The Significance Of Good Friday
The Following blog is written by Brandon Adent
WHY DWELL ON DEATH?
This coming Friday, we’ll be meeting to celebrate and remember Christ’s crucifixion. We know that Easter is only three days later. To dwell on death seems so morbid. Why would we spend a Friday night in remembrance of the God who died when we know that He lives?
The implications of Good Friday are enormous; there’s really no end to them, and it’s impossible to fully understand the depth of them. Here are just a few reasons that Good Friday is worth celebrating.
IT IS FINISHED
Jesus, the Son of God, came to this world with a mission. He was born in squalor and raised in the middle of nowhere (John 2.45-46). Taking the trade of His earthly father, Joseph, the Maker of the Universe lived and worked unknown to anyone outside of Nazareth for most of His life (Mark 6.3).
Then one day, Jesus stood in the synagogue of His hometown. He opened and read from the scroll of Isaiah, and declared Himself to be the one to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to set free the oppressed (Luke 4.18).
On that first Good Friday, after hours of agony under the full weight and fury of the wrath of God, Christ used His final breaths to announce that He had done what He came to do:
It. Is. Finished!
If you are in Christ, you are free. Your sentence and ransom have been paid. The sins that chained you to the dungeon of despair have disintegrated to nothing, and you have nothing to fear in death.
Fully absolved of these I am:
From sin and fear and guilt and shame
THE CURTAIN IS TORN
There used to be a curtain.
The high priest, the one chosen to represent the nation of Israel in God’s presence, only entered the Holy of Holies once a year to offer sacrifice, wearing bells and a rope around his ankle so that the attendants could pull him out should they not survive their encounter with God. This sacred space was set apart by a thick curtain to ensure that no one would accidentally find themself in God’s presence unprepared.
The Apostle Matthew records that as Christ screamed out His victory and breathed His last, that curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Can you imagine witnessing this moment? It’s almost comical to comprehend, visions of an unsuspecting priest diving for the ground, rising to his knees to find that he’s miraculously still alive.
In that moment, Christ became the Great High Priest. If you are in Christ, the implications are astounding. He pleads for us, and prays for us. He is our advocate, and our intercessor. And because of what Christ has done on Good Friday, we can approach the throne with confidence (Hebrews 5), knowing that it’s in Christ’s power that we stand.
WE REMEMBER
On the night before He was betrayed, Jesus had gathered His disciples to celebrate the Passover meal. Jesus took bread and wine, saying that bread represented His body broken, and the wine His blood spilled, and instructed His disciples to eat and drink in remembrance of Him.
Passover was the day that the nation of Israel remembered when God had set them free from captivity to the Egyptians. Similarly, the sacrament of communion, instituted by Christ just before His death and practiced by the church for millennia, remains an act of remembrance.
The elements have no saving power. They are just bread and juice.
However, they do serve as a reminder of Christ’s saving power, and redeeming His people from their sins. The elements are God’s grace to us, to give us a reminder of an event that took place long ago, that none of us have seen, but those who are in Christ know to be true.
WE RESPOND
On Good Friday, we meet to remember and respond to who God is and what He’s done. We’ll sing to and about Him, hear His Word taught, and go to the table in remembrance of Him. We’ll leave knowing that He’s alive, but, Lord willing, aware of the cause and effects of His death on the cross.
Please consider joining us Friday, April 3rd 2015 at 6 PM for our Good Friday service.