Author David Mathis writes:
“It was the single most horrible day in the history of the world.
No incident has ever been more tragic, and no future event will ever match it. No surprise attack, no political assassination, no financial collapse, no military invasion, no atomic detonation or nuclear warfare, no cataclysmic act of terrorism, no large-scale famine or disease — not even slave trading, ethnic cleansing, or decades-long religious warring can eclipse the darkness of that day.
No suffering has ever been so unfitting. No human has ever been so unjustly treated, because no other human has ever been so worthy of praise. No one else has ever lived without sin. No other human has ever been God himself. No horror surpasses what transpired on a hill outside Jerusalem almost two millennia ago.
And yet we call it “Good” Friday.”
For centuries now, we have been celebrating Good Friday, a part of Passion Week, the week that Jesus suffered and died. It is a reminder of the sovereign plan of God being executed here on earth. Good Friday was planned in eternity past when the Father determined to send His Son and the Son willingly said “yes”. This was not an event determined by evil men, it was an expression of Love from the Father.
Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Without this tragic day in history, we would be miserably lost. This bad…very bad, Good Friday, is a wonderfully disastrous day, that changed history forever. But it is ultimately culminated in the resurrection of Christ from the dead. This terrible Friday is Good because Sunday came!
David Mathis, goes on to say:
“God wrote “good” on the single worst day in the history of the world. And there is not one day — or week, month, year, or lifetime of suffering — not one trauma, not one loss, not one pain, momentary or chronic, over which God cannot write “good” for you in Christ Jesus.
Satan and sinful man meant that Friday for evil, but God meant it for good, and so we call it Good Friday.”
May we lament over the darkness, depravity and depth of our sin this Friday but also, rejoice in the Lamb who has taken away the sins of the world and rejoice that the grave could not hold Him…He is Risen! Yes, He is risen indeed.
As we celebrate Him this Sunday…rejoice and be glad for It is Finished!
See you Sunday at 9:00 or 11:20, Here at Christ for the Nations Church
I love you all,
Pastor Ray