Watch the Lamb

Artwork by Francisco de Zurbarán
Christ crucified, 1655
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya

I was watching our church’s service online today, and in it we were reminded of the silence of God. As I reflected upon the service, the words of our pastors, I wept thinking of the emotional toll Jesus suffered while hanging on the cross. The agonizing hours he spent without feeling the presence of His Father are a testament for us that sometimes even for the Son of God, the Father was not present or answering any prayers. Yet, we know from the New Testament that God was “in Christ, reconciling the world to himself” – 2 Cor. 5:19

So even when we do not get the answers we desperately seek for, we can be assured that Jesus is there with us. Whatever the suffering, whatever the struggle, whatever the pain, He understands because He went through it and in turn we know that God suffered too. After all, Jesus is God, just like the Father (John 10:30).

This Good Friday is especially challenging. I am not certain that if in the history of Christianity, whether people did not gather for Easter as it won’t happen this weekend. Because of the covid-19 pandemic, we are bound to stay in our houses with our close families and we can’t go through the Christian rituals of Easter in the way we’ve been accustomed to.

However, we are reminded that even when we feel alone, forgotten, sick, hurt and in pain, that God is suffering with us. I can’t pretend to know why God allows suffering to happen, although I’ve reflected upon this topic in a previous blog post. But I do know that He is with us, because He was IN Christ at the cross.

Ellen White offers this great insight into the last agonizing hours of Christ’s life, when He could not see beyond the portals of the tomb, He still believed in His Father’s promises, He still went ahead by faith knowing that He would be conqueror over death. Not because He could feel or experience it, but because He knew that the Father’s promises were indeed true and He rested in them.

“Satan with his fierce temptations wrung the heart of Jesus. The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father’s acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal… (Desire of Ages p. 753.2) …Amid the awful darkness, apparently forsaken of God, Christ had drained the last dregs in the cup of human woe. In those dreadful hours He had relied upon the evidence of His Father’s acceptance heretofore given Him. He was acquainted with the character of His Father; He understood His justice, His mercy, and His great love. By faith He rested in Him whom it had ever been His joy to obey. And as in submission He committed Himself to God, the sense of the loss of His Father’s favor was withdrawn. By faith, Christ was victor.” DA 756.3

As you spend time with your family this weekend, take some time to learn the story of the “lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world” Rev. 13:8

This lamb did suffer, this lamb did die, and we are told this death is not defeat for it accomplished reconciliation between us and God. I’ll share more insights about that tomorrow during Holy (Black) Saturday.

For now, I leave you with this video that invites us to watch the lamb. What a powerful song. Sure, it might not live up to today’s acting and film standards and it has certainly a “westernized” feel to it, but the message is still powerful. We are invited to watch the Lamb.

Despite us not seeing the answers we want or not hearing the voice of God, we are told to watch the Lamb for this sacrifice will hold the answers.