What Are is Good Friday Celebrating?
Jesus was arrested wrongly. Betrayed by one of His twelve closest friends. He was then dragged around to different authorities. The religious leaders were trying to get a death sentence to Jesus before their festival of Passover started. Finally, Pilot, in fear of a Jewish uprising, allowed for Jesus' death sentence by way of Roman crucifixion.
But before that, He tried to convince the religious leaders that he was punished enough. He had him flogged. A flogging would bring people close to death. A whip with broken iron and bone would rip the skin open. They would do this to bring the prisoner to the point of passing out. They would then stop so that the prisoner would remain conscious. This was not enough for the religious leaders; they wanted him dead.
That morning, Pilot had him hang on the cross with two other criminals. Jesus died faster than the average crucified individual. Roman soldiers would use a iron baseball like bat and break the legs of the people on the cross to cause their death sooner. Jesus died before they needed to so they stabbed him in his side to see if he was in fact dead; he was.
Before the Passover would begin and before The Sabbath Day technically started they took down Jesus' body and put him in the grave. The roman soldiers sealed it shut and protected it with their life because that was on the line if they allowed anyone to tamper with it. That was on Friday.
What Makes That Event "Good"?
It sounds morbid to call that violent event 'good' but when we understand what the event did and meant for all mankind; we begin to see the goodness in it. The event, his death on the cross, was the propitiation for sin. Jesus' life became an equally satisfying payment for the cost of sin and was the perfect ransom for the souls of those who are called to faith. God's wrath was satisfied in the life of the perfect sacrifice for the people that were perfectly evil.
The Weight of Sin:
Sin has the weight of infinite offence. It is eternally wrong. Anything or anyone that is not infinite or eternal can not remove the weight of something that grand. The eternal wrong done to God can only be justly paid by an eternal right. Mankind can not do good for eternity; they fail. And one single offence in their short lived life time prevents them from ever being eternally right. Man can not cover the great weight of their sin. Because of this, Sin will always hang over them unless something or someone outside of them removes it.
It is like comparing a speeding ticket going 3 mph over the posted sign verses a premeditated aggravated rape and murder of a 8 year old that was burned alive (very extreme example but it hits the point). One weighs more on the hearts and minds of mankind and its weight demands an equally just punishment to make things right and to achieve perfect justice. This is the price of sin.
The Price of Sin:
The price of Sin is eternal because of its eternal weight. It is an offence of the eternal holiness of God. It is not something that only takes 3 minutes to correct or a 15 year jail sentence. It is an offence that takes eternity to correct. What I mean by that is whatever the correction is, it must last for eternity to equal the cost of the correction. Using the examples above: Is a 50$ fine a just price for a premeditated aggravated rape and murder of a 8 year old? Of course not. Any rational person would never agree to that, especially if it was your 8 year old daughter. That is not Justice because it does not perfectly pay the price of the offence. Not that any dollar amount can do perfect justice we do however see a difference in the values.
The price of the smallest eternal offence, sin, is worse than all premeditated aggravated rapes and murders of a 8 year olds every day for 75 years by every person that has ever lived. Yes, worse than that. Worse because my example is a finite physical example but sin is a infinite spiritual offence. The smallest sin is an eternal unholy offence to a perfectly holy eternal God.
That Is The Beauty Of The Cross:
On the cross, Jesus Christ paid the price of sin and removed the weight of sin hanging over us. He was perfect substitute for us. The weight and price of sin called for us to die eternally but Christ in his sinlessness paid our price and ransom for us. He atoned for the sins of all those who believe. Jesus Christ became our sin. He took on our sin and paid the price on our behalf. He satisfied God's perfect just requirement for the offence of our sin.
The weight of his life was more than enough compared to the weight of sin.
The value of his life was more than enough to pay the just price of sin.
God's perfect justice was satisfied in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Jesus willingly did this. He humbled himself, left heaven to be born in the world and live the life that we could not live on our behalf. He remained perfectly obedient to the eternal plan of redemption and accepted his reason and purpose for coming into the world. He said what he said, and did what he did, so-that the eternal plan of redemption would perfectly unfold. He went to the cross because of Love for his children even while they were living in rebellion. He took on all their pain and suffering and condemnation, on the cross, on their behalf. He died so that their debt to sin would be perfectly paid and their lives ransomed from eternal death. He did that.
That is Good.
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