It is a good day!

Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified.

It must have been horrifying to witness. The crowd who had met him with palm branches calling out to him, "Hosanna" (which literally means save), and "Blessed is the King of Israel" just days before, literally turned mob-like, this time shouting "Crucify him!" 

Jesus was beaten, flogged, mocked, and tortured and finally nailed to the cross, to die a slow agonizing death. 

We know darkness came over the land from the 6th hour to the 9th hour which would be from noon to 3 pm since the Hebrew day ran from sundown to sundown. So in the middle of day anyone in the Middle East would experience night in the middle of the day. 

At the moment when the priests would be sacrificing the lambs for Passover, Jesus, the flawless sacrificial lamb, breathed his last.

Across the gospels we know Jesus cried out these seven statements in the last moments of his human life:

1. "Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)
2. "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (to the robbers crucified with him, Luke 23:43)
3. To his mother Mary, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to John the disciple "Here is your mother."
4. "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34)
5. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke 23:46)
6. "I am thirsty." (John 19:28)
7. "It is finished." (John 19:30)

Every priest, holy man, and learned man present would have been uneasy at his words. They would have known that 1,000 year before King David prophetically wrote, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Psalm 22:1). He went on to write, "Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet." (Psalm 22:16)

As he took his last breath, there was a great earthquake, splitting rocks and breaking open tombs. The curtain in the temple tore in two from top to bottom.

Everyone would have understood that something profound and really bad had happened. Yet it was a Roman centurion guarding Jesus who watched all that occurred was "terrified and exclaimed, 'Surely he was the Son of God!'" (Matthew 27:54). 

Can you imagine? What do you suppose they were all thinking? It could not have been good.

There was nothing good about the brutality of Jesus' death and in that moment, the reality of it all could not be understood.

Yet we can see that God turned what was horrifying, unspeakable really, into something amazingly good.

Notice, Jesus did not say, "I am finished," he said "It is finished." Jesus' ministry as a human was done but his work as our Lord seated at the right hand of God was just beginning. 

The curtain was torn in the temple. The veil that separated the Holy of Holies, the very place where God's presence dwelled on earth, where only the chief priest was allowed to enter once a year at Passover to offer the atoning sacrifice for our sin, was destroyed. 

Jesus, the final sacrificial unblemished lamb, had the final say over sin and death that day. The separation from God because of our sin was no longer necessary.

Jesus became our Redeemer, his life paid for ours. He became our Savior, our King and our Lord. Through him, we are children of God. We are holy, we are royalty, and heirs to God's inheritance.

Can you think of a greater love?

My dear friend, where ever you find yourself in this life, know that you are not alone and nothing is too far gone for God. If you are struggling in your circumstances, struggling to believe you are loveable, struggling with loving yourself, come along with us next month as we delve into the truth.

Learn how much God loves you, that you are worthy and how to love yourself. It really is biblical. Join me in 30 Days of Self Love.