What's so Good about Good Friday? (Update)

 

What's so Good about Good Friday?

When they take the Son of God and put Him to death, why is that considered good?

Because when He died that horrific tortured death on Calvary, He took the punishment due us for our rebellion against God.

It was good for us. Was it good for Him?

When He arose from the dead, on Easter, He proved that what He said was true. He had been predicting these moments to His followers for a couple years and they did not believe Him.

Until He did it.

The Bible says, "… who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb 2:2).

So if Jesus came down from Glory, endured the cross, and went back to Glory, what was His net gain?
Us. We were the joy set before Him.

We are the bride He travelled to a far land to obtain (like Jacob did, among other examples).
Granted we're not the finished product, yet, but if we cooperate with His plan, He sees something in us He wants to spend eternity with.
I'm good with that. That's good.

I want to share a cool thing with you.
If you're not a Christian, please listen anyway, because it never hurts to have a little information about what those whackos around you believe.

There is this dusty old document that was found in a cave near the Dead Sea in Israel around 1948. Various copies have been found elsewhere. You could also find it in an old dusty book on your coffee table in some cases. But the fact that it was in that cave for over a couple thousand years is important. It means that what it describes was not written after the fact.

It starts out: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
I believe it was written after a vision in the night that it’s author David had.
David was the King of Israel, and God had, in no uncertain terms, promised David that his line would be on the throne of Israel forever. He was so shaken by what he saw in his vision of the future that he wondered why God would allow him to be placed in that position and why God would break His promise to him.
Let’s review that Vision as recorded in that dusty old document few people are aware of.
Sounds like a real conspiracy theory, eh?

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
² O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
³ But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
⁴ Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
⁵ They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
⁶ But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
⁷ All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
⁸ “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
⁹ But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
¹⁰ I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s womb
You have been My God.
¹¹ Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
¹² Many bulls have surrounded Me;
Strong bulls (inmates have always called the guards “bulls”), Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
¹³ They gape at Me with their mouths,
Like a raging and roaring lion.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
¹⁶ For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
¹⁷ I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
¹⁸ They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.
¹⁹ But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
²⁰ Deliver Me from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
²¹ Save Me from the lion’s mouth
And from the horns of the wild oxen!
You have answered Me. Psalms 22:1-21

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Many Christians have been taught that, as He was crucified, Jesus was crying this out to His Father in heaven, because the Father could not bear to look on Jesus, our scapegoat.
That He was separated from the Father.
That Jesus was accursed (made a curse) and the Father could not be in fellowship with Jesus because it would violate His holiness. Because Jesus was carrying the penalty of the sins of the world.

Give me a break.

Christians like to say that God would never leave us or forsake us because the Bible says that, yet we are willing to believe that He once turned His back on His only Begotten Son.
To believe He once left and forsake Jesus leaves the notion that He could do the same to us.

It’s always bothered me to think that the Father would look away from, or forsake, Jesus while he hung on the cross.  It makes no sense unless you are willing to believe some other things that make no sense.

When I’ve talked to some pastors about this, they weren’t willing to buck the orthodoxy, the story they were taught, that the Father looked away. They say that the Father (God) couldn’t look upon Jesus because he was made sin. If that’s the case, well, how could Jesus carry that sin if he was God, much less be made sin, or sinful.
Then they would say the one inexplicable thing to justify their position.
That for a moment, Jesus was not God.
Seriously.
When I asked, “How long?”, they did not know. But it had to happen because Jesus as God could not be made sinful.

<< 1 Corinthians 12:3 >> Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed.

Let’s work this out. And it’s important. Just as important as the notion that Jesus beat the devil on the cross, not in hell, not in the grave. The fight was over on the cross. Anything else is heresy.
Think about that when you sing a song in church about the battle being in the grave. But I digress….

It’s important to believe that Jesus paid the price on the cross as the sinless sacrifice, as God, not a momentary not-god.

He carried the sin, He carried the curse. As God in human flesh.

This did not catch the Father by surprise. Jesus and the Father had this worked out since before the universe was created, and at the last minute The All-Powerful Ruler of More than the Universe flinches?
No. I believe that the Father had steeled Himself for this moment and watched the sacrifice take place.

To not watch would be dishonorable.

If the Father and the Son (who with the Spirit are referred to as the "Godhead" in perfect unity) ever separated, I believe the universe would crumble.

As you read the gospels, particularly John's, you see that the Pharisees (some of them, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, were good guys, by the way) were asking Jesus for a sign that he was the Messiah. He continually answered them that when they saw Him lifted up, that would be their sign.

 John 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.  And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.  As he spake these words, many believed on him.

Here He is, lifted up in front of them. He's surrounded by "strong bulls" (prison slang for guards), and the crowd is taunting Him. It's the scene predicted in Psalm 22 .
Then He quotes the first verse of Psalm 22.
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
This is called a "Remez". It's a teaching tool.
When someone says “We the people..” you finish it in your head.
When someone says “In the beginning..” you finish it in your head.
If you are a Jewish scholar and someone says, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”, you finish it in your head.

When they hear this verse, they remember the rest of the Psalm.
The Pharisees had asked Jesus for a sign.
He said that they would have it when the Son of Man was lifted up.
(Remember that joke, "Here's your sign."?)
Can you imagine the look on their face when they get it?
This death on this cross by this man was predicted hundreds of years ago.
Here was their sign.
The ramifications are huge.

Do you get it?

These people did:
https://stream.org/did-god-abandon-jesus-on-the-cross/