Easter With HopeSample

Good Friday: Why is it Good? 

God has made us and, on the cross, He has bought us back.

As you read the Good Friday story, do you hear what did not happen? It becomes clear from Scripture that Jesus did not go down in defeat. Yes, He died. But Scripture does not portray His death as the last failing breath of a beaten man. If ever there was a death with dignity, here we see it. Luke, the physician, describes Jesus as laying down His life. It was not taken from Him. He went through the pangs and torments of hell, and was still alive.

We also see that Jesus did not abandon His trust in the heavenly Father. Having been left in the darkness of God’s judgement, He still could look up to heaven and say, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

Does that surprise you? When we go through our dark hours, are we not inclined to doubt the love and care of our heavenly Father? How could Jesus still want to place Himself in the Father’s hands? Look what the Father had just put Him through!

On Good Friday, God says to man, “I made you, but I lost you. Now at great sacrifice, I have bought you back. That makes you twice mine, and twice mine is mine forever.”