Good Friday Thoughts

Today is the day I remember Jesus dying on the cross. It is Good Friday. On that day, it likely did not feel good to those who loved Him—those who believed in Him.

But today, so many years later, it is good. Because without Good Friday, we would still be waiting for a way to be free from the sins of this world.

1 Peter 2:24
“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed.”

This verse struck me this morning. When Jesus went to the cross, He carried the sins of the world—my sins included—within Himself. He personally bore sin in His body. He took sin, carried it, and used His servant body to remove the sin that plagued the world.

Inside.

He carried the weight of sin within Himself as He was nailed to the cross and died. Why do I feel the need to emphasize this? Because sin was in Him when He died.

Inside.

And when He died, sin died with Him.

The sin that died was the sickness of all humanity. Therefore, it is by His wounds—His death—that we are healed from the sickness of sin.

The wounds of Jesus are the healing balm. His death is the remedy. I don’t need a new solution. I don’t need to figure out how to stop doing wrong things on my own. The Great Physician solved my sin problem long ago, and His remedy still works.

Believe.
Believe.
Receive.

I don’t say that in a trite manner. Believe and receive. It is overused, perhaps, but this morning I feel the weight of it and the lightness of it. I can simply believe because Jesus did the work. For me. And I can receive his offer of forgiveness and his offer of freedom from sin because he took care of it for me. I am free to live in peace even when the world gives me troubles.

How? Why? Because I decided to believe Jesus is greater than anything this world has to offer and his death on “good Friday” was a one-and-done deal for all people of all times. I believe that, and more.

The resurrection of Jesus (what some call Easter, or Resurrection Sunday) is the result of that remedy—Jesus dying on the cross with my sin inside Him—and it is the new, healthy life I now live because my sins died.

My disease was cured—killed. It is amazing and overwhelming to think about.

Big. To. Think. About. But it is true.

Jesus swallowed my sin.

I suppose one must first believe they have a problem (sin) in life before they can bring themselves to believe there is a remedy (Jesus). I did that long ago. But here’s the kicker. God was the One to open my eyes to the truth. The only thing I had open was a longing for something better than what this world was offering me. It was God who helped me see I needed help. I needed Jesus.

In fact, it came in the form of a sign nailed on a tree that read, “You Need Jesus.”

I saw it. I believed it. And since that time I’ve learned the sin in my life need not rule me.

Because Jesus died on the cross with sin inside Him so it would die too.

But that wasn’t the end. Jesus rose again, and the sin He carried did not rise with Him.

Jesus resurrected. Sin did not.

The reality is that humans are still born with a bent toward sinning. This is called a sin nature, inherited from the earliest days of humanity. And sin is still at work through the deceiver—Satan—who spreads it among those who are unaware or unwilling to accept the truth.

And here is the truth: Jesus died. Sin died. We are free.

It is like slaves on a plantation who have been set free, but some don’t know it or don’t believe it—so they stay. Enslaved, not by chains, but by fear, disbelief, or blindness to the truth.

So I say to the sin that tries to creep into my life:
“Away from me! You are dead and buried. I belong to Jesus, who swallowed sin and defeated it on the cross when He willingly died so that sin could die.”

It is a lie that I am not free. I am free to live and move and breathe in the freedom Jesus won for me.

Oh, sin, where is your grip? Death, where is your sting?

I am alive because Jesus is alive. The sin He carried as He died on the cross was washed away by the blood He shed for the forgiveness of my sins.

My sin.
His blood.
New life.

So today, I see how good it is to acknowledge the death of Jesus Christ. And in two days, I will see how glorious it is to know His death was not the end.

No—the death of Jesus was the beginning.

And I live in that beginning. That newness of life. That freedom.

John 8:36: “So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”