What's Good About Good Friday?

Pastor Mark A. Callister

Is there anything good about Good Friday?  It began early in the morning with Jesus praying so fervently that He would not have to drink from the cup of His Father’s wrath and ended in the early evening when a stone was rolled in front of a dark tomb.

So many crazy things happened on that day.  A kiss in the dark, a mob with swords and clubs, a mockery of a trial, an emphatic “I don’t know the man!” by a trusted friend, the brutality of trained killers, an offer of release followed by “Crucify Him!”, a hill, three crosses, a hammer and some nails, spitting, laughing, crying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” followed closely by “It is finished.”

It is hard to look at any of this and think, “Boy, that was a good day.”  On the surface it kind of looks like a worse day than Alexander had in his book, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”  The only way to understand how Good Friday was truly good is to look at what was happening underneath the surface.

God’s Plan was being carried out.  John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…”  And in Isaiah 53:10 we are told, “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer.”

Our sin was paid for.  Isaiah 53:5 says, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

The gates of Heaven were opened for the undeserving.  John 3:16 says, “Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

A way was made for sinners to boldly approach God.  Hebrews 10:22 says, “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

On the surface Good Friday was a very bad day.  Underneath the surface Good Friday was truly a Good, Great, Tremendously Wonderful, Overwhelmingly Awesome Day.  For, as 2 Corinthians 5:19 says, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.”  And that makes for a good day.