What’s So Good about Good Friday?
Most
every year during this season, some ask me why Good Friday is called ‘good,’
when what happened to Jesus was so horrific. It’s a reasonable and an important
question, but not so difficult to answer if you know the WHY of what happened
to Christ on that day.
I
don’t want to be unnecessarily graphic in these next few moments, but if we are
to understand what’s so good about Good Friday, then we ought to first look
more deeply into what made that Friday so monstrous. There are many articles
written about the Lord’s crucifixion from a medical perspective, and here is
part of one written by Dr. C. Truman Davis.
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“Preparations
for the scourging were carried out when the Prisoner was stripped of His
clothing and His hands tied [above His head] to a post . . . The Roman
legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum (or flagellum) in his hand. This is
a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls
of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down with
full force again and again across Jesus’ shoulders, back, and legs.
“At
first the thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they
cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood
from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial
bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. The small balls of
lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by subsequent
blows. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire
area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it is determined
by the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is
finally stopped. The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed
to slump to the stone pavement, wet with His own blood.”
The
essay goes on to talk about the crown of thorns pushed into His forehead and
the robe they placed around Him. I continue now to quote the essay: In
deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return His garments. The heavy
[crossbeam] of the cross is tied across His shoulders, and the procession of
the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution detail of Roman soldiers
headed by a centurion begins its slow journey along the Via Dolorosa.
“In
spite of His efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam,
together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He
stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin
and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been
pushed beyond their endurance. The centurion, anxious to get on with
the crucifixion, selects a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to
carry the cross. Jesus follows, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy
sweat of shock, until the 650-yard journey from the fortress Antonia to
Golgotha is finally completed.
“Jesus
is offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild analgesic mixture. He refuses to
drink. Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus quickly
thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for
the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square,
wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves
to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms
too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement . . .
“The
left foot is now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet
extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the
knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down
with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating pain shoots along the
fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain — the nails in the wrists are
putting pressure on the median nerves.
“As
He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full
weight on the nail through His feet. Again, there is the searing agony of the
nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the
feet. At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps
sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With
these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by his arms,
the pectoral muscles are paralyzed, and the intercostal muscles are unable to
act. Air can be drawn into the lungs but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to
raise Himself in order to get even one short breath . . ..”
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I
now end the lengthy – but necessary quote. It was during those agonizing hours
that Jesus uttered His last seven statements. I’ve talked about them in past
sermons: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” “Today
thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” Looking at His mother and at
John, He said, “Behold thy mother.” Then, looking to His mother Mary, “Woman
behold thy son.” “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” “I
thirst.” “Father! Into thy hands I commit my spirit.” And
finally, “It is finished.” His mission of atonement was complete. He
could allow his body to die.
So,
let’s answer that important question: What’s So Good about Good Friday?
That
Friday proved God’s love for us. Theologian and author N. T. Wright put it
this way: “The cross is where the love of God and the justice of
God meet and embrace.”
All
our sins, each of our sins, the big ones and the so-called little ones – all
our sins are ultimately against God and His laws. And God’s perfect justice
demands the death of the sinner. That may seem harsh – especially to our 21st century
Western sensibilities, but that is how God set it up from the beginning.
The
wages of sin has always been death. Either you and I must pay that irrevocable
penalty of death for our sins or – because of God’s love and mercy – His
sinless Son must die in our place for our sins as an atoning substitutionary sacrifice.
And
please hear this: What we do with that Biblical truth will determine our
eternal destiny.
Have
you ever noticed how easy it is to quickly read John 3:16 without pausing to
reflect on the heart-searing emotions the Father suffered as He watched His Son
agonize on that cross. But we should stop at least once in a while and meditate
on the Roman scourging, the spikes in Christ’s limbs, the ribbons of His flesh
saturated with His blood. If we did reflect once in a while,
we’d better understand the personal nature of that verse --
“God so loved me . . that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.”
As
theologian John Stott put it: “Before we can begin to see the cross as
something done for us, we have to see it as something
done by us.”
John
3:16 ought to erase any doubt in our minds that the overarching purpose of God
is the reconciliation of sinful humanity to Himself. That’s what the ‘whosoever
believeth’ means.
Nor
should we overlook this text in Romans 10:11-13 “For the
Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is
Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for
“Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
But
a reasonable question about John 3:16 and this passage in Romans 10 – and many
others as well – a reasonable question would be HOW can a holy, incomparably
righteous God permit sinners into His eternal presence? If sin – any sin, all
sin – if sin must be severely judged, how can God’s inflexible JUSTICE marry
with His mysterious mercy so that sinners could be reconciled – brought near to
Himself – without compromising either His holiness, His Justice, or His mercy?
Enter
the cross. And that’s why Good Friday is so good. God the Father sacrificed His
own sinless Son, laying on Him His full wrath against our individual sins,
wrath that you and I so rightly deserved and deserve. As His word tells us
through the prophet: “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have
turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the
iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)
We
need to pause a moment here and clarify an eternally significant point about
reconciliation and judgment for sin. The only method God provides for Christ’s
atoning sacrifice to be efficacious for anyone is to honestly acknowledge their
sins to God, repent of their sins, and strive to repeatedly, as often as
necessary, turn from those sins.
Our
eternal salvation has nothing at all to do with our works – either good or bad.
The only method God provides for sinners to avoid His wrath is by their trust
in God’s promise of forgiveness because – and only because –
of what Jesus did for them on Good Friday’s cross.
As
St Paul tells us: (Titus 3:4-6) “But when the kindness
of God our Savior and His love for
mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which
we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by
the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy
Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our
Savior.”
But
escaping God’s wrath is only part of the “Good” of Good Friday.
That
Friday tore through sin’s otherwise impenetrable barrier between us and
God. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, “Your iniquities have made a
separation between you and your God and your sins have hidden His face from
you, so that He does not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).
On
that Friday, God shattered the barrier. He rescued the prisoners who want to be
rescued, laying our sins on Christ who, as Scripture assures us, became
“sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
(2 Corinthians 5:21)
Indeed, on that Friday, God clothed us with the SAME righteousness of Christ.
That means, the harlot, the thief, the murderer, the adulterer . . . think of
it! There is no sin that cannot be cleansed by Christ’s blood. There is no
sinner who cannot be made as righteous before God’s eyes as Jesus Himself.
Listen to this promise again: “[A]s though God were making an appeal through
us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)
And that’s not all that is good about Good Friday. Because of what happened on
that day, AND because God the Son could not be held in death’s grip, Christ’s
bodily resurrection three days later infallibly guarantees the obedient and
penitent Christian – and ONLY them – their own resurrection to eternal life.
Listen to this promise of the Lord: “I am the resurrection and the
life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives
and believes in Me will never die.” (John 11:25)
Christian,
you will never die. Yes, after you take your last breath, people will bury you
in the ground, but the REAL you, your spirit, will immediately enter the
presence of our Lord. Immediately. Not at some distant date. Listen to this
infallible promise of God:
(2
Corinthians 5:1, 6-8) “For we know that
if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a
building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens . .
. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at
home in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by faith,
not by sight – we are of good courage, I say,
and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with
the Lord.”
Absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. Immediately. And that’s because
of Good Friday and the resurrection of Christ three days later.
There
is so much more we could say and examine about why Good Friday was so very
good, but for now, I’ll bring this message to a conclusion with this final
comment about Good Friday:
Good
Friday challenges us to repentance. When the crowds in Jerusalem
learned it was their sins that nailed Jesus to the
cross, they cried out, “Brethren, what shall we do?”
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children
and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to
Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on
exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”
(Acts 2:37b-40)
Yes,
be saved from this perverse generation upon whom the wrath of God will be
poured out against the rebellious and persistently unrepentant. Listen to
Paul’s warning to those in Rome: Or do you think lightly of the riches
of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of
God leads you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)
Repentance.
A word overflowing with God’s mercy on those humble enough and honest with
themselves enough to turn from their sins.
To
those who loved Jesus, nothing about that Friday looked good. But no one knew
what mercy would flow from the forehead, the hands, the feet and the side of
the crucified Son of God. No one knew those bloody strips of flesh hanging from
His back would bring reconciliation and redemption to the penitent.
And
no one knew on that Friday Resurrection Sunday was coming . . . and with it,
God’s redemptive plan conceived before the foundation of the world.
Good
Friday? It could not have been any better.
