Daily devotion – Good Friday
John 10:17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
I recommend to you these verses from John chapter 10 as they so important in describing to us that as Easter approaches we are to never consider Jesus as a poor victim at this time.
No, He was the Son of God and He and His Father had planned these events before the foundation of the earth were laid. He ‘allowed’ Himself to be led away as the prophet Isaiah foretold and He allowed His crucifixion on the Cross. It was for this hour that He had come!
Jesus was no victim, He was the Victor over Satan, sin and death!
As we celebrate Good Friday many ask why is it called such.
‘Good Friday’ comes from the sense ‘pious, holy’ of the word “good”. Less common examples of expressions based on this obsolete sense of “good” include “the good book” for the Bible, “good tide” for “Christmas” or Shrovetide, and Good Wednesday for the Wednesday in Holy Week.
This week as we do each Easter, Helen and I watched the movie “the Passion of Christ” where the last hours of Jesus are shot in excruciating detail, and most would question why Good Friday is called, ‘Good Friday.’
At least that was my thought between wincing over the lashes and the obvious pain Jesus was experiencing. Many rightly wonder, “Why is it called Good Friday when it’s historically the day Jesus, brutally died?” Even though we now know that Jesus was crucified on the Thursday.
Why Is it Called Good Friday?
For Christians, Good Friday is a crucial day of the year because it celebrates what we believe to be the most pivotal time in the history of the world. On Good Friday, Jesus willingly suffered and died by crucifixion as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins (1 John 1:10).
D.A. Carson wrote, “It was not nails that held Jesus to that wretched cross; it was his unqualified resolution, out of love for his Father, to do his Father’s will—and it was his love for sinners like me.”
It is a good day because he traded places for you and for me. It is a good day because it was the day, He conquered sin and death so that we will never be apart from God on this side of heaven or the other.
The lessons of the Easter Scriptures are powerful and detailed in their description of the pain, the sorrow and the wonder of Christ’s love for lost sinners.
This week as we lead up to Easter Sunday – Resurrection Day – I pray that you and your family are reading through each of the four Gospels so that you do not miss any of the wonder of Christ’s sacrificial death and His all powerful Resurrection!
Sunday is coming……..!