What’s So Good About It?

When I was just a young boy, I remember going to Good Friday services at a local church. My dad picked us up, and we attended one of the series of services held between 12 noon and 3pm – the hours Jesus was on the cross (not adjusted for time zone differences). Usually, the sermon-ettes were drawn from one of the final words of Jesus on the cross, such as “Father forgive them. . .” and “Into thy hands I commit my spirit. . .” The other memory I have is that businesses shut down during those three hours (as they did every Sunday) so everybody could attend Good Friday services.

I also remember asking the question, “Why do they call it Good Friday? What’s so good about it?” Pardon the naive questions of a child (and of many adults as well!). It just didn’t seem right to call it “Good” when so many bad things happened to Jesus that day: he was arrested by armed soldiers, dragged to a kangaroo court, lied about, beaten, mocked, flogged, mocked, nailed to a cross, hung up, mocked some more, died, jabbed in the heart by a spear, and buried in a borrowed tomb. If that were applied to my last day, I would hardly say I was having a “good” day!

Maybe we could trade the name of the day after Thanksgiving with it, you know call the greatest shopping day, “Good Friday,” for the good deals stores offer, and call Jesus’ most horrible day, “Black Friday,” for the horror he went through. So again I ask, “What’s so good about it?”

Actually, the name “Good Friday” is absolutely appropriate. Consider the following:

1. Good: All Jesus went through that day was fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, types, and promises concerning the Messiah. The odds that any other man’s death could fulfill them were astronomical.

a. Psalm 22 is a description of Jesus’ crucifixion. In particular, the Psalm’s predictions include:  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, “All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”, “they have pierced my hands and feet”, “they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots”,”my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;” and, “my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.”

b. Zechariah  12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

c. Isaiah 50:6 “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.”

d. Just one more from among many: Psalm 69:21 (NKJV) prophesied, “They also gave me gall for my food; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Fulfilled: “They gave Him vinegar mingled with gall to drink; but after tasting it, He would not drink” (Matt. 27:34 NKJV).

2. Good. By his death, Jesus redeemed sinful mankind, which was the purpose of his incarnation. Without the crucifixion, Christmas is just a cute story of an ancient family. With it, the entire life of Christ is full of meaning and purpose.

a. “And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off but not for Himself” (Daniel 9:26). Caiaphas told the religious leaders, “Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad (John 11:50-52).

b. “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14).

c. Isaiah 53:5-6 says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray;  we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

d. 1 Peter 2:4 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

e.  Ephesians 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”

3. Good. Without the Cross, there’s no Resurrection. Jesus showed his victory over death by defeating death and rising from the dead. It was not a symbolic or a potential victory – it was a literal, physical event that forms the basis of our own future resurrections.

a. Romans 6:5 says, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

b. Hebrews 2:14-15 “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

4. Good. By his death, Christ redeemed all creation from the curse God pronounced in Genesis 3:17 following Adam and Eve’s sin. The curse was not just on people, but affected everything. Maybe this is why Jesus said “even the rocks would cry out” if he silenced his disciples (Luke 19:40).

a. Revelation 22:3 says, “No longer will there be anything accursed.”

b. Romans 8:20-22 “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”

5. Good. By Christ’s death on the cross, God proved his love for us. This was apart from any worth in us, or by any good thing we did to earn his love. It is proof of the nature of God, who is love (1 John 4:8).

a. Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

b. John 15:13. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

6. Good. Finally, Jesus’ death on the Cross was the means to Christ’s exaltation and glorification. By fulfilling God’s plan, Jesus was raised to glory.

a. Philippians 2:8-11. “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

b. Luke 24:26. The post-resurrection Jesus asked the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

c. John 12:23  Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” And, 12:27, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.”

These were six Good reasons to call the day of Christ’s death, “Good Friday.” In fact, the only greater days in all history was Easter, and the day when Christ returns in glory for his Church to bring us into eternal life. On that day, we will celebrate Christ for redeeming the world on the Cross. Revelation 5:12 says that we will proclaim, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” In the meantime, we have the opportunity to mark his victory over sin, death, and the devil on that day we call . . . Good Friday. May you mark that day with the honor it deserves!

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Psalm 22:1-18; Mark 15.