Good Friday

54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. Luke 23:54

Friday is the end of the work week. It signals the coming weekend. It is usually payday and plans are made for recreational activities on the weekend. Friday is the sixth day of the week, and the day that God created beasts of the field, creeping things, and the crowning act of His creation—MAN. And the Record states,

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:31

Friday was very “good!” This is not a subjective point. It was not good for Adam, Eve, or the animals, but God declared Friday a very good day. Friday may be a very good day, but the Sabbath is a blessed day. The Sabbath is the best day of the week, the holy day, and rest day of God.

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Genesis 2:1-3

Dr. Luke calls Friday the preparation. Every Friday is supposed to be like Christmas Eve. It is the day that precedes the Sabbath. Somehow the goodness of the sixth day of the week has survived the Fall. It still invigorates us with an expectation of relaxation, an anticipation of rejuvenation, and a premonition for celebration, and a preparation for the commemoration of the creation. Friday is a very good day.

Sin has taken that from us! Friday has not stop being good, mankind has. Rebellion, wretchedness, ungodliness, and hate fill our world. It does not matter what day of the week which contributes to our misbehaving. It does not matter what month it is; it does not matter if Venus is in Taurus or any other constellation. Sin has blocked the blessings of the very good Friday.

Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have withheld good from you. Jeremiah 5:25

The good on Friday was kept from us because of us. Somebody who is enjoying Good Friday can easily have it ruined by somebody who is choosing to be bad on Friday.

Jesus had a rendezvous with death on Good Friday.

17 As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, 18 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up." Matthew 20:17-19

The Bible tells us that Jesus knew the Jews were going to be bad on Good Friday. But it was a good day for God. It was after all His will to restore His image back into man through redemption. It was God’s plan to bring goodness back to mankind. It was God’s plan to sacrifice His own Son to bury the bad and resurrect the good in us.

Preacher, I do not see how Good Friday was a good day for God? Neither could the Jews! Caiaphas could not see it, Annas did not read it, Pilate could not judge it, Herod dismissed it, the disciples abandoned it, the mob said crucify it, and the Romans gambled on it. None of them saw the good in His death.

And today, on this Good Friday, opportunity is given for you to embrace the Good that Jesus provided at the cross. Forgiveness for all of the bad, envious, mischievous, sinning that we have done. Here is a chance to become good not just on Friday but for every single day of your life, in Jesus’ name! The promise is given,

11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. 3 John 11

On that Good Friday, you and I were not there when they spat upon Him, smiting Him with their open palms in Caiaphas palace, accusing and mocking Him in Herod’s court. We were not in the crowd on that Good Friday when Pilate gave the choice and the crowd scream “Crucify Him!” We were not there when Jesus was given over to the Romans soldiers to be scourged and His back slashed open with the cat of nine tails and being taunted, they a pressed a crown of thorns upon that holy brow. We were not there to see His humiliation being taunted and beaten and then forced to carry that old rugged cross. Can you see Him on the Via Dolorosa on the way to Mt. Calvary atop Golgotha! Can you hear the clinging of the nails as they hammer them into those holy hands and feet!