Good Friday: "And God Said It Was Very Good"

In the Beginning Jesus created everything with Father and Spirit (John 1:3, Genesis 1:27) and He said, "It was Good." There were seven days, that God The Trinity said, "It is Good." (). One of those days was made good again, Friday, when God who hade made the day and being in human flesh, died on a cross for all mankind (2 Corinthians 5:15) and those who believe in Jesus will have eternal life (John 6:40, Romans 10:9-10). That day two thousand and seventeen years ago was a Good Day, when propitiation and atonement for sins of all people was achieved, "And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins." (Romans 3:22-25). Today we celebrate this glorious good day, thanking our Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross. Good Friday isn't the end, For He is Risen and we celebrate the Resurrection on Sunday, but Friday is Good because God who is Good (Mark 10:18) and made all good things (Genesis 1:31, John 1:3, Colossians 1:16) made us good through His blood and death.

When God saw what He made He said, "It was very good." (Genesis 1:31). In same respect, we can say God who formed man in His Image (Genesis 1:27), having taken on that image and flesh (1 John 4:1-13, John 1:1-15) did something very good, He saved us (John 6:40). The gravity of God's love is fathomless and endless, the fact that He chose to become human and die for our sins, rather than let us receive the punishment and wrath (Romans 5:9 compared with Revelation 19:11-16) is marvelous, but more so the fact that God Himself humbled Himself, "You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God  and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11). It is wondrous that He (God) let His creation kill Him so that His creation could be saved through His sacrifice and death (Romans 5:8-10, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 3:18). This is indeed so good that we might miss just how truly good it is! For instead of out casting us and being content to let us burn in Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10) God made bridge through Jesus, the Only way of Salvation (John 14:6) so that we should not perish but have eternal life through the Son Jesus (John 3:16).

God's Love is boundless, that He would so humiliate Himself and suffer such severe pain and death for us should be sign that His Love is not light or weak, but that nothing can now separate us from His Love, "What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:31-39 NLT). How the Divine Hug of Jesus on cross, He is not some austere and far away God, but a relational and close Creator and Savior, He died to bring us to Him and so we could be with Him forever. If one wants to know how close Jesus is to us, look at John, "Then he (John) thus having leaned on the breast of Jesus, says to Him, "Lord, who is it?" (John 13:25). He is not distant warlord or indifferent king, He is Love itself (1 John 4:8) and He showed us His love by dying for us on the cross when we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). He showed us so much love by His sacrifice, because He actually took away our need to preform or prove ourselves through works, and instead His work alone save us, "But God had so much loving-kindness. He loved us with such a great love.  Even when we were dead because of our sins, He made us alive by what Christ did for us. You have been saved from the punishment of sin by His loving-favor. ⁶ God raised us up from death when He raised up Christ Jesus. He has given us a place with Christ in the heavens. ⁷ He did this to show us through all the time to come the great riches of His loving-favor. He has shown us His kindness through Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-7). We are liberated in the love of Jesus, if only we would stay free and not get bound up in the traditions of men (Mark 7:7, Matthew 23). Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and know His love, and remember today that the Crucifixion is not just God's Wrath swallowed up in the wounds of Christ, but the ultimate act of love and compassion and kindness to God's Creation.