Thank you, Lord, Thank you, forever."