The Untold Secrets of Good Friday [Daily Devotional]

Introduction

Are you a good news first or a bad news first kind of person? I feel like sometimes you have that choice, right? People are like, Hey, you know what? I got some good news and some bad news for you. What do you want to hear first? It’s something about hearing the bad news first makes the good news even better. And you don’t want good news to be ruined by bad news. So my default on that is just, you know, give me the bad news first and then, okay, I can, I can absorb that, I can understand that, and then give me the good news, and it’s just much sweeter that way.

The Struggle of Good Friday

How is it Good Friday can be good at all? And that is the struggle, and has been the struggle for me. It seems so somber. It’s like Jesus, who didn’t do anything wrong other than break the law of blasphemy, he just basically told people that he was God, and they wanted to kill him for it. I mean, how many people are walking around doing that now? We just ignore him. We don’t kill anybody for saying that they’re God, no. And they did that, and that was Jesus’ crying. Jesus said, I am God. And they said, OK, well, we’re going to kill you for saying that, because that’s not true. So that seems a little extreme to me.

The Prophecy of Isaiah

I was reading through Isaiah this morning. I was skimming through. I took a break from my normal devotions, because it’s Good Friday, and just this weekend is so significant to our faith. I wanted to re-look at it. what was going on in the life of Jesus and even the prophecy that was fulfilled, that was being fulfilled at the time. And reading through Isaiah, this is like, I think it’s like 800 years, maybe you can correct me if I’m wrong, like 800 years before Jesus is even born. So this is a long time before he’s born. He is describing how much God loves us and the solution to the sin problem. He talks about how Emmanuel is going to be the solution. You’ll be born of a virgin. I believe this is chapter 7. And then reading through, it talks about Emmanuel. It talks about God with us, which is referring to who we know now as Jesus of Nazareth. How he was going to fulfill all these prophecies and how that was going to rescue us from our own damnation that we have created for ourselves. In verse 4 of chapter 53 it says, Surely he took up our affirmities, yet we consider him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. That is amazing that that was written by somebody who had heard from God the answer for all that has been done wrong and all the sin that is in the world. 800 years before Jesus actually came, God gave him this word. It’s amazing. And now we can just look back on it. And say, yeah, that’s who he was talking about, but how awesome was it to receive that and to give that and for other people to have that as part of for encouragement and to know that God hasn’t forgotten about them and God is going to provide a way out for them.

The Dullness of Good Friday

I think we do a little bit of injustice when it comes to talking about Good Friday. Good Friday is good because it fulfills the good news. The good news is that Emmanuel is coming and is going to be pierced for our transgressions, he’s going to take our sin, and he’s going to take the punishment for that sin for us. I think that we can dull down the bad news, and that, I think, does some injustice to what the gospel is, the good news. Jesus had a really good understanding of God’s wrath, and you read through the Old Testament, and you see it more. You can see this sin that we have, the rebellion that we have, causes this wrath in God that you get a really good understanding of, and you’re reading through the Old Testament more than the New, and I believe that Jesus had a really good understanding of what this was. Because when I read through the end of the Gospels, when Jesus is going to the garden, he’s going to the garden to pray before he gets captured about God taking the cup from him. And when we describe this, we describe Jesus’ sacrifice, we talk about the cross all the time. My personal opinion on this is I don’t think that he was in the garden, that he was sweating blood and just asking God if there’s any other way to take this from him. When he’s referring to taking the cup away from him, I don’t think he’s referring to the cross, even though that is obviously an awful way to die on this earth. The amount of pain and suffering that is caused through that is not, in my belief, is really not comprehensible. be really tough to empathize with that. I think the cup that he’s referring to is something even more than that. I think it was the wrath of God that he was referring to. He knows his father. He knows the result of sin. And he knows what needs to be paid, the price that needs to be paid for that sin. And he didn’t want that. I’m sure he didn’t want the cross either. But I am convinced The wrath of God would be much more intimidating, especially when you have a better understanding of it than what we have even through scripture. Let’s not dull down what Jesus did. He died on Friday, and he was gone for three days. I’m telling you, he was not on this earth, and he was not in heaven. There’s not a whole lot of other places he could be for three days, and I’m telling you, it was during that time he was suffering the wrath of God for the sins of you, for I, for everybody before us, for everybody after us. The bad news is the wrath of God that is a result of our sin. The good news is Jesus took that on our behalf for all those who believe in their heart and confess with their mouth.

Conclusion

Today is a Good Friday. For what it’s worth, those are my thoughts on Good Friday. Hopefully you enjoy it. Take the time just to remember the sacrifice and not only that on the cross, but of the wrath of God that was endured by our Savior, Jesus Christ. Have a great day.