Good Friday

You know, one of the most difficult and surreal things to do in ministry is to lead a funeral and then eventually a graveside service. It's incredibly meaningful, but tremendously difficult because how do you summarize a life? How do you speak into every single moment that built up into this life? How do you speak into the joys of their childhood and the difficulties as they entered into adulthood? How do you speak to the way in which they loved their spouse decade after decade? How do you speak to the fact that they made a tremendous impact on their kids? How do you speak to and summarize a life? And as you stand there with the family and their friends, it's just this weight of I can't possibly summarize everything they did in this life. And if you've ever been at a funeral, I know that the funerals that I have been to of my family members, I just remember looking at that casket thinking, it can't end like this. Like all of our love for each other, all of the life that they lived, and it's just over. Like if you've been there before, if you've been to a funeral before, if you've been to a graveside service, if you've watched the body get lowered into the ground, there's just something in your soul knowing it can't end like this. Like this should not be the end.

Likely all of us have experienced something like that, and this is exactly what Jesus's friends and followers and family were experiencing on this day nearly 2,000 years ago. As they watched him suffer, bleed, and die, their thought was surely it can't end like this. And it happened so quickly. I mean, just a few days before, the Sunday before, that they found Jesus a donkey. They draped a cloth over the donkey for him to ride on, and the crowds had palm branches as they ushered him into Jerusalem. Really, as the triumphant king, the crowds had gathered to shout, Hosanna, which means save us now. And then we get to Friday of that very week, and it goes from save us now to it is finished. And those same disciples that were alongside him when the crowds were shouting Hosanna had all but left him. They weren't even there when he suffered and breathed out his last. They were cowering in fear, thinking, did it really just end like this? Like all the healings, were they wasted? All the teachings to the crowds, were they wasted? We gave up everything. Was it wasted? Surely they were thinking, it can't end like this. And then I think of Mary, his mother,

who was with him till the end, who did follow him up to the cross. And she saw her son suffer, bleed, and die upon a cross as he hung there for six hours. And the agony of that would have been unbearable. As a parent of three daughters, I hate when my kids are sick. I would so much rather be sick than them. But Mary, she just didn't see her son sick. She saw him scourged upon that cross. And then to make matters worse, she wasn't the only one there, but a crowd of people had gathered to mock her son, to roll dice, to divide his clothes. As he was up there naked upon the cross, surely this mom was thinking, it can't end like this. This can't be the end. I can't help but think that Mary was thinking, did I misremember what Gabriel had said? Like when he met with me 33, nearly 34 years ago, I thought he said this. I thought I heard him say this. In Luke chapter one, it says, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. But now as she stares as his lifeless body upon the cross, it is over. His kingdom has seemingly ended. And I just, I can't help but think that she was thinking, it can't end like this.

And yet so suddenly it did. I just wanna walk you through how quickly this took place 2,000 years ago, because it happened fast. You see, the night before this took place, Jesus was with his followers, with his disciples in an upper room, and really they were rejoicing because they were celebrating the Passover. And the Passover is really the most important day. in the Jewish calendar because it was the Feast of Remembrance. It was the Feast remembering the fact that the Israelites, God's chosen people, were enslaved without hope. But then hope came. Freedom came. Because God brought death to the firstborn sons in Egypt. And since the firstborn sons were slayed, they got to go free. And the disciples were together in that upper room celebrating that fact, remembering the fact that God did bring freedom and he will bring freedom. And as they finished that Passover meal, Jesus left and he left in agony. He was clearly burdened by something. He took three of his closest friends, Peter, James, and John, to the Garden of Gethsemane. And he said, hey, come with me and pray. But he asked them to stay at a certain spot.

He asked them to pray and he went a little bit further. But this was from 9 p.m. to midnight. They were there for three hours praying. And time and time again, as it was night, Jesus went to these three friends and found them not praying but sleeping. And again and again he comes to them, waking them up saying, please keep watching, pray. And once again they would fall asleep and fall asleep. And the last time he came back to them in agony, he wakes them up and they look at him. And he's not just in agony anymore, but he is sweating drops of blood. They've never seen him like this before. As they wake up from their sleep at about midnight, they turn and look and they see one of their other disciples, one of their so-called friends, Judas, the lover of money, leading a garrison of soldiers at midnight. He goes up to Jesus, betrays him with a kiss, and says, this is the one you're searching for. And they see this man, they see Jesus, the one who could heal the sick, give sight to the blind, allow those who could not walk legs who could walk again. They see this man be arrested. He willingly allows his hands to be tied and they take him in the dark of night to the religious leaders. See, they did this in the dark of night

to not cause a scene, to not have people come in and try to free Jesus, but they lead him until about 1 a.m. to a gathering of the religious leaders. First, he goes before Annas, who was the prior high priest, actually the father-in-law of the current high priest, Caiaphas, and he questions him and he determines that Jesus has committed blasphemy by saying that he was the son of God. So he hands him over to his son-in-law, Caiaphas, in the Sanhedrin, and they go through this process of trying to determine has he committed blasphemy or not? And in the dark of night, they had picked a few people as eyewitnesses and they start bringing a report about Jesus and all of their reports are contradictory. They're not even totally making sense, and yet the Sanhedrin comes together and says, surely this man has committed blasphemy. He's deserving of death. But since they were under the Roman authorities, they could convict him of that, but they couldn't actually execute him. So this is when they take Jesus and they make a mockery of him. All of these godly men, these religious leaders, go up to him, spit in his face. Then they put a blindfold around him and these godly men, so-called godly men, say prophesy who hit you

as they struck Jesus again and again. Then they led Jesus to another place to be tried. They take him to Pilate, this time to be tried under Roman law, and this trial is no longer that he called himself God, but rather he has called himself king. And Pilate begins to talk with Jesus and he realizes that Jesus is innocent. He doesn't wanna do anything with Jesus. And so he actually transfers him to someone else. He sends him to Herod Antipas, who was over Galilee at the time. Now, when Herod got him, he was overjoyed because Herod had wanted to talk to Jesus. He had heard reports of this man, this so-called miracle worker. So he starts peppering Jesus with questions, asking him, would you do a miracle for me? Would you do something to just show off what you have been claimed to do? But Jesus remains silent. So Herod laughs at him and says, he's just a wild man. He's crazy, he's out of his mind. So he sends him back to Pilate. And at this point, when Pilate receives him, a crowd has gathered. It's still early in the morning, but the people have been brought up to an uproar by the religious leaders. And he again, Pilate again goes to the crowd and says,

he is innocent. no basis for charge against this man. But the people shouted all the louder, we want Barabbas. See, Barabbas was an evil man. He had murdered, he had stolen, he had started an insurrection. And yet the people said in choosing between Jesus and Barabbas, they say, we want Barabbas. Free him and crucify Jesus. Crucify Jesus. And Pilate says, I have found no charge against this man. But they just shout all the louder, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. So Pilate washes his hands and says, surely his blood will be on you and your children. Then at this time, they'd stripped Jesus of his clothes and they would have tied his hands to a pole. And then it says that Pilate ordered him to be scourged. And they took what, it would look something just like this, a whip with leather strands. And at the end would either be metal or pieces of bone. And they would hit Jesus again and again and again. Every single time that he was whipped, it would tear the skin off his body. Whenever this would happen, it wouldn't just remove skin, it would even expose muscle and many times bone. So his entire back would be hit again and again and again and again, likely 39 times, just one short of death. You see, the Romans had perfected punishment and execution and they wanted it to last as long and as difficult as possible. So after they finished him doing 39 beatings upon his back, then they start to make a show of him. And it says this in Matthew chapter 27, they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. And then they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. Hail, king of the Jews, they said. They spit on him and took a staff, and hear this, and struck him on the head again and again. So you actually know where this crown of thorns came from. It came from a very specific plant in that region. We have a picture of what it looks like today. And actually, the scientific name for this plant is the Zizephus Spina Christi, which means Christ's thorn tree. Whenever these thorns, whenever these twigs would have been taken off and dried, they would essentially serve like nails. They're that sharp. They'd be twisted together, put around his head, and pushed down onto his skull. And then as we just read, then they took this staff that they had given him, and they hit him in the head again and again, further driving the nails into his head. Now, in our head, there's a concentrated amount of blood vessels, meaning that whenever you're pierced in your head, you bleed all the more. So every single time he was hit, he'd be dripping blood from his face. And likely,

by the amount of times he was hit with that staff, he would likely not just have external bleeding, but internal bleeding as well. And as he's bleeding from head to toe, with his back fully exposed, with his muscles and bone fully exposed, they look at him and say, now you carry your cross. And with nothing protecting his back, Jesus carried the cross to Golgotha, the place of the skull, and he couldn't even make it too far there as he fell underneath the weight. Because while he was fully God, he was fully man, and he fell underneath the weight of the cross. Another man took the cross, and once they got to the place called the skull, they nailed his hands and his feet, and they raised him up upon a cross to die. Now, as I said before, the Romans had perfected punishment, and this would be one of the worst ways to die because of the length of time you would suffer. See, Jesus bled on that cross, suffered on that cross for six hours. You see, you actually die of asphyxiation upon the cross, because whenever you were upon a cross, you'd be falling down like this, and every single breath would be agony. You'd have to push down upon the nails on your hands and your feet, further indenting them into your nerves. It'd be utterly painful just to push down to take a breath, and then you'd fall down. Then you'd gather the strength to push up, and then you'd fall down. Jesus did that for six hours. He did that for three hours. Then we hear in the Gospels that there was a miraculous… event of darkness covering the earth, starting at noon up until 3 p.m. In that moment, after he had been suffering on the cross for six hours, he had lost strength until he finally ushered enough strength to push up one more time and say, "'Tetelestai,' which meant, "'It is finished.'" And then Jesus breathed his last. In that moment, Mary had to see her son die. In that moment, the disciples had to see their friend die, and the religious leaders and the soldiers rejoiced because they thought it was the end. But what you need to know, what I need to know is, on that cross 2,000 years ago, it wasn't just Jesus that died. Something else died too. Let me tell you what it was from reading Isaiah, chapter 53. This was written 600 years before the birth of Jesus. This has been called the forbidden chapter for Jewish people even up to this day, because ever since the time of Jesus, whenever the young kids would be given readings from Isaiah, they would skip over Isaiah, chapter 53. Whenever there'd be a teaching on Isaiah in the synagogue, they would not read from and not explain Isaiah, chapter 53, because it speaks directly to this moment that occurred 2,000 years ago on Calvary.

Let me read what it says. 600 years before Jesus, he was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces, he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, and the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shears is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered among the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors." I know we have a lot of people here tonight. My question to you is, if you're not sure what you believe about God, if you're not sure what you believe about Jesus, if you're not sure what you believe about Scripture, my question to you is, how could that be written 600 years before Jesus fulfilled those exact things? How could it be, other than that the Word of God is written by God, that every single verse is inspired by God himself? You see, in Isaiah, chapter 53, it tells us 600 years before the birth of Jesus exactly what happened on that Good Friday 2,000 years ago. The first thing we see is this. The first thing that happened on that Good Friday was that guilt is silenced. What we see in verse 12, it says, "...he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors." You see, you and I are filled with sin. Likely you have done something yesterday or today, and that condemnation and that guilt is loud in your life, saying, "'You shouldn't even be here on this Good Friday. You don't deserve to be in the house of God. You

don't deserve to be accepted by God's sight.'" You see, the voice of condemnation and guilt is loud. Here's what you need to know. Jesus' voice is louder. What we read here is that he has made intercession for the transgressors, meaning he has gone before God himself, and he is speaking on behalf of you and me. So, what happened on that Good Friday is your guilt is silenced. What else happened on that Good Friday? Two, our sin was paid for. We see this, Isaiah 53, verse six. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Not some of us, not for the good of us, but for all of us who would believe in him. In the Old Testament, there was a continual sacrifice for the sins of the people. The priests were instructed to grab a perfect, to grab a spotless lamb, and that lamb would be sacrificed for the sins of the people, but that would have to happen again and again and again because no lamb was perfect except when this perfect lamb came. When Jesus came and when he was sacrificed on the cross for you and for me, sacrifice for sins was no longer necessary because your sin and my sin was fully and finally paid for. Third thing that happened on the cross, our separation is over. Our separation is over. In Genesis, God created the heavens and the earth. He created the garden. He placed Adam and Eve there, and what did he do? He walked among them in the cool of the day. They got to live in perfect harmony with Jesus,

excuse me, with God, but then they sinned, and their sin created a separation between God and man. Even in the temple, there was a veil that was placed between the people and the holy of holies where God dwelled, but then when Jesus died upon the cross, there was an earthquake, and that veil was torn in two, saying, you and I can be united again. Verse 11 in Isaiah 53 says, "'My righteous servant will justify many.'" See, through the cross, you and I, if you're a believer in Jesus, you are now in right standing with God because his suffering redeemed and restored our relationship with God. And then finally, what happened on that cross 2,000 years ago? The fourth thing that took place was this. Death is defeated. Death is defeated. Yeah, yeah. Just to read Isaiah 53 again. Again, this verse just blows my mind. 600 years before Jesus, it says, he was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, he was put in the grave of a rich man. So it says that he died, but then it says, he will see his offspring and prolong his days. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.

How could that be that he would die and yet he would live? How could that be? Why would the author here say this? Why? Because on that day, 2,000 years ago, death died upon the cross of Jesus Christ. If you are a believer in Jesus, death has lost its sting, death has lost its power, because Jesus defeated it. Yeah. Yeah. And church, here's what I hope you understand, this right here is why we can call Good Friday good, because our guilt is silenced, our sin is paid for, our separation is over, and death is defeated. What makes it good is he paid the penalty of your sin. He gave you peace for the brokenness of your sin. The voice of guilt and condemnation does not speak a better word than Jesus. Your separation from God is over, the power of death is done. You see, all of those things met their end when Jesus took his last breath. And this means, this means that when you gather around the death of a loved one who knew and loved Jesus, and deep in your soul, you're thinking, this shouldn't be the end. It's not. It's not. Yeah.

When you, in whatever season of life you find yourself in, maybe you're wracked with anxiety or brokenness or depression or despair, surely you're thinking, it shouldn't have to be like this. It shouldn't have to end like this. It won't. See, Jesus is gonna come once again to restore all things. It won't end this way. And the best news of all, is that on that day, 2,000 years ago, as Mary looked upon her son, as the disciples were cowering in fear over their dead friend, and whenever they thought, surely his life won't end like this, the best news of all is that it wouldn't, because friends, Sunday's coming. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let me pray like we believe it. Heavenly Father, we don't deserve a single thing you did. We didn't deserve for you to leave heaven to enter into earth. We didn't deserve for you to take our nails, to take our beating. Father, we didn't deserve for you to be mocked and spit on and forget about us. You did not deserve to be whipped and nailed and tortured and abused, but since you so loved us, you gave up everything. You gave up your one and only son, and he breathed his last so that we could breathe forever and ever and ever.

And Father, thank you for this Good Friday, that our guilt doesn't speak a louder word, that there's no longer sacrifice for sins necessary, and that we are no longer separated from you. And then finally, the fact that death is defeated. Thank you that we can call this awful day good, because you don't waste a moment, and you didn't waste that day. So Father, we came here tonight to thank you and praise you for giving your son unto death so that we might live. And Father, we pray all this because of the fact that Jesus is alive and with us and for us. In his name we pray, amen.