{"id":12532,"date":"2021-04-02T08:15:20","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T07:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gcurley.info\/news\/?p=12532"},"modified":"2021-04-03T22:37:16","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T21:37:16","slug":"good-friday-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gcurley.info\/news\/2021\/04\/good-friday-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is Good Friday and why do we call Good Friday \u201cgood,\u201d when it is such a dark and bleak event commemorating a day of suffering and death for Jesus?
\nFor Christians, Good Friday is a crucial day of the year because it celebrates what we believe to be the most momentous weekend in the history of the world. Ever since Jesus died and was raised, Christians have proclaimed the cross and resurrection of Jesus to be the decisive turning point for all creation. Paul considered it to be \u201cof first importance\u201d that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised to life on the third day, all in accordance with what God had promised all along in the Scriptures (The Bible: 1 Corinthians 15:3).
\nOn Good Friday we remember the day Jesus willingly suffered and died by crucifixion as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins (The Bible: 1 John 1:10). It is followed by Easter, the glorious celebration of the day Jesus was raised from the dead, heralding his victory over sin and death and pointing ahead to a future resurrection for all who are united to him by faith (The Bible: Romans 6:5).
\nWhat is the Meaning of Calling it “Good” Friday?
\nStill, why call the day of Jesus\u2019 death \u201cGood Friday\u201d instead of \u201cBad Friday\u201d or something similar? Some Christian traditions do take this approach: in German, for example, the day is called Karfreitag, or \u201cSorrowful Friday.\u201d In English, in fact, the origin of the term \u201cGood\u201d is debated: some believe it developed from an older name, \u201cGod\u2019s Friday.\u201d Regardless of the origin, the name Good Friday is entirely appropriate because the suffering and death of Jesus, as terrible as it was, marked the dramatic culmination of God\u2019s plan to save his people from their sins.
\nIn order for the good news of the gospel to have meaning for us, we first have to understand the bad news of our condition as sinful people under condemnation. The good news of deliverance only makes sense once we see how we are enslaved. Another way of saying this is that it is important to understand and distinguish between law and gospel in Scripture. We need the law first to show us how hopeless our condition is; then the gospel of Jesus\u2019 grace comes and brings us relief and salvation.
\nIn the same way, Good Friday is \u201cgood\u201d because as terrible as that day was, it had to happen for us to receive the joy of Easter. The wrath of God against sin had to be poured out on Jesus, the perfect sacrificial substitute, in order for forgiveness and salvation to be poured out to the nations. Without that awful day of suffering, sorrow, and shed blood at the cross, God could not be both \u201cjust and the justifier\u201d of those who trust in Jesus (Romans 3:26). Paradoxically, the day that seemed to be the greatest triumph of evil was actually the deathblow in God\u2019s gloriously good plan to redeem the world from bondage.<\/p>\n

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The cross is where we see the convergence of great suffering and God\u2019s forgiveness. Psalms 85:10 sings of a day when \u201crighteousness and peace\u201d will \u201ckiss each other.\u201d The cross of Jesus is where that occurred, where God\u2019s demands, his righteousness, coincided with his mercy. We receive divine forgiveness, mercy, and peace because Jesus willingly took our divine punishment, the result of God\u2019s righteousness against sin. \u201cFor the joy set before him\u201d (The Bible: Hebrews 12:2) Jesus endured the cross on Good Friday, knowing it led to his resurrection, our salvation, and the beginning of God\u2019s reign of righteousness and peace.
\nGood Friday marks the day when wrath and mercy met at the cross. That\u2019s why Good Friday is so dark and so Good.
\nGood Friday Bible Verses
\nRomans 5:6-10 – “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God\u2019s wrath through him! For if, while we were God\u2019s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
\n1 Peter 2:24 – \u201cHe himself bore our sins\u201d in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; \u201cby his wounds you have been healed.\u201d
\nIsaiah 53:3-5 – “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
\nMatthew 27 – The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

(from an article by Justin Holcomb).<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is Good Friday and why do we call Good Friday \u201cgood,\u201d when it is such a dark and bleak event commemorating a day of suffering and death for Jesus? For Christians, Good Friday is a crucial day of the year because it celebrates what we believe to be the most momentous weekend in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcurley.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcurley.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcurley.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcurley.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcurley.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcurley.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12550,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcurley.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12532\/revisions\/12550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcurley.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcurley.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcurley.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}