People expect that because I have been in jail I will be a melancholic man, will speak only sadness, and that they will see it on my face, how crushed I am. I know a story of joy and triumph – that is, a face of God.
It was such a beautiful story. In prison, outside our cells stood the wardens with sticks and outside the angels were sent to protect us. The gray walls of the cells shone like diamonds. There was such fire of love, flames of love and of goodness in this cell that Christians rejoiced. Some of them danced for joy.
And now you in [the West] have the same God. You do not have to be in a Communist prison to have a shining face. Faces can shine without being in a Communist prison.
If I were a painter, I would paint the shining faces of Christians in prison. It was quite an achievement for God to make a face shine there because we were unwashed. The faces shone with beautiful smiles.
Must we wait for such circumstances to have shining faces or smile?
Jesus on the cross was not beautiful, but this, also, was a face of God. That was not the only face of Jesus. On the third day, He rose and was so beautiful and shining that the Roman soldiers could not look at Him. They found out He had another face. So, I might be very ugly today, but this, my ugly face, is also the face of a God who loves me and has taken upon Himself all the ugliness of human life and human things in order to save us.
Excerpted from “The Faces of God,” a sermon included in the Wurmbrand Sermon Series DVD. You can order a copy of this 2-DVD set from our online catalogue.
The Voice of the Martyrs was founded in the mid-1960s by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, who was imprisoned and tortured by Communist authorities in his native Romania for 14 years. While still in prison, Pastor Wurmbrand envisioned a ministry that would focus on the plight of the persecuted Church, raise a voice on their behalf, and provide encouragement and assistance to them.
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