It Was For You

You may or may not be aware that today is Good Friday, and you may or may not be observing it. In fact, people observe Good Friday in different ways. Some go to church on this day. Others don’t go to church but quietly observe the day in their own way as they go about their business. And, of course, some people don’t see much significance in Good Friday (even if others might) and treat it as any other day.
Whatever your attitude toward this particular day is, you may be surprised when I say that Good Friday could not be a more personal day for you even if it was your own birthday. And I am not exaggerating.
Good Friday (as it has become known via tradition) is the day commemorating Jesus’ death by crucifixion around 30 A.D. It’s not an exact anniversary, but it is generally accurate to the time of year, since we know Jesus died during the Jewish celebration of Passover, which comes at this time of year. Obviously, it is a religious day, one that, as I mentioned previously, can be observed by going to church. However, Good Friday is not a special religious holiday that comes around once a year, gives us a special religious feeling, and then passes on to leave us unchanged. The event that Good Friday commemorates is nothing short of the first in the most important series of events ever to happen on this earth. And, again, as I said before, it could not be more personal to you if it were your own birthday or wedding anniversary – and it has a meaning that, if you will allow it to do so, cannot but turn your very existence upside down.
What is the significance of the death of Jesus of Nazareth? If your view of the matter is that it was the death of the Founder of a great religion, remembered by the faithful in the same sense as the death of Muhammad or Buddha, then your view is incorrect. If you think that Jesus’ death was the tragic, untimely, and unjust end to the life of a great leader, in the same way as perhaps those of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, or John F. Kennedy were, then again you are mistaken. Either of these opinions contradicts what the Bible says about Jesus and what Jesus said about Himself. You see, Jesus’ death had everything to do with you and me.
Jesus Himself claimed to be more than a great religious, political, or philosophical figure. He claimed to be the Son of God – “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus claimed to be the only way to God the Father – “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Repeatedly, Jesus predicted that He would die by crucifixion and then rise again on the third day after – and it came to pass exactly as He predicted. Jesus claimed that this death would be for the eternal life of the world – “The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). These are just a few of the claims of Jesus, and if you want to read them and others like them for yourself, then simply read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (especially John). Don’t let anyone else tell you who Jesus was. Let Jesus Himself tell you who He is. If you look at it objectively, you can’t escape the conclusion that Jesus made astounding claims unlike those made by any other – claims that must be either believed wholeheartedly and in their totality if true or, if false, rejected altogether as the ravings of a madman. There is no middle ground.
Some like to get into debates as to who was responsible for Jesus’ death – was it “those evil Jews” or “those wicked Romans”? The fact is that it was neither of these at whose feet we must lay the blame. Jesus said in John 10:17-18, “I lay down My life, that I might take it up again. No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment I have received from My Father.” Here Jesus is saying that He had power over His own life, to let it go or not as He chose – and He chose to let it go. He was not at the mercy of either the Jewish or Roman authorities, or of anyone else.
The nails in Jesus’ hands and feet were not what kept Him on the cross. Indeed, when He was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said, “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide me with more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53). Jesus could have put an end to the arrest, the sham trial, the merciless beating, and even His own execution had He just said the word. But He never did, for one reason. The only thing that kept Him on that cross was His own love for you and me, who alone are responsible for sending Him there in the first place. That’s right – you and I were the ones who killed Jesus, or more particularly, your and my sin.
The very reason that Jesus came to this earth, lived for 33 perfect years, and died a death He never deserved was not to set an example, or to found a great religion, or to be a great leader. The reason was so that you and I – and every person who has lived and will ever live – might have the chance to be reconciled to God their Creator. But how can this be? How can one Man’s death make us right with God?
It was not the horrific physical details of Jesus’ death that accomplished this. In fact, I or anyone else could claim to be dying for the world, and then do it, but that would change nothing afterward. And so it would have been with Jesus had He only been any other man. But Jesus was not just any other man. He was God come to earth in the flesh, and when He died He literally carried in Himself the sins of everyone who would ever be born, past, present, or future. While He was on the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He said this because God, His Father, had literally turned His back on His Son because at that moment He had literally become the sin of the world, on which God was pouring out the full portion of His just wrath. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “For He (God) has made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” And again, in 1 Peter 2:24, “(Jesus) Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree (cross), that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed.”
You see, Jesus came – though He did not have to – because you and I have an irreversible problem from birth. We are sinners, and God cannot let sin into His presence. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”; and Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” Our sin problem separates us from God so that we cannot have a right relationship with Him in this life or in the one to come. And even if we try our hardest to live good lives, no amount of our effort can ever restore our right standing with God. Tragically, the damage has already been done.
God knew this was our plight, but He was not content to let it remain that way. He did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He loved us so much that He sent His Son to earth in human flesh to be our Substitute. Jesus lived a sinless life and met all of God’s requirements (which we could never do); then, on the cross, He took upon Himself the full punishment that was justly due to you and to me for our sin. In so doing, Jesus made a way for His perfect righteousness to be transferred to all who trust Him and His finished work for their salvation. On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, proving that God had accepted His payment for our sin forever.
Dear friend, just think – for you Almighty God left His own heavenly home to face the most extreme humiliation by coming to earth as a human and dying a death He did not deserve so that your sins could rightfully be forgiven! What love He has shown for you and for me! It is impossible for anyone to completely express all that God has done for each of us. Jesus has paid it all; He has provided a complete atonement for our sin.
But you may remember that I said that we have a “chance” to be reconciled to God. What is there left to be done? Only one thing. Jesus has provided your salvation, but He does not force you to take it. He is calling each of us to make a decision. Will we fall on our face before God and acknowledge our sin and throw our complete trust onto Jesus and what He has done to save us? Or will we for any reason reject His finished work? The choice is up to you and to me. I have chosen by God’s grace to trust in Jesus alone for my salvation and to follow Him with my whole life. Acts 4:12 says, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” This verse speaks of Jesus, who Himself said, as we have mentioned, in John 14:6, that He is the only way to the Father.
Good Friday represents God’s gift to every person who comes into the world. But what if they choose not to receive it? Unfortunately, there is no other alternative. The book of Hebrews has something to say about this. In Hebrews 2:3, it says, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” And in 10:26, 27, 29, we read, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, which will devour the adversaries…Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy, who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”
What this means is simply that if we reject the atonement that Jesus purchased for us on the cross, then that is our final chance. God can do no more for us than He has already done. He does not want us to be separated from Him forever, but if we reject Him, He must allow it to be so. And there are many ways in which we can reject our Savior, or “trample Him underfoot” and “count His blood an unholy thing.” We can do it by saying to God, “No, I don’t need a Savior – I’m just fine the way I am. I may not be perfect, but my sin doesn’t separate me from God.” 1 John 1:8 contradicts this idea – “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Isaiah 59:2 also presents an opposing viewpoint – “But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”
We can tell God, “I thank you for sending Jesus to die for me, but I believe that that is not enough to save me – I must strive to get to heaven by my good works as well.” Again, this attitude insults the very God who has given us salvation and His Son who cried out with His last breath, “It (meaning the complete salvation of those who trust Him) is finished!” Or we may say, “That is fine to believe if you want, but I believe that I can be saved another way.” But we have already seen Jesus’ own claims that He stood as the only Way to the Father. It may not be nice or convenient to think that anybody who chooses another way is going the wrong way, but this is nonetheless what Jesus Himself – not I or any other person – proclaimed while on this earth; and He also said, “For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it; because narrow is the way, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13). The apostle Paul also asserts that there is only one way, in 1 Timothy 2:5-6 – “For there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all.”
My friend, God has given you every chance to be made right with Him, and I am writing this so that you may know the truth of what Jesus has done for you. I have tried to describe how Good Friday is personal to you, not just some generic and powerless religious holy day driven by mere tradition. Jesus is calling you individually to come to Him in faith and trust what He has done to give you eternal life. He has allowed you to read about His truth today, and He beckons you to decide what you will do with that truth. If you have not done so, this may very well be the last chance you ever get to do it, for none of us knows what a day may bring forth. As Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you WILL be saved!”