Friday We Call It Good

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Thank you Wanda Barlow for this great idea!

“Friday: We Call It Good”

Mary Craig Ministries

April 3, 2015

It was Friday. We call it “good.” Jesus’ time had come. Many times He had said, My time has not yet come, but now it was the appointed time. He knew.

Had He not told His disciples? He taught them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. (Mark 8:31, cf Luke 9:22) Was it not necessary that the Son of man be delivered over to the hand of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day rise? (Luke 24:7)

The Jews were celebrating Passover. From generation to generation the testimony had been preserved. It was a lamb for a household. The people were to strike the blood on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses. Inside their houses they were to eat what we call the Passover, or Seder. They were to eat it in haste because it was the Lord’s Passover. The LORD passed through the land of Egypt and smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal as He executed judgment against the gods of Egypt. The blood was a token so that when God saw the blood, He would pass over and the plague would not be upon them to destroy them when He smote the land of Egypt. The day would be a memorial, a feast by ordinance, so that succeeding generations would remember this mighty work of God as He brought His people out of slavery, out of Egypt in a great deliverance worthy of worship. (Exodus 12:1-28)

And now Christ our Passover was fulfilling all righteousness. For this purpose, to this end, He had been sent by the Father.

Judas had betrayed Jesus. Early, Jesus was first led to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. He stood before the Sanhedrin and then before Pilate. Recognizing he had betrayed the innocent blood, Judas hanged himself. Jesus then stood before Herod Antipas. He stood before Pilate a second time. Barabbas, a robber, was released to the people. As to Jesus, the people cried, “crucify Him” and got what they wanted. At the conclusion of the trial, soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, stripped Him, put on Him a scarlet robe and a crown of thorns and placed a reed in His right hand. They mockingly bowed the knee before Him. Then they spit on Him and smote Him on the head with the reed. He was scourged.

Next came the walk to Golgotha. Jesus refused to drink the vinegar mingled with gall offered to Him. Simon a Cyrenian was compelled to bear Jesus’ cross. People were wailing and lamenting. Two others, malefactors, were led with Jesus to be put to death. Finally, they reached the place of a skull, Golgotha.

From 9:00 a.m. to Noon, Jesus hung on the cross. Soldiers cast lots for His garments and watched. All this time, prophecies were being fulfilled. A sign was set up over His head: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

On the cross, the temptations came: the temptation to save Himself and come down from the cross; the temptation to prove who He was and His faith in God; the temptation to confirm faith in Him by coming down from the cross; the temptation to save Himself and the malefactors with Him, if indeed He be the Christ.

Jesus was silent when reviled until He said,

Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)

Then in answer to the malefactor who recognized that they deserved to die but that Jesus had done nothing amiss and who said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom, Jesus said:

Verily I say unto you, today shall you be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He said to His mother,

Woman, behold your son!

And to the disciple (John), Jesus said,

Behold your mother! (John 19:26, 27)

Now it was Noon to 3:00 p.m. Darkness lay over the land for three hours. Around 3:00 p.m. Jesus cried out with a loud voice,

My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me? (Matthew 27:46)

Jesus knew that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled. He said,

I thirst. (John 19:28)

When the sponge with vinegar and hyssop was offered to His mouth, Jesus received the vinegar and said,

It is finished. (John 19:30)

The veil of the temple was rent. Jesus cried with a loud voice,

Father, into Your hands I commend My Spirit. (Luke 23:46)

The soldiers came but saw He was already dead; so they did not break His legs. But one pierced His side, and out came blood and water. The centurion which stood over against Jesus, said, Truly this man was the Son of God. In this he glorified God. Jesus’ body, wrapped in linen and spices, was laid in a tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea. A large stone was rolled in front of the tomb.

It was Friday. We call it “good.” It is finished. The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world was slain in real time, in real history. Peter would testify later.

“You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which G od did by Him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Acts 2:22, 23. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Acts 2:36. The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Son Jesus; whom you delivered up and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God has raised from the dead, whereof we are witness.” (Acts 3:13-15)

None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8)

The Lord of Glory? Yes. For He bore our sins as prophesied in Isaiah 53:4-12. Jesus came, the promised Messiah, prophet, priest, and king. He was sent to bear the sin, the transgression, the iniquity; to bear the curse of the law; to bear the wrath of God for those for whom He died. In His body and blood shed for the remission of sin, He mediated a new, a better covenant. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. He came to satisfy divine justice for our offenses, to satisfy the debt note of sin, to take upon Himself in our place the full measure of God’s holy recoil, His wrath against all that is contrary to His nature and ways. He came to redeem from the bondage of slavery to sin. He came unto His own and His own received Him not, but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. (John 1:11, 12)

Repent or perish for the Kingdom of God is at hand, Jesus had told the people and the priests, the scribes and the Pharisees, the Sadducees and those in the synagogues. He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18, 19)

He came. He was sent, to preach and to teach the Kingdom of God, the gospel message. But the wisdom of God is foolishness to those who are perishing, for unless one is born from above, one cannot see, one cannot enter, one cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. It takes being born from above, being born out of God, being regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,… Titus 3:4-7

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) All have sinned (Romans 3:23) but there is hope.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8, 9

God may grant faith.

The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:24-26

God may grant repentance.

God must open spiritual eyes, open ears, and turn hearts that one might be healed. In faith believing, we receive. We see the Lamb slain for us. And with heaven we proclaim:

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. Revelation 5:12

We are to remember the Lord’s death until He comes. We are to enter into the gravity of the crucifixion, the amazing grace of it, the glory of it. The Father calls us to look and live. Jesus Christ calls us to come and die. The Holy Spirit calls us to rise and reign. It was Friday. We call it “good.”

Mary Craig

Mary Craig, D. Min.

And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Revelation 5:9

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