Easter is approaching quickly, and so is the Friday right before Easter—Good Friday. As you probably know, Good Friday is the day when Christ sacrificed Himself on the cross for our sins before He rose from the dead on Easter morning.
I could’ve written a post about the incredible power that Christ demonstrated through His resurrection or a post about the importance of focusing on victory this Sunday. But I want to focus on Good Friday for this post. I want to take a look at the seriousness and significant implications of this day. After all, Good Friday isn’t an abstract day that we simply hear about in Sunday school. It has incredible significance for us.
Why Good Friday Matters So Much
It’s easy to think about Christ’s sacrifice in a broad sense—He died for us, He saved us, He redeemed us, etc. But His sacrifice becomes more meaningful when we remember that He died for each of us individually—and that each of us individually needs Him.
My sins dug nails into His hands and feet. My sins thrust a crown of sharp thorns onto His head. My sins hung Him on a splintering wooden cross so that the world could watch His pain and mock Him relentlessly. My sins cast Him into utter darkness—a world full of shame, misery, gloom, frustration, rage, anguish, sorrow, despair, rejection, and pain.
Why would the King of Light dwell in the world of darkness? Because our sins had to be paid for—and Jesus chose to pay for them through His suffering and death.
The suffering that we experience on this earth is only a fraction of the suffering that Christ endured on our behalf. We have never had to carry the evil of the entire world on our shoulders. But He did.
How Christ’s Suffering Heals Us
For you have been called for this purpose [suffering], since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:21-24 NASB)
Friends, our sins were borne by the King of kings—not discarded, cast away, or ignored. In order for Christ to hold us now, He had to hold our sins as He suffered. He died for our darkest secrets and our most defiant deeds. He felt every ounce of our corruption upon His shoulders.
Our sins were carried upon His shoulders—not for us to continue in them—but so we will “die to sin and live to righteousness” (v. 24).
Friends, the implications of Good Friday extend far beyond the empty tomb. Jesus wants to forgive us and free us from the sins that He carried. He doesn’t want us to carry them for a moment longer. Our response to His sacrifice should be to repent of those sins, turn to our Savior, and live in His righteousness and forgiveness.
I hope that you have a wonderful Good Friday and a happy Easter!
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