Good Friday is Really Good.

...but how can such a day of great evil turn out good?

On the Friday of the passion week, Jesus was betrayed by one of His own students, one of His own friends, someone He loved and served-- Judas Iscariot. Not only was Jesus betrayed by Judas, Jesus was sold by Judas to a group of Jewish leaders, who then turned Jesus over to the Roman government to be tortured, crucified, and murdered. The torture of Jesus included:

1. Beating Him while He was naked with their fists.

2. Beating Him while He was naked with a whip of leather cords that had metal balls, or sheep's bones attached to the end of the cords.

3. Nailing a "crown" of tied thorns into His skull.

4. Spitting on Him.

5. Beating Him in the head with a staff.

6. Forcing Him to carry a 40kg cross bar across His flayed body from Jerusalem to Golgotha, which is 2.5km.

Then, after a day of torture at the cheers of the Jewish leaders and their followers, the Romans.

1. Nailed Jesus' wrists and ankles to the cross.

2. .Hoisted Jesus into the air so that gravity would cause Him to be unable to breathe, meaning He would need to push down on on His nail pierced ankles to raise His body to take a breath.

3. Forced Jesus to drink "sour wine," so that He would remain conscious as long as possible, in order to prolong His pain.

4. Drove a spear through His side piercing His heart to make sure He was dead, which is why "water-like fluid" and blood poured from the wound.

And at that moment, Israel's Messiah - our Lord Jesus Christ - was crucified at the hands of the Romans, and was murdered at the scheming of a group of Jewish leaders, and one of His own best friends.

Why, if Jesus went through all of this, is it called "good" Friday?

Because good did not always mean morally right, or that which is desired.

Good also used to mean "holy."

And "holy" means "sacred, set-apart, morally blameless."

And indeed, the Friday of Jesus' crucifixion was a sacred day where the morally blameless God-Man was set-apart for crucifixion in order to offer His perfect life in exchange for our imperfect lives.

It is "Good" Friday not because what happened was good, but because Who it happened to was Good.

The day is not holy, HE is Holy;

The day is not good, HE is Good;

The day is not sacred, HE is Sacred.

Jesus was crucified for our wrongdoing, so that we too could be morally blameless before the One Holy, morally perfect, God.

Jesus was crucified so that He could face death, and destroy it once and for all.

Jesus was crucified so that all who believe in Him and walk with Him might have their wrongdoing forgiven, and be restored to right relationship with God so as to have eternal life.

Right relationship with God leading to eternal life requires:

(1) that our moral imperfections (the wrong things we do to hurt ourselves and hurt one another) are forgiven,

(2) that we personally believe and trust that Jesus' death on the cross provides that forgiveness,

(3) and that we appropriate, or "make our own," that belief and trust through communication with God in prayer.

On this Holy Friday, we encourage you to consider Jesus' death on the cross and what it means for you. We encourage you to think about what happens when you die, and whether or not you will take Jesus up on His offer He made to you when He died.

If you sense it is time for you to trust in Christ, we encourage you to pray a simple prayer such as this,

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I believe and trust that when you died on the cross, you forgave me for hurting myself and hurting others. I acknowledge that these hurts pain you, God, because you are the only morally perfect Father who desires all that is good for His children, yet I tend to do not so good things everyday. Forgive me, Jesus. Today I want to know you personally. Today I want to be restored to right relationship with you. Today I ask for Jesus' life, death, and resurrection to apply to my life, to make me whole, to make me new, and to make me one of His followers. Make it so, according to Your Word and Work, Lord God. Amen."

This simple prayer of belief, trust, and commitment will set you on the course towards eternal life, and eternal relationship with God.

Keep Believing... Keep Trusting... Keep Thinking...

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