Our faith is fuelled with a powerful reminder that silence speaks louder than words and that on that Good Friday when Jesus and heaven were silent after His death, it was His blood that spoke a better word. As we looked at the betrayal of Jesus, being falsely accused by the same crowd who had shouted Hosanna less than a week before His crucifixion, we have to ask ourselves why He did not defend himself with a response. Despite Pilate’s bombardment of interrogating questions, we read in Isaiah 53:7 that Jesus chose to remain silent, like a lamb being led to the slaughter.
Although innocent, Jesus chose to endure agonizing torture and was brought to the brink of death with 39 lashes of a whip, where His flesh was torn and His body covered in blood and bruises. His skull was pierced with thorns and He was forced to carry His own cross. Jesus could have easily saved Himself, with one word, for He was the Word, but instead, His only cry, in the end, was to declare ‘It is finished’.
In the eery silence that followed after Jesus died, even heaven was still and the only sound that could be heard on that stench-filled hill of Golgotha was the sound of His blood dripping to the ground. The silence was so that Jesus’s blood could have the loudest voice. Hebrews 12:24 reminds us that Jesus’s blood speaks a better word and on that Good Friday, it found its voice to silence.
1) THE BLOOD SILENCES THE POWER OF SIN
Just like Buzz Aldrin did on the moon, taking communion is a reminder that Jesus drank the cup of wrath, emptying His blood to become our sin, so we could become the righteousness of God. Whatever sin is raging silently or whatever deep stain of sin is covering your life, cry out to Jesus’s blood that has the power to set you free and break every chain of bondage. There is nothing too despicable that Jesus’s blood cannot reach, change, or clean.
2) THE BLOOD SILENCES THE STING OF DEATH
On that silent Saturday, between death and victory, Jesus’s disciples were filled with unanswered questions. Without the understanding of the lens of Good Friday, nothing makes sense. Gabe recounted his tragic family deaths on the 16 March, which was silenced by the birth of their daughter Olivia Grace on that same day. Just like God had redeemed that fear-filled, sorrowful day of death to one of birth, joy, peace, and grace, He can do the same for every dead thing in your life too! For every sting of death in your life, there is no shadow that God’s grace cannot reach.
3) THE BLOOD SILENCES THE VOICE OF SHAME
Lance Armstrong, the famous cyclist, is the epitome of shame, for his doping scandal confession that rocked the world. The devil is the accuser who keeps whispering daily every failure and mistake we have ever made, to make us feel worthless and unworthy. But Jesus’s blood silences the barking dog of the accuser – that voice of shame, and speaks louder that you are worthy!
Jesus’s blood has never stopped flowing and is relentless in finding you to speak a louder and better word over everything in your life that needs to be silenced. As we think upon Jesus today, the man who silenced the storm, the demons, sickness, sin, shame, and strongholds, let us bow and confess that He is Lord. We will not stay silent about Jesus, for He is the only way to the Father and the only mediator between man and God.
Death has not had the final say. Our King went to the grave and with Him went our old nature. Jesus’ blood is still pouring and is available to you today. Allow His blood to have the final say over your life.
As we plead the Blood of Jesus over every area of our lives to silence the sin, death, and shame over our past, our present, and our futures, let us lift up our voices in praise of the better Word that it speaks. As Jesus was silent, like a lamb to the slaughter, He proved to be the perfect sacrifice to atone for our sins, which makes this Friday good indeed!