Good Friday

Good Friday. What a reflective day. It is a "good friday" for Christians because we know the outcome of the third day. But for the people of Jesus' day, it did not seem "good" at all. It was horrible. Their precious Savior slain. Mary watching her Son die. All of the faith the disciples put in Jesus - now in question.

Big picture - we know that Jesus went to the Cross to die for our sin. He was our substitute. The ultimate atonement. But the following excerpt expresses an aspect of the Cross that I had never considered. I have considered the agony He suffered for me. The pain. The price. But never before had I considered that Jesus, for the first time, experienced complete separation from God - for me. For you. Because of our wretched sin, Jesus went to the pit of Hell and for the first, and only, time the Father turned his back on the Son. Without Christ, this would have been my destiny. Eternal separation from God for my sin. There isn't a thing in the world I could do to atone for my own sin. No way to make it right. Oh Jesus. I am, literally, forever grateful.

Read the following and reflect on Jesus' great love for you this Good Friday.

"We must be very clear as to what was really going on upon that cross. The man who hung there was no ordinary Galilean rabbi. No, he was the eternal Son of God. Jesus of Nazareth was the Word of God who became flesh. He had existed from all eternity in the closest, most intimate fellowship imaginable with the Father. Even when he voluntarily left heaven's glory and emptied himself of all divine dignity and authority to become a man, he still maintained throughout his life sweet communion and deep intimacy with his heavenly Father. Until, that is, he hung on the cross. There, as he took upon himself the sins of all his people, Jesus Christ experienced, for the first time in all eternity, the horror of separation from God. The Father turned his back on the Son while he hung there on the cross, in our place, inflicting upon him the full fury of his wrath for our sins. We hear of the horrifying reality of this separation from Jesus' own lips, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34). Jesus had known the joy of intimate fellowship with his Father, and now during this time of separation, Jesus wanted it back; he longed for it; he thirsted after God. On the cross Jesus was the supreme fulfillment of Psalm 63:1, "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." - Steve Roy

This was my fate. Eternal thirst and longing.

No more.

Thank you Jesus for the Cross.

Today, I reflect and rejoice in this life changing event. Everything changed in this moment.

Everything.

Be blessed.