What is Good Friday?

 

Good Friday, which is also known as Holy Friday is a Friday which precedes Easter Sunday. Good Friday is celebrated traditionally as a remembrance that Lord Jesus died on the cross for our sins. It was considered holy because the Son of God shed the last drop of His blood to save us from the pits of hell. On this day, Christians remember the sufferings of Jesus and crucifixion which He made as to the greatest sacrifice for the sins of the world. The Good Friday is followed by Easter Sunday or Resurrection Day, the glorious celebration of the day, which is remembered that Jesus raised from the dead Jesus on the third day defeating death and pointing towards a future resurrection for all who are united to Him by faith as (Romans 6:5) says “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

 

What Happened on Good Friday?

The disobedience to the Word of God brought in the wages of sins into humans as it was injected in everyone through Adam. Someone has to take away the stains of sin permanently so that we can enjoy the fullness of God and what He has for us. God the Father had no other choice other than to send His only Son to die. This could be done only through the sacrifice of sinless blood. In the Old Testament, people sacrificed birds and animals for their sins, and that was temporary. Jesus had to step down from the Heavenly realms into human form to die for us to get away the sins of the world. 

 

 Hebrews 9:22 says “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness”. In order to get forgiveness from our sins, God’s judgment needs to be satisfied, and that demanded the shedding of blood. By shedding His blood through crucifixion on the cross, Jesus paid the penalty which we deserved and gave us His righteousness. When we believe in Jesus Christ as the savior for our salvation, we are into a trade. Through faith, we trade our sins and receive His grace, life, and righteousness. 

 

Luke 23:44–46:

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

 

 

Why Is Good Friday Called “Good?”

It is called “Good” because it was good news for all of us that we are set free from sin through his blood. However, what Jewish and Roman authorities did to Jesus was not good from our point of view. It was a divine plan of God, and because of Jesus’ death, we are made right before God through his blood which is good news for all. 1 Peter 3:18 tells us, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”

  Why we need to remember Jesus Sacrifice on Good Friday

 

The death of Jesus was so painful apart from the physical pain which came through the cross. He also had to go through emotional pain. He was left out by all the disciples whom He invested His life for more than three years. He faced every form of humiliation, spitted, beaten, and finally naked. 

While He was on the cross, every sin of the world was poured over God’s Son. During which He was separated from His Father. God the Father turned away His face because it was against the character of God to face sin, so God withdrew Himself from communication with His Son while Jesus bore the guilt of the world’s sin. It was an unbearable moment in the life of the Son

 

1 John 5:11-12 says “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” God has given us life through His death, and it is we who need to believe in Him to have eternal life.

 

Many Christian churches around the world celebrate Good Friday with a subdued service, in which the death of Jesus and his holy sacrifices are remembers through solemn hymns, prayers of thanksgiving, a sermon focused on God’s love and His sufferings, and observance of the Lord’s Supper. No matter whether believers of Christ opt to celebrate the Good Friday event, that day has to be on our minds since the death of Christ on the cross— and his resurrection on the 3rd day (Easter Sunday)—is the paramount event of the Christian faith.