The Painted New TestamentExemplo

He Suffers With Us
by Randy Alcorn

Safely Home, the painting by Ron DiCianni featured in this devotional, has special meaning to me. I wrote a novel, also called Safely Home, set in China and telling the story of Li Quan, a modern day martyr. It was inspired by this beautiful work of art. To this day Ron’s painting hangs on my office wall. 

The painting portrays a man on his knees. He’s just walked down a blood-red entry carpet that has led him to a throne. The man appears overcome with emotion, and his head rests on the chest of one who has stepped off the throne to embrace him. It’s the King, the Creator of the universe. King Jesus.

This man is a martyr, one of those who “did not love their lives to the point of death” (Revelation 12:11). He endured great suffering but is now safely home.

Several things strike me in this painting. One is Heaven’s view of earth below. Another is the look on the man’s face. But what really moves me is the look on the face of King Jesus. He, too, is full of emotion. 

Many people imagine that though God once suffered on the cross, He’s remote from our suffering. Not so! Christ made it clear that whatever others do to His people, He regards as being done to Him (see Matthew 25:40–45). 

After His ascension, Jesus said to the Pharisee on the Damascus road, “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). Persecution, of course, entails suffering. Note the present tense when one verse later Christ says, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Thousands of people around the world die for Christ each year. Though you and I may never die for following Christ, it is certain that each of us will face suffering and heartaches in this life. But we are not alone. Jesus suffered for us, He suffers with us, and our brothers and sisters throughout the world suffer alongside us as we follow our suffering Savior. 

Christ calls upon us to trust that He’ll work all suffering in our lives for good (Romans 8:28). And He promises that one day on the New Earth, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes…neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain” (Revelation 21:4). 

When that day comes, and we are at last safely home, we will gaze with wonder at the scars of King Jesus that made our suffering His so that His eternal joy and comfort could become ours.