i don't remember actually ever giving this day much thought, other than "hey, it's just another Friday" or even thinking that it was an important day, not just for Christians but truly for mankind.
all week i have been somewhat preparing my heart for this day and for Sunday especially because my church is holding a Good Friday service and i've been eagerly looking forward to it. i want to go and honor the sacrifice that Christ did not only for me but for all mankind for you, for her, for him, your parents, aunts, uncles and siblings...etc...
i've been partying in my home listening to all this Jesus music that talks about the cross and the sacrifice and His death and the empty tomb and i found myself rejoicing and crying because it truly was a sad day in history and then the happiest of days on the third day!
now i don't know what Good Friday means to you, but to me it means that God truly sent His only Son to die on the cross for me that i may have eternal life with Him, if i so choose to believe in Him.
John 3:16-17 says that For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him
it's easy to read this and just read it and not apply it to our lives or make it personal but it is personal! for God it was personal! He saw how messed up we all were, our sins, the condition of our hearts, and saw the only real way for us to be reconciled back to to Him was through His blameless and perfect Son, through this ultimate love story of a sacrifice - Christ dying on the cross for our sins!
i did some quick research this morning because i was interested in reading some Good Friday related verses and i found quite a few but this one was great:
Romans 5:6-10 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath thought Him! For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved though His life!
and it blows my mind that God, Our Heavenly Father cared so much for us, for mankind that He even provided a way for us to make it back to Him! He made a way!
i also found this verse: 1 Peter 3:18 - For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
i did not go as far as researching what happened on the second day but i know the happiest day in all of mankind was and must have been Sunday - the THIRD day! at least for me, it's my cause of celebration! it's what causes me to rejoice! it's what gives me chills and draws me closer to God and leaves me standing in awe! it's the third day and that EMPTY tomb that shows me no power in hell could ever come against my God, my sweet Jesus and His unfailing love for me!
i was SO crazy excited when i found the bible has an entire chapter in Luke called HE IS RISEN! HELLLOOOOO!!!! HE. IS. RISEN!!!!
Luke 24:1-7 - “Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ "
it was His death on Good Friday and His resurrection on that glorious Sunday that portrayed a love like no other!
Death defeated. Us - reconciled back to Him. A love that covers a multitude of sins and washes them away. An eternal life with Him. All because of the unfailing love a Father towards His creation!
my hope and prayer is that God would reveal to you the true beauty and meaning of Good Friday and Easter.
Have a blessed Good Friday and an amazingly joyful Easter / Resurrection Sunday!
