It is not a great mystery why we call this day “Good” Friday. This is the day each year that we remember the suffering and death on the cross of our Savior. Though they surely had little understanding of what it all meant, God’s people, from the exit from Eden, looked forward to the coming of the Seed of the Woman who would, in crushing the serpent’s head, have His heel bruised. Today we remember that bruising. Sunday we remember that crushing. Though the sky turned ebony, though the earth quaked, though His agony echoed through the place of the skull, it was a good day. It was the day He secured His bride.
While we call this day good, we do so because it is the answer to our being bad. Ours should be a somber joy, for we are they who crucified the Lord of Glory. Yet it is a true joy. For the Lord of Glory saw us as the glory that was set before Him. He despised not our shame but embraced it, bound it to Himself that we might be His.
In every tragedy a question reverberates- can this be redeemed for good? Today we have our answer. There has never been a deeper tragedy than the outpouring of the Father’s wrath on His Son. Only once in all of history has a man ever received from on high a punishment that went beyond what was due. He received the punishment that wasn’t due to Him at all, but was due to us. For this He volunteered, going like a lamb to the slaughter. One time an innocent man suffered, and it was a sacrifice sufficient to pay for every guilty act of every other man. Not only can great evils be redeemed for good, but evil men can be redeemed by the one Good Man.
Jesus died for me. He paid it all. It was a good day, the day the Lord made. Let us rejoice, and be glad in it.
Thank you. Yes through His sacrifice we always have hope. Happy Easter Mr. Sproul.
And to you brother. He is risen indeed.