Easter is the best
time for those who chose to follow Jesus.
That seems like somewhat of an ironic statement, but it is not. Jesus’ life, death and finally His
resurrection are what our salvation is completely hung upon. Without the grace of God to take our sin and
place it on Jesus, we could not and would not be offered salvation.
This week of
history known as the last of Jesus’ life was wrapped in the celebration of the
Passover. This was the time to remember
what happened when God’s people were in captivity, and it was the time when all
first-born children were being killed.
Yet if a family followed the plan of God placing the blood of a lamb
over the doorpost of their homes, the death angel would pass over their homes.
That is what Jesus
became for us. He shed His blood on the
cross, and thus Jesus became our Passover Lamb.
Before His death we find ourselves on Friday. It was the day that He died. It was the day that we began to live. It’s Friday.
Matthew
27 NLT
29 They
wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed
stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and
taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” 30 And
they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it. 31 When they were finally tired
of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again.
Then they led him away to be crucified. 32 Along
the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, and the
soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.
The road was busy
all the time that Jesus had to carry His cross down. It had to be heavy. It had to be very difficult. That’s when an innocent bystander was asked
to get involved. Simon didn’t know that
his faith would need to be seen that day.
It was hard to
carry the cross because Jesus had been beaten within a few minutes of laying
down His life already. Everyone seems to
have turned against the man who had for a couple years turned the kingdom
upside down. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He made waves and lives were changed because
Jesus didn’t live for Himself. It’s
Friday.
Matthew
27 NLT
35 After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers
gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
Calvary or Golgotha
was the end of their walking trip. It
was the place where executions took place.
Literally it was a hill outside of Jerusalem’s city walls where people
could see what happened and tell their kids that this would happen to anyone
that broke the law. Yet our Jesus isn't
and never was a lawbreaker. In His own
words He came to fulfill the entire law.
By the nails in His
feet and hands the sentence continued to be carried out. His life meant much, but religious and
government leaders wanted Jesus gone.
Many called this the battle between Jews and the government, but really
this was the battle between Satan and God.
Jesus took on
darkness to bring us into the light. Max Lucado wrote (and I loosely
quote), “Jesus went to Hell for us so He wouldn’t have to go to Heaven without
us.” It was Friday. Friday changed everything because of what
Jesus did.
Matthew
27 NLT
46 At
about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which
means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” … 50 Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his
spirit. 51 At that moment
the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
The earth shook, rocks split apart, …
54 The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were
terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man
truly was the Son of God!”
God turned His back
on his son on Friday because in the time between Jesus’ death on Friday and His
resurrection on Sunday our sins were paid for in full. Friday was and always will be an important
day.
It’s Friday, and we
celebrate the life of our Savior. Spend
some time today following Jesus with all your heart.
(If you live near us, join us this Sunday for Easter Worship at The Community Fellowship at 10:10am)
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