Today is a wonderful day for Christians around the world. It is the day that we remember the death of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I remember as a kid wondering way we called this "Good" Friday if it was the day that Jesus died. My reasoning...death is not good...it is sad and we lose a relationship. But through the years, I have grown to a greater understanding of Jesus death and the "good" that is brings.
It is good because we needed a blood sacrifice for our sins. The writer of Hebrews records:
"He (Jesus) entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:12-14, ESV)
It is good because through Jesus' death our sins have been removed and our life is fixed in Christ. Paul says in Galatians 2: 20:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
It is good because ultimately, Jesus conquered death and in so doing offers to us eternal life.
Jesus said:
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish,
and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
(John 10:28, ESV)
So on this day of remembering the death and burial of Jesus Christ, I am overwhelmed with the goodness of my God. He loved me more than life itself and continues to love me. I am so grateful for the life that is mine because of the death of Jesus. It is a "good" Friday. Thanks be to God!
Look forward to what you'll post on Sunday!
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