What's So Good About Good Friday?
Good Friday is a time in which followers of Christ around the world reflect on the sufferings of the Son of God. It’s not something that’s easy to stomach, but we are invited, nonetheless, to remember Jesus’ excruciating suffering and death. (1 Cor. 11:24)
Jesus was betrayed, deserted, falsely accused, mocked, spit upon, brutally scourged, and ultimately crucified. His torture was so horrific, the prophet Isaiah described him as disfigured beyond human recognition. (Is. 52:14)
Good Friday is a time to remind ourselves that Jesus didn't suffer and die for his sin, but ours. “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.” (Is. 53:6)
When Jesus hung on the cross, God the Father treated Christ as if he were my sin so that I could be treated as if I were Christ's righteousness. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21). This is an amazing exchange! Sin is me substituting myself for God. Mercy is God (in Christ) substituting himself for me.
On Good Friday, Jesus bore my sin in his body on the cross. As that happened, the Father poured out his justice toward my sin on Christ, the sin bearer.
Jesus became the worst of who I am so that I could become the best of who he is. That’s beyond good. It’s the highest expression of divine love. (1 Jn. 4:10)
It's one thing if a judge pardons a deathrow convict. It's a completely different matter if the judge steps down from his bench, exchanges his robe for the inmate's uniform, serves the legal sentence, and promotes the pardoned criminal as "Citizen of the Year."
Yet that's what happened on Good Friday.
The Author of creation stepped down to earth. Even though he was fully God, he somehow became a man (Phil. 2:6-8). Everyday for 33 years, Jesus lovingly obeyed God the Father and fulfilled the requirements of the law on my behalf (Matt. 5:17). Though he was without sin and perfectly blameless, Christ took my place as a guilty sinner on the cross. There, my willful disobedience and indifference to God was placed on him. Jesus took my rebellion and pride and willingly received the penalty that I deserved (Rom. 6:23).
In exchange, I received God's mercy, forgiveness, and indwelling presence to become a new person from the inside out (Rom. 6:4, 2 Cor. 5:17, Ezk. 36:26).
The Father judged and punished His Son instead of me and proclaimed to all heaven that I am the blameless righteousness of Christ (1 Cor. 1:30, 2 Cor. 5:21).
Good Friday is a day to receive this indescribable grace and mercy and allow God’s kindness to lead us to repentance. By his wounds, we are healed, and by his blood, we are cleansed (Is. 53:5; 1 Pet. 2:24).
“For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood” (Rom. 3:25).
A Prayer: Father God, thank you for sending Jesus as my substitute. I don’t deserve this mercy, but I am so grateful for him. Jesus, thank you for being punished and rejected in my place. Thank you for bearing my sin in your body on the cross. Forgive me. Cleanse me. Teach me, God, about what happened on Good Friday. Help me, Jesus, not to be content to know about you. Please help me to get to know you more and more. I need you. I surrender my life to you. Fill me with your love. Fill me with your presence.
