Today is known as Good Friday -- Good for all time because it is the day on which Jesus Christ offered us the gift of salvation when He died on the cross, paying the penalty for our sins. But that's not all - Good Friday is also the necessary precondition to Easter Sunday. It is through Jesus' substitutionary sacrifice on Good Friday that he offers us salvation, and through His miraculous resurrection on Sunday morning that he offers us Resurrection Power.
To His followers, that Friday was a dark and tragic day. They doubtless felt the same abandonment that Jesus spoke of on the cross when he recited the first part of the opening verse of Psalm 22:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
It was not until Sunday morning that they understood that God had not abandoned either Jesus or them, but that instead he had set in place His plan of salvation. On Friday, they did not understand that Sunday was coming.
Those of us who worry about the current state of our nation and our culture would do well to remember that God does not abandon us in times of darkness and deep distress, even if it may seem that way to us at the moment. Sunday's coming!
Please take a few minutes to hear this remarkable sermon from S.M. Lockridge, often cited by author Tony Campolo. At less than four minutes, it is the single best Good Friday message I have ever heard - and in the link below it is accompanied by video clips from The Passion of the Christ that make it even more powerful.
Yes, it's Friday, but Sunday's coming! Click here to hear the sermon.
May you and yours have a meaningful Good Friday and a joyous, hopeful and happy Easter! |
