Matthew 27:46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
"Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”, which means “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”
[To those of you who take the time to read these posts, my apologies for being away for a while. I find myself wrestling with a lack of "spark" these last several weeks. I suspect it's a part of the grieving process, and I trust that, in time, it will return.]
It's odd, isn't it, that on the day we call "Good" Friday, we commemorate the most unjust and torturous death of an innocent man. What's "good" about that?
The answer lies in the fact that Jesus had no sins of His own that He needed to make right before God the Father. As a result, He was the only One qualified to be our substitute. You can't take something dirty and make it spotless with an already-dirty cloth; you need a spotless cloth to do that!
God had already been teaching us this concept in the Jewish celebration of Passover. A Jewish family would set aside a spotless, blemish-free lamb, observe it carefully for several days to ensure that they hadn't missed something, and then on the evening of Passover, they would sacrifice it. The blood of that spotless lamb would be sprinkled on the door posts and lintel of their homes to remind them that, when they were slaves in Egypt, God had freed them from slavery, and brought judgment on the Egyptians for harming His special people and defying God. The people of Israel had been protected from the judgment of God under the blood of a spotless lamb.
Jesus was called "the Lamb of God" by John the Baptist (John 1:29); His name signified His purpose. The Bible tells us we are slaves to sin; Jesus came to free us from that slavery. God, being holy and righteous, MUST judge sin and, therefore, us as sinners. But we can find protection under the blood -- the blood of Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God who was sacrificed in our place. It was no accident that Jesus was crucified at Passover; He was God's Passover Lamb who was to take away the sins of the world. And that judgment that fell on Egypt? God killed all the firstborn in Egypt, man and animal, except those under the blood. But this time, on the cross of Calvary, it was God's "firstborn" that was killed to provide the blood under which all others could find protection.
Without it, we are hopeless and doomed to an eternity of God's judgment. But because Jesus was willing to die in our place, we will NEVER face that judgment if we believe and accept His gift of life and trust Him.
Yesterday I stood at my son's grave and wept. I miss him. And yet I was comforted by the fact that he did just that; he asked Jesus for that offered forgiveness, and he trusted Jesus that His promise of eternal life was real and true. I will see him again.
That's what makes this Good Friday. I pray that today you'll accept Jesus' offer too.
