Before I write anything, I want you to know that I sincerely love you. I really do.
Christians recognize the Friday before Easter as "Good Friday". Easter is celebrated as the day that Jesus rose from the dead, and Good Friday is recognized as the day that Jesus was crucified.
If you’ll just give me a minute or so here, I’d love to explain all of this a bit more thoroughly to you. You may know some of this, but stick with me here and you may understand all of this a bit better!
Obviously this day is about Jesus dying on the cross, but the story doesn’t start there by any means. It starts with a well known situation in which Satan, in the form of a snake, tempts the first man and woman into doing something that God told them not to. This is the very first sin (anything that is contrary to the will of God), and because they gave into sin we (humans) are separated from the holy and perfect God.
A man named Abraham came along, believed in God, and lived for Him. God granted him a special blessing on his children (who became the Hebrews/Israelites/Jews).
God gave the Hebrews (through Moses) laws to follow. These laws included the outlines for a special day that came only once a year, called the day of atonement (now Yom Kippur). The high priest would take two goats and speak the sins of the people over them, thus laying the sins of the people on the animals. One goat would be chased into the wilderness (the scapegoat) while the other was killed and sacrificed in the temple of God. These had to be male goats, in good health, young, and with no spots. Through this ritual, the sins of the people (and the priest) for the year would be forgiven them by God.
Fourteen-hundred years later, Jesus is born of a virgin. He lived a perfect life for thirty-three years, committing no sin. While he walked this earth, he taught many things and performed many miracles. He was hated by the religious rulers of his day, and consequentially executed by them.This life (and death) was prophesied of by the Jewish prophets throughout the Old Testament.
Isaiah spoke of the Messiah saying,
"He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth."
Jesus, as prophesied, was beaten beyond recognition. The flesh of his back was ripped off him by way of a special whip called a cat-of-nine-tails. He had a crown of thorns shoved through the top of his head, and eventually he was nailed to a cross. The nails were between 4-7 inches long and driven through the some of the largest concentrations of nerves in the body–his hand and feet.
Just as the goat in the book of Leviticus, Jesus was a perfect sacrifice. However, Jesus accomplished what no animal could have accomplished: He took away the sin of the world through his death.
God is a just judge. Just as crimes have consequences in America, crimes against God have consequences. These sins keep us separated from God. If you have ever been guilty of jealousy, pride, lying, sexual immorality, drunkenness, etc. then you deserve death by God’s law. The wrath of God is set against us. It is set against YOU!
By the law of God, each one of us deserves Hell: a place of eternal torment described by John in the book of Revelation,
" ..but the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
So what is Good Friday, and what does all of this have to do with it?
Jesus the Christ (the Messiah) was sent by His Father to stand in our place as the ultimate and final sacrifice.
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
On that day, Christ was betrayed and crucified in OUR place, for OUR sins. Through Him, we have been forgiven by the Father.
Back to my introduction now... you know me. I either went to school with you or know you through a friend, or however. What I am writing here is not meant to
waste your time or belittle you. I did not make it up, and I don’t wish to convert someone over to religion. Religion can send you to Hell just as fast as sin can.
We are not saved because we’re "good people". No good deeds can save us from the wrath of God.
We are saved because God sent His only Son to die for us and forgive us our sins. There is only one way into Heaven, and that’s through Jesus Christ. Your church CANNOT save you. Your parents, friends, siblings CANNOT save you. Your morals or good deeds CANNOT and WILL NOT save you! Jesus is the only payment.
If you want to know how to be saved, let me show you what God’s word says about it:
"...that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
We must accept Jesus Christ and His commandments. That means we must TURN FROM OUR SINS! We don’t just say "forgive me" and go out and sin (it’s not some magical incantation)!
So, go find yourself a place to pray. Ask God to forgive you for what you’ve done against Him. Proclaim Him as Lord of your life. Believe that Jesus was raised from the dead (Easter). Then, turn from your sins. If you’re living in sexual immorality, stop. If you find yourself giving in to drunkeness, quit getting around alcohol. Get you a Bible and read it. Live by what you read. Find a church to get involved in. Talk to me about it if you want (argue with me! haha). We have been given abundant life by our God. That’s what this day is about.
Before anyone gets to aggravated at this, let me say this at least. I wrote this because I love you. I have been saved out of sin too. I still mess up. I still don’t have it all together. I am NOT perfect. However, Jesus Christ has saved me from my sin and given me new life. If you’ve got a problem with anything I wrote, I’ll be more than happy to talk about it. I don’t mean to offend, and I apologize if I have offended you, but I have only spoken the truth. I have not invented it–God has revealed it to mankind through His Word.
I love you all,
in Christ,
jamie