Good Friday." It seems an oxymoronic title. The day was anything but good. After enduring hours of sleep deprivation and extreme torture, Christ was put on a cross to eke out the few remaining hours of his earthly existence in extreme agony.
Through blood-blurred eyes he saw his closest friends and family watching his horrible end. He felt the weight of millenia of sin on His shoulders. Then, His own Father turned His back. For those last agonizing moments of his life, Jesus knew Hell itself: unbearable pain, caused by irrevocable guilt, borne alone in a God vacuum.
We cannot imagine.
Friday was not good. Not that day. But it is good today. Why? Because of Sunday. If the events of the first day of the week that followed did not transpire, Friday wouldn't have mattered. It would have made zero difference. "Christianity" would have been no different than many other religions which place their faith in the ethical teachings of a "good man." But Sunday did come.
In his incomparable treatise about the resurrection, the Apostle Paul wrote, "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:12-22, KJV)
Paul understood and unequivocally stated that the resurrection is the fundamental cornerstone of Christian theology. Without the resurrection, our faith does not matter, our morality doesn't matter, our life doesn't matter, and the death of Christ didn't matter. But, if the resurrection were true, everything matters. For if Christ were raised from the dead, then his death had a purpose, his life had meaning, his ministry had a message, and his resurrection gives every man a future. If the hope of resurrection to life eternal does exist, then our faith does matter. Our lives matter. Our actions matter. Eternity becomes the context of all we are and all we do.
So today, on Good Friday, think about the suffering Christ endured as he was substituted in place of all mankind. "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2, KJV)
But don't stop when you consider His suffering. Look ahead to Sunday. It's just around the corner. Through his resurrection, we may experience a resurrection of our own and be born again. Are we "dead in our trespasses and sins?" We may be "made alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:11, KJV)
We may, as the Apostle Paul, "be found in him, not having [our] own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that [we] may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means [we] might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." (Philippians 3:9-11, KJV)
All we must do is surrender our lives to Him who laid down His life for us, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ that we might be saved. (Acts 16:31, KJV) After His cross, I think it's the least we can do. Join me. Let's not live all our lives on Good Friday...dead in sin. Let's walk forward to Sunday where we may have new life in Christ through the power of His resurrection!
Through blood-blurred eyes he saw his closest friends and family watching his horrible end. He felt the weight of millenia of sin on His shoulders. Then, His own Father turned His back. For those last agonizing moments of his life, Jesus knew Hell itself: unbearable pain, caused by irrevocable guilt, borne alone in a God vacuum.
We cannot imagine.
Friday was not good. Not that day. But it is good today. Why? Because of Sunday. If the events of the first day of the week that followed did not transpire, Friday wouldn't have mattered. It would have made zero difference. "Christianity" would have been no different than many other religions which place their faith in the ethical teachings of a "good man." But Sunday did come.
In his incomparable treatise about the resurrection, the Apostle Paul wrote, "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:12-22, KJV)
Paul understood and unequivocally stated that the resurrection is the fundamental cornerstone of Christian theology. Without the resurrection, our faith does not matter, our morality doesn't matter, our life doesn't matter, and the death of Christ didn't matter. But, if the resurrection were true, everything matters. For if Christ were raised from the dead, then his death had a purpose, his life had meaning, his ministry had a message, and his resurrection gives every man a future. If the hope of resurrection to life eternal does exist, then our faith does matter. Our lives matter. Our actions matter. Eternity becomes the context of all we are and all we do.
So today, on Good Friday, think about the suffering Christ endured as he was substituted in place of all mankind. "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2, KJV)
But don't stop when you consider His suffering. Look ahead to Sunday. It's just around the corner. Through his resurrection, we may experience a resurrection of our own and be born again. Are we "dead in our trespasses and sins?" We may be "made alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:11, KJV)
We may, as the Apostle Paul, "be found in him, not having [our] own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that [we] may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means [we] might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." (Philippians 3:9-11, KJV)
All we must do is surrender our lives to Him who laid down His life for us, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ that we might be saved. (Acts 16:31, KJV) After His cross, I think it's the least we can do. Join me. Let's not live all our lives on Good Friday...dead in sin. Let's walk forward to Sunday where we may have new life in Christ through the power of His resurrection!
All scriptures taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
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Image found at: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.oxford.anglican.org/files/door/Easter500.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.oxford.anglican.org/page/1539/&h=377&w=500&sz=46&hl=en&start=6&tbnid=Kcy33g0IsYQjnM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgood%2Bfriday%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
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