WHAT MAKES GOOD FRIDAY GOOD?

 

Good Friday, April 2, 2021 

I spent time talking with the Lord about the remembrance of “Good” Friday and why do we call it Good Friday?  Jesus was arrested and tortured and persecuted the entire day ending it with His Body being put to rest in a tomb.

As I reflected on this day in history and the reality of how it relates to me, I went to the Scriptures to be refreshed in the details from the Last Supper of Jesus to His last breath!

The first thing I learned that I had not seen before is that Judas Iscariot began his scheme to try and make Jesus take a stand against the Romans and set up His Kingdom on Tuesday night after being reprimanded for rebuking Mary for anointing Jesus with expensive perfume (Matt. 26:13-16).  He left and went to the chief priests and scribes to betray Him and hand Him over to them.  It wasn’t until the Last Supper on Thursday evening that Jesus announced He had a betrayer and Satan entered Judas and Jesus told him to go and do quickly what he must do…and John 18 tells us we next see him appear where he knew Jesus would be in the Garden of Gethsemane with a band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees (other Gospel writers say:  with a multitude with swords & staves).  You see, Judas thought Jesus would defend and defeat the army and become the King of the Jews.

Note:  Preconceived ideas can bring consuming shame!

Satan was very busy that day!  He had been working on Judas and entered him to try and force Jesus to fight to protect His disciples; Jesus said Satan had asked to sift Peter and caused him to deny knowing Jesus 3 times; and written between the lines of Scripture we see Satan come to Jesus while pleading with The Father about His will and how He was to redeem the world from the penalty of sin.  This was Satan’s attempt to try and tempt Jesus that He would fail as Man; Satan knew he couldn’t touch Him as Son of God.  (Matt.26:36-46) Jesus asked Peter, James & John to watch and pray to not fall into temptation, for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak…and they slept because their eyes were heavy.

 Mel Gibson did a great job of imaging this scene with Satan tempting Jesus as a beautiful woman and a slithering snake attacking Jesus as a Man.  The magnificent scene was when Genesis 3:15 came true with the serpent striking Jesus heel and Jesus crushing the head of the serpent.  Satan has been wounded and pending death…but I have learned that poisonous snakes are just as dangerous even with the head cut off.   Satan is not a serpent; he is a fallen angel and his destiny is predetermined and he knows he has been defeated…but he is not dead, and he is still full of venom.  Don’t let this frighten you because he didn’t stop JESUS FROM BEING THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB OF GOD THAT TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!  Mankind has been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb of God and everyone who BELIEVES in His Name and RECEIVES Him as Savior He gives the right to become Children of God.  (John 1:12-13)

A final observation that delights me as a woman of God are the women in Jesus life and where they were during all these scenes.  Luke 8:1-3; Luke 23:27, 55,24:1,9-10;   Matt. 27:55-56;  John 19:25(Mother of Jesus)  They were the first to see Jesus after He arose because they had come to care for His body out of their love and devotion.  Jesus stopped on His way to check in with The Father after completing His Father’s will to redeem the world to meet a woman seeking for Him with all her heart…Mary Magdalene.  Jesus gave her a mission and the first person to declare the Good News that He is Alive! John 20:11-18

Good Friday is Good because it is the day of the greatest expression of LOVE ever demonstrated!  Our Creator who created us to Love Him, took on flesh so that He could be the perfect blood sacrifice to pay our sin debt so that we could be freed and have a second chance to choice to live Happily Forever in a Love Relationship with Him!

It's a Good Friday when you believe and receive a New Life in Christ Jesus, our Redeemer!