Thoughts on Good Friday

Thoughts on Good Friday

Good FridayGood Friday is here. It reminds me of how blessed we are to have a God who did not spare expenses to reach us, to make us right with him.

If you want to get a good grasp of the message of Good Friday, start by reading chapter 53 in Isaiah. It’s a long one but so worth it to read it. Read it slowly and marvel the fact that this was written hundreds of years before Jesus was born. Yet it was written with a precision of an eye witness. How blessed we are to have a God who knew what he was doing down to the last detail.

The other reading I recommend today is found in Matthew 27:32-54. Years I used to be puzzled why God abandoned Jesus on his darkest moment.

And about the ninth hour (three o’clock) Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?—that is, My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me [leaving Me helpless, forsaking and failing Me in My need]? (Matthew 27:46, AMP,*)

But it had to be done. Jesus did only carry our sins on the cross. He also experienced the abandonment of God so we don’t ever have to experience it. Read that again. Jesus was forsaken so you don’t ever have to be. You are free to approach God anytime you want. And you can rest assured that God will never forsake you. God will never leave you. He will be with you every day of your life.

All this because Jesus died willingly on the cross. Nobody could have taken his life but he released his spirit for us.

Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. (Matthew 27:50, NLT,*)

Jesus wanted to die for our sins. He wanted to sacrifice himself for us so we could be united with God forever and ever. How blessed we are to have a God who did all this for us.

Today’s reading ends with the first post-resurrection creed and it comes from a very unexpected source.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54, NIV,*)

How blessed we are to have a God who became a man so he could take our place on the cross, to die for our sins. Surely he was the Son of God!

 

Gracious God,
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Be praised forever
and ever
and ever
and ever
and ever.
Amen

Q4U: What are your thoughts on Good Friday?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you ponder on the sacrifice of Jesus!

* [As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses to Biblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.]

Image courtesy of  ochristian.com, design Mari-Anna Stålnacke. Linking up today with Faith-filled Fridays, Five Minute Friday, and Faith Barista.

4 thoughts on “Thoughts on Good Friday

  1. Glad to have read your Good Friday post on Faith-filled Friday. I love Isaiah 53, and memorized part of it a few years ago. I think today would be a good day to dust it off and review. Thanks for the push!

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