“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”- Matthew 27:45-46
There our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was hanging from a cross, experiencing unimaginable physical and deep emotional pain of being tortured and separated from the Father.
With such a bleak picture, you may wonder, “So, what’s so good about Good Friday?”.
To start, we need to remember what His death and resurrection actually mean.
Because God is Holy, He must punish sin.
And since we’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, our sin keeps us separated from Him for eternity.
But in His love for us, He sent His one and only Son to die on the cross – to pay the final price for our sins.
The one and ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world was Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.
And as Christians, we must never forget the meaning and power of His crucifixion – and how He endured the full wrath of God, for us.
The immeasurable pain and isolation He faced alone on the cross revealed God’s plan to save His people from their sins.
As David Platt said on Radical:
In his body, Jesus was, First Peter 2 later says “Bearing the judgment of God,” which is why he cries out these words from these words from the Psalms, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” That’s hard to get your mind around those words. Jesus forsaken by God. Not for his own sin, though. First Peter 2 says “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.” This picture is Jesus dying in our place.
This is why he came to Jerusalem. We have been anticipating really all this Holy Week. Better yet, this is why he took on flesh in the first place, to endure temptation, rejection, and ultimately death so that you and I could be reconciled to God.”
So on this Good Friday, may we never forget what Jesus has done for us.
We may be tempted to take sin lightly, thinking it’s “no big deal.”
But all one has to do is remember just how much anguish Jesus suffered for our sins on the cross – for us – this should bring us to our knees in humility and repentance.
He was innocent, yet in His mercy and love he took the wrath of God upon His shoulders, for us.
And because He paid the prices of the sins of all humanity, once and for all, those who place their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior can rest in the confidence that our sins will never separate us from the love of God.
“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” – John 19:30
When Jesus said “It is finished” – He meant it.
He’s paid the price for our sins, once and for all.
May we never take for granted His sacrifice, and may we come before the throne of grace with gratitude and humility.
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