Good Friday, Resurrection Sunday, and Christmas are the days that represent the central events of the Christian faith. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God. Good Friday is the sober celebration of the death of Jesus for our sins and our salvation. Resurrection Sunday is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, defeating death and securing our eternal fellowship with God. All these days and events are about who Jesus is and what he has done for us. So, as believers in Jesus, we celebrate Jesus. He is our Lord and Savior. He is our life.
The burden of this article is to focus on the last two of these events, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. These two come close together in the same week. That makes perfect sense because the death of Jesus for our sins leads to the resurrection of Jesus for our lives. We will first consider Good Friday.
Good Friday
The sacrifice of the God-man for the sins of the world is a radical idea. But it is more than that; it is profound. Ralph Earle, a theologian from a couple of generations ago, made this observation about the cross of Christ, “It was the world’s blackest hour. It was the world’s brightest hour. This is the paradox of the cross. It was the blackest hour because human hate came to its fiercest focus. It was the brightest hour because divine love came to its fullest flower.” Earle gets at the essence and the rich truth in the meaning of the cross. The heart of the gospel is that divine love conquers human hate.
The Bible everywhere confronts us with the reality that the human heart is wicked. From the very beginning, with the murder of Abel by Cain, until the last sin in all of history, humans are turned in on themselves and turned away from God. As the Lord reveals through Jeremiah, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” However, it is not that the human heart is only wicked. A faint flicker of the image of God still resides in every human person, though even human good is often tainted with evil motivation, “We have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment” (Isaiah 64:6). We see elsewhere from Paul and Jesus that no one does good, not even one. The whole human race has fallen into sin and is unable to rescue themselves but needs a rescuer from God. In the eternal purposes of God, the rescuer is provided. God would send his Son, very God himself.
In the fullness of time, Jesus was born, lived a perfect life, was betrayed by one of his own, arrested, condemned, and nailed to a tree between two criminals. And then, on that tree, he cried out in pain, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At that moment, God was judging our sins on Jesus. All these things took place according to the gracious goodness of God. The Savior suffered torturous physical pain, but more than that, he suffered unimaginable spiritual pain while taking on our sins according to the plan of God. The Father forsook the Son on the cross so that we may be forgiven and enter a loving relationship with God. We have a Lord and Savior who loved us and gave himself for us.
Resurrection Sunday
After Jesus gave up his spirit that day on the cross, he was removed from the cross by wealthy men and placed in a new tomb that had never been used before. There he lay until early Sunday morning when life once again entered his body, and the large stone sealing the tomb rolled away. Death could not hold the Son of God in its grip. Death was broken, and life was victorious. The resurrection of Jesus is the basis for our resurrection and eternal life. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:20-22, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man death came, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Those first disciples who witnessed the resurrected Jesus became bold witnesses for the resurrection of Jesus. The cross and the resurrection became the content of their preaching. They told everyone who would listen about Jesus, who was crucified for our sins and raised for our lives. In Peter’s message on the day of Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit came upon them, much of that message concerned the resurrection of Jesus. They preached the resurrection because faith in the resurrection of Jesus is necessary for salvation, “Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
Conclusion
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the turning point of all human history and the turning point of every believer’s life. Those who have faith in Jesus believe in who he is and what he has done, died for their sins and raised to life for them. Celebrating Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday is the high point of the believer’s year and an opportunity for intimate fellowship with the Father and the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit. It is a time we proclaim the love and grace of God in Jesus. It re-energizes our hearts and refocuses our vision on the mission. The death and resurrection of Jesus is not only life-giving but hope-giving. Life without hope is not living. Meaningful hope comes through Jesus. Those who have this hope share it with others.
“The sacrifice of the God-man for the sins of the world is a radical idea.”
“They preached the resurrection because faith in the resurrection of Jesus is necessary for salvation . . .”
Acceptance of the radical idea does, indeed, require faith. A well-known person recently clarified his position, that he considers himself as an agnostic, rather than atheist. Because of his comments on Christianity, I and others had thought he was an atheist. However, the fact that he does not completely dismiss the existence of God means he will suffer the same eternal destiny as atheists. Sadly, there are many agnostics, as well as atheists, among us.