The Day Before

Luke 23: 55-56

⁵ The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. ⁵⁶ Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

 

This was the Friday that Jesus died, the curtain was torn in two. The sacrifice had been made, even the Roman centurion believed He was the Son of God. No one else was there watching Him as He was buried except Mary Magdalene, Jesus' mother Mary, Joseph of Arimathea who provided the tomb. They all knew where He was buried. What happens now? They went home and prepared the spices for his burial, this had to be done before the Sabbath, because God had commanded them to rest. Then comes the waiting day, you see Good Friday we celebrate that the ultimate sacrifice was made the penalty that had to have the shedding of blood which was usually made by a spotless lamb was made by the perfect Lamb of God. This is the now what day, God is still there He didn't disappear when Jesus died, He was silent, waiting on the perfect moment to fulfill all that He had promised.

 

 

Sometimes it's hard to wait, I'm sure Peter and the rest of Jesus's disciples didn't know what was to come. The day before has to be the hardest one, you're in the middle of waiting on the promise of God to be fulfilled and God is basically silent. Mark's gospel tells us who was there, that Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome showed up to anoint Jesus' body. They still didn't understand that He was going to rise again. Luke's gospel gives us a little more insight as to what happens, Luke 24 tells us that two men (angels) asked them "why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷ that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” back in Mark they specifically tell the women to tell the disciples and Peter. They then went and did just that, Peter sprinted to the tomb, why? He remembered what Jesus said, I'm sure it clicked, everything made sense. Those promises are fulfilled.

This is the same for us, we have those days where it seems like the worse thing in the world is happening and then silence, do we remember God's word in that He said he would provide? That He loves us and is always there? We need to remember that the promises of God always come to pass. He promised it and it will happen. It's that day before that is the hardest. But we have to remember that God will always fulfill His promises. Which is what we get to celebrate tomorrow.

He is Risen!

Good Friday???

 Was it really good? 

Mark 15:33-39

³³ And when the sixth hour^[a] had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.^{[b] 34} And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” ³⁶ And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” ³⁷ And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸ And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. ³⁹ And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he^[c] breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son^[d] of God!

Let's break this down, the 6th hour is noon, think though about the fact that it was completely dark during the middle of the day doesn't it make that kind of weird? Something was off, the Son of Man was hanged on the cross for all to see. It is a historical fact that on this day over 2000 years ago that this happened. The next verse here Jesus cries out with a loud voice, those standing by thought that He was calling for Elijah to come save Him, which is ironic because Elijah couldn't and even Jesus wouldn't save Himself. 

Over this period of 3 hours of darkness that light that had been on the world was off, why is that? Jesus is also know as the light of the world, Matt. 5:14-15 In fact I don't think it's weird at all that darkness had come over the whole land until the 9th hour, wouldn't it be hard as a Father to watch your Son die as the sacrifice. Jesus willingly allowed Himself to be hung on that cross and to suffer and die so that we might be able to have eternity with Him. During this time from Jesus's trial, suffering, and death on the cross there was a Holy work being done. God was accepting that we would no longer have to have a priest atone (pay) for our sin through a sacrifice. This was the final time that it would have to be done for sin. 

You might be asking yourself where is that proof, well it's in the next 2 verses. Verse 38, "and the curtain was torn in two from top to bottom". First of all that curtain was thick, 4" thick, 60' long and 30' wide, it would take over 300 priests to even move it. Here is my first proof, even if they wanted to the priests would have had to have everyone there to rip it, and they wanted nothing to do with Jesus, it was them who condemned Him to death in the first place. Second it was torn from top to bottom. This is one of my favorite verses, because it show that God through accepting Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice that we have access to Him directly and don't need a priest to go in and give a sacrifice on our behalf. Finally, in verse 39 even the Roman centurion declares that Jesus was the Son of God, it doesn't get any more simple than that. Yes, Jesus died the Apostle John in Ch 19 verses 33-34 chronicles it in more detail by saying that "when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. v. 34 But one of the soldiers pierce his side with a speak, and at one there came out blood and water." That couldn't happen unless Jesus was dead.

 It was at the moment Jesus died that our payment was made for our sin. It is because of that payment that we get to have a relationship with God. We don't, can't work off our sin. This is the difference between Christianity and every other Religion in the world. We get to rest in Gods sin payment.

 

So to answer my question I proposed earlier, Yes! today Good Friday is good, very GOOD!

Until the whole world knows 

Nick