It's Good Friday.
I've always found that title, "Good Friday," to be odd in a funny sort of way. This is the day we observe our Lord, our King, Jesus Christ, the Messiah dying violently and unjustly on a Roman cross. He was given hasty and corrupt trials, whipped and beaten beyond recognition, scorned and mocked, and then nailed up on a cross. And we call this day good.
Why would we call this day "good"? Are we stupid or something? No, not at all. We acknowledge and understand that Good Friday was the darkest day in history, the day the Lord Jesus died. But we also understand and rejoice that Jesus did not merely die on the cross; he won.
You see, all of history came to its climax in this singular event. The curse of death first pronounced over mankind through Adam's sin, the centuries of costly, bloody animal sacrifices, the rampant sin, sickness, and suffering of mankind, the tiresome and futile adherence to the Law of Moses... All of this plagued the world. But all the while there was hope, a promise of the Messiah who would restore the world and mankind's relationship with God. He would be a King, come to deliver Israel. He was first prophesied by God himself (Gen. 3:15) and later through all the prophets of the Old Testament. God faithfully brought his promise to reality, remaining faithful to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the whole nation of Israel. There were wars, victories and losses, kings and judges, prophets and priests, sacrifices and feasts, all pointing to this, the cross and Jesus on it.
The irony of "Good Friday" is reflected in the very life and ministry of Jesus. He was expected to be a political king, yet he led a humble life, embracing poverty and sacrificial servanthood to others. He lived a perfectly holy and righteous life, and yet he was reviled by the religious elites. He was the 'yes and amen' to all the prophesies of the Old Testament, yet he was often met with skepticism. He was indeed the King of the Jews and Son of God, yet his people ushered him not onto a throne but a bloody cross.
By his suffering and death, he became the one-and-for-all sacrifice to satisfy the wrath of God against sin and sinners. He did not only die a physical death; he drank the cup of God's wrath in our place. He laid down his life willingly, obedient to the Father, to make war with the curse of death. And in the very moment he seemed his weakest, he had sealed for eternity his victory and our redemption. Τετέλεσται, "It is finished."
Apologist Ravi Zacharias puts it most poignantly with these words (pictured above):
"They gave him a cross, not guessing that he would make it a throne.
They flung him outside the gates to die, not knowing that in that very moment they were lifting up all the gates of the universe to let the King of Glory come in.
They thought to root out his doctrines, not understanding that they were implanting imperishably in the hearts of men the very name they intended to destroy.
They thought they had God with his back to the wall, [...] helpless and defeated. They did not know that it was God who has tracked them down to that spot.
He did not conquer in spite of evil; he conquered through it."
This is the goodness of Good Friday: that in the suffering of abuses and painful death, Jesus secured forever victory over sin and death, making himself the ultimate victorious King.
"Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
(Isaiah 53:11, ESV)
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