TGIF – Thank God it’s Friday /The Hebrew word for good is ‘’tov’ “Thank God I’m forgiven”
The first time I had ever seen Jesus on the cross was in a book I still have that I received as a child, I didn’t understand why they called it Good Friday because looking at Jesus’ crucifixion made me cry.
Let me say I do understand and now I say to everyone reading this Good Friday is Good Jesus the Lamb of God shed his blood for all our sins he alone made the way to the Father for eternal life.
Isaiah 53:10 -Complete Jewish Bible
yet it pleased Adonai to crush him with illness,
to see if he would present himself as a guilt offering.
If he does, he will see his offspring;
and he will prolong his days;
and at his hand Adonai’s desire
will be accomplished.
This was God’s will His doing.
Jesus was not a victim of circumstance of political agenda or military power. It was the planned, work of the LORD God.
Prophesied by Isaiah hundreds of years before it happened.
The only sacrifice of reconciling the world to Himself, it was completely pleasing to God the Father remember;
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Hours before
Judas had betrayed Jesus by bringing the temple officials to the Garden of Gethsemane just after midnight, where they arrested him (Mark 14:43).
Jesus then went through a series of six trials, of various sorts, which extended through that night and well into the next morning.
These trials were both unfair cruel and violent. Between the trials, Jesus was blindfolded, spat upon, struck in the face, beaten, mocked, ridiculed, and flogged. The effects of these attacks took a tremendous physical toll on him. Finally, after about eight hours of abuse and false trials, then he had to carry the cross one-third of a mile, this would be about the length of six football fields. It took close to 3 hrs.
According to the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus’ crime was blasphemy, because he claimed to be the Son of God (Matt. 26:63). According to the Romans, however, his crime was insurrection, because he claimed to be the king of the Jews (Mark 15:5).
Jesus endured the shame of false accusations, condemnation, mockery, beatings, and abandonment. After multiple unlawful trials, he was sentenced to death by crucifixion.
The word “crucifixion” comes from the Latin crucifixion, or crucifixes, which means “fixed to a cross.”
Crucifixion was a brutal death
The Via Dolorosa (“sorrowful way” in Latin) was the processional route Jesus took from Pilate’s court to Calvary, or “Golgotha,”
Calvary Is Latin For Skull
The Latin word for skull is Calvaria. When the New Testament was translated into Latin the word Calvaria was used.
And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull
—Matthew 27:33
Golgotha is the Aramaic name of the location where Jesus was crucified outside of Jerusalem.
John 19:16-18
So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.
There they crucified him and with him two thieves, one on either side and Jesus between them.”
Mark says.
Then they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull
Luke records.
When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left
John wrote.
Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha
John 19:16
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is one of the most horrible and disgraceful methods of capital punishment.
The word “crucifixion” comes from the Latin crucifixion, or crucifixes, which means “fixed to a cross.”
Crucifixion was a brutal death
Jesus was on the cross for about six hours
It’s a dark story. His friends betray him, desert him, and deny him. His enemies capture him, torture him, and crucify him. His death is excruciating and humiliating. Those who believed in him are left devastated, disillusioned, and afraid.
Before Christ was led away, soldiers spit on him, tormented and mocked him, and pierced him with a crown of thorns. Then Jesus carried his own cross to Calvary where, again, he was mocked and insulted as Roman soldiers nailed him to the wooden cross.
Jesus was secured to the cross by heavy iron nails driven into his wrists/hands and feet. The nails were 5 to 7 inches long (13 to 18 cm) with a square shaft 3/8 of an inch (1 cm) across.
Death by crucifixion could take from four hours to four days. The person being punished would experience great agony. Excruciating bolts of fiery pain in both arms and legs, tremendous difficulty breathing, lacerated and bleeding flesh, all made for a horrible death.
Jesus spoke seven final statements from the cross. His first words were, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34).
His last words were, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46)
Then, about the ninth hour (3 p.m.), Jesus breathed his last breath and died.
By 6 p.m. Friday evening, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus’ body down from the cross and lay it in a tomb.
Everything that happened on Friday is recorded in all four gospels Matthew 27:1-62, Mark 15:1-47, Luke 22:63-23:56, and John 18:28-19:37.
Death is not the end; Resurrection is coming. We know that Jesus conquers the grave, and the cross is the weapon Jesus uses not just to threaten evil, but to overcome it. Without Good Friday we would not have Resurrection Sunday.
The empty tomb.
“God presented Messiah as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood—to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:25)
The reason of the Passover lamb is that its shed blood caused the wrath of God to “pass over” those who applied it to their homes.
Only the blood of the Passover Lamb can save us from sin.
