An Explanation of Good Friday
Christians need to be able to explain why Good Friday is so important to us. Good Friday is not just one day or one weekend of special worship. It holds the meaning of the entire Christian faith. Some churches like to walk through the events of the day, step by step. There is nothing wrong with this exercise, so long as someone explains what each step means. Others might focus on what Jesus said, or the supernatural events, or the political intrigue. These are good exercises, too. In fact, there may be so much going on that it is difficult to grasp every dimension of the day. Our task is to look at the person and the accomplished work of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. Jesus went to the Cross of Calvary and died there.
First, “this Man (Jesus), delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death (Acts 2:23).” God ordained the death of Christ. Jesus said, “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again (Jn 10:17).” Jesus also tells us specifically who He died for on Good Friday, “…and I lay down My life for the sheep (Jn 10:15b).” So, we see God’s sovereign purpose for Jesus’ incarnation was for Him to live and die to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21). Good Friday was planned.
Second, “for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Rom 5:10).” Sin separated man from God in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3). This caused man to be at enmity with God (Rom 5:10; Phil 3:18). Enslaved to Satan in the dominion of sin (Acts 26:18), man is in constant rebellion against God. Sin leads to death (Rom 6:23), and death leads to judgment (Heb 9:27).
Unless a person is reconciled to God, she will pay the penalty for her lawlessness (1 Jn 3:4). Yes, we do sin in eternity, as well as in time. Time is in eternity, so when we sin in time, we are also sinning in eternity. Further, did you think people stop sinning in hell? The wrath of God is against the sons of disobedience (Eph 5:6; Col 3:6); but in a public display of propitiation in His blood, Jesus has taken the wrath of God we deserve, upon Himself at the Cross (Rom 3:25; 1 Jn 2:2). Therefore, we are no longer children of wrath (Eph 2:3) because He has delivered us from the wrath to come (1 Thess 1:10). Reconciliation means peace has been reached between God and man, in Jesus’ fleshly body through death (Col 1:22). Good Friday was a planned Day of Reconciliation.
Third, “through Him (Jesus), to reconcile all things unto Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross (Col 1:20).” Man’s hostility toward God ends when one is brought into God’s peace agreement through Jesus Christ, the blessed peacemaker. He Himself is our peace (Eph 2:14). A redeemed person receives peace from God, and the peace of God, which is peace that passes all comprehension (Phil 4:7). By virtue of our union with Christ, we should be at peace with one another, too (Eph 2:14). Good Friday was a planned Day of Reconciliation, bringing God’s peace.
Fourth, “now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord (Heb 13:20).” The agreed upon covenant (Jer 31:31–34), was from all eternity (2 Tim 1:9), and His works were finished from the foundation of the world (Heb 4:3). To ratify the eternal agreement between God the Father and God the Son, for the salvation of God’s chosen people, Jesus needed to take on flesh and dwell among us (Jn 1:14). He took on our humanity (Phil 2:8), yet without sin (Heb 4:15), and He represents us before God, as our High Priest (Heb 3:1; 4:14–15). He is the one Mediator of a new and better covenant (1 Tim 2:5; Heb 8:6; 9:15; 12:24).
Eternal sin (Mk 3:29) required eternal redemption (Heb 9:15) to escape eternal destruction (2 Thess 1:9), and eternal redemption was a provision in the eternal covenant (Heb 13:20). To execute (cut) the covenant, the death of the Testator must occur (Heb 9:16). The death of Christ cut and sealed the eternal covenant between the two parties, which secured the blessings for many beneficiaries of the covenant (Mt 26:28). In other words, God’s covenant children receive an eternal inheritance (Heb 9:15), which is eternal life (Rom 6:23). Good Friday was a planned Day of Reconciliation, bringing God’s peace through an eternal covenant.
Fifth, in the death of Christ, the Lamb of God and Testator, cut the covenant and was cut Himself. As Isaiah prophesied, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Is 53:5–6).”
As the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29), Jesus is identified as the acceptable, unblemished Lamb, who was slain (1 Pet 1:19; Rev 5:6, 12). Jesus’ death on the Cross was a sacrifice. It was a blood sacrifice for sins, offered once by Jesus, our High Priest (Heb 10:12). The blood of the Lamb (Rev 7:14), the precious blood of Christ (1 Pet 1:19) was shed on the Cross for the forgiveness of sins (Heb 9:22). Jesus made purification for sins (Heb 1:3), so He might present us holy and blameless before Him (Eph 1:4; 5:7; Col 1:22). The blood of the new covenant paid the redemption price to set free the captives to sin (Mt 26:28; Eph 1:7; Is 61:1; Lk 4:18). Good Friday was a planned Day of Reconciliation, bringing God’s peace through an eternal covenant, cut by the Lamb of God.
Sixth, “for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement (Lev 17:11).” Jesus bore our sins in His body on the Cross (1 Pet 2:24). He was our sacrificial substitute making blood atonement at the altar of the Cross (Lev 14). Atonement means, “being in the state of oneness.”
We were reconciled to have peace with God through our union with Christ. We are one with Christ, who is one with the Father (Jn 17:21). Good Friday was a planned Day of Reconciliation, bringing God’s peace through an eternal covenant, cut by the Lamb of God, our substitute in atonement for sin.
Seventh, to pay the penalty for sin (2 Thess 1:9), and to give His life a ransom for many (Mk 10:45). Jesus paid for our sins with His precious blood. He canceled out our debt of sin owed (Col 2:14). The Law demands justice. The Law exacerbated sins, exposing the total depravity of humanity. When Jesus paid the penalty, He released many sons to be brought to glory (Heb 2:10). Jesus put angels, authorities, and powers into subjection (1 Pet 3:22) rendering the devil powerless through His death (Heb 2:14).
At the Cross, Jesus set captives to sin free from the stronghold of Satan. The ransom was not paid to Satan but paid to the Law. God’s Law held condemned sinners (Jn 3:18), with Satan as the prison warden, waiting for the day of just judgment. Paul wrote, “God gave them over” (Rom 1:24, 26, 28) in reprobation, but Christ redeemed, or bought back His people (1 Cor 6:20).
The day of the Lord came early for some. Good Friday is judgment day for sinners, chosen by God for salvation (2 Thess 2:13). The ransom was for many people, but not all people, for many are called, but few are chosen (Mt 22:14). Good Friday was a planned Day of Reconciliation, bringing God’s peace through an eternal covenant, cut by the Lamb of God, our substitute in atonement for sin, by payment of a ransom.
Eighth, “therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate (Heb 13:12).” To be outside the camp is to be unclean. He who knew no sin became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21), and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn 1:7). The blood of Jesus brings us who were far off, near to God (Eph 2:13), giving us the confidence to enter the holy place by His blood (Heb 10:19).
The sprinkled blood of Jesus on the mercy seat (Heb 12:24) is the blood of the eternal covenant (Heb 13:20). It is the same blood that God sprinkles on His people (1 Pet 1:2), the blood of the One who loves us and who released us from our sins (Rev 1:5). This includes the guilt of sin, which is removed so we might serve the living God (Heb 9:14). Good Friday was a planned Day of Reconciliation, bringing God’s peace through an eternal covenant, cut by the Lamb of God, our substitute in atonement for sin, by payment of a ransom with His precious blood.
Finally, “but may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal 6:14); for it is written, ‘He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord (2 Cor 10:17).’” Jesus’ disciples, who became His apostles, turned the world upside down with their witness of the One they had been with in training. They watched Him die, but it was because they witnessed His resurrection life, and received His Spirit that they became bold in their testimony.
Christians boast in the Lord Jesus because He is the living God and the God of the living. Good Friday was a planned Day of Reconciliation, bringing God’s peace through an eternal covenant, cut by the Lamb of God, our substitute in atonement for sin, by payment of a ransom with His precious blood, in which we boast.
In summary, our separation from God because of sin has been reconciled. Jesus’ blood has paid our debt in full. As our High Priest, Jesus offered Himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God for a substitutionary atonement for our sin. The Law is satisfied with our justification by His blood. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. A remnant of the children of the devil, who were children of wrath have been adopted into the family of God as children of God. The blood of Christ has brought them near to the throne of grace, where Jesus serves as the Mediator between God and man. So great is our salvation; so great is our boast in the Savior.
In conclusion, Good Friday is about Jesus Christ and His accomplished works. There is so much listed here that could be expanded and expounded. There is even more not listed here. It was an amazing day of accomplishment by One man. The world perceived this day to be an epic failure for the Messiah, but as we have seen, when Jesus said, “It is finished,” its ramification and effect are still accumulating, today. It was a Good Friday, and for the redeemed of the Lord, it is always a Good Friday.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
March 24, 2021
