Good Friday 2009

"I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered."
-quoted from Zecharaiah 13:7 by Christ in Matthew 26:31

As I contemplate what yesterday reminds us of, I was drawn to these words of our Lord. He is that great Shepherd, of course, and He was struck down for our own transgressions...for our sin. Indeed the Word tells us that it was necessary for Him who knew no sin to be made sin for our sake, so that we could partake of His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). But why was this necessary? Have you ever asked yourself this? Why is it that a Perfect One, a divine One, THE divine One, had to come down, clothe Himself in our humanity, for the sole purpose of dying horribly on the cross?

Well for those of us who believe in the Bible as His authoritative Word, then we know it is because of how holy our God is...and how terrible an offense sin is. When we look at that marvelous epistle written to the Romans we read that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) and that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). I know that this is Christianity 101 to many of you, but don't let this truth become something you know but don't really think about. You see, brethren, God is a holy God. So great an offense is sin to our God that the psalmist tells us that He hates the "workers of iniquity" (Psalm 5:5). Furthermore, humanity is referred to as "children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3). This places us in such a terrible position...you see God would be just in condemning all of humanity to the pit of hell which is reserved for Satan and his demons. Nobody could bring a charge against God if He chose to do this, for He would be completely within His rights as Creator to do so.

So think about it. Morally, legally, in any way possible, we were condemned sinners fit only for execution. And yet, to satisfy His holy justice, God declared that what we now refer to as Good Friday should come about. Good Friday. The day on which God Himself, in the Person of the Son, was put to death...for us! He paid the price for our sin and died the death that should be ours! God did this. The Creator, the Shepherd. He died that the sheep might live. What a terrible price for our Lord Jesus to have paid...but He did it willingly because He loved us. There was a moment on that cross where the Father turned His face away from the Son. There was a moment when the sin that Jesus took upon Himself turned Him into something reviled by the Father. He became sin. And our great Savior, knowing that the perfect unity between the Godhead was at this moment temporarily ruptured, cried out "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46) He was forsaken. As terrible as the physical suffering of Jesus was...this being forsaken was what He came to do. Look at yourself now. You who have bent the knee to Christ and received Him as Lord and Savior of your life. Look at yourself. You are NOT forsaken...because He was. And so now we are saved from the wrath of God because of the spilt blood of our Savior (Romans 5:9). Our spotless Lamb was placed on the altar and our sin was attributed to Him, and became His, and so His righteousness is now attributed to us.

If this does not swell your heart with love and gratitude towards our Lord then I must question why you feel you are His.

So take some time today my brethren, take some time to meditate on His Word. And let us strive to live in such a way that we bring honor and glory to His name. And then let us go and tell others about His sacrifice, and let us exhort them to turn to Him in repentance.

God bless!