Happy Good Friday 2016

Luke 23:44-46 Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Having said this, He breathed His last.

Happy Good Friday! Why is this day holy and good? Redemption. One article that I read explains that a redeemer is one who buys back something which has fallen into the hands of the enemy. Originally, the creation was in the proper hands, but Adam sinned, and to a great extent the rebellious world and all its inhabitants fell into bondage at the hands of Satan. “ Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” - Romans 5:12. We became the slaves or “servants of sin”.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20a “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.”

Per Webster’s Dictionary, to redeem is to purchase back; to ransom; to liberate or rescue from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be forfeited, by paying an equivalent; as, to redeem prisoners or captured goods; to redeem a pledge. To repurchase what has been sold; to regain possession of a thing alienated, by repaying the value of it to the possessor. In Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, to redeem means to rescue and deliver from the bondage of sin and the penalties of God's violated law, by obedience and suffering in the place of the sinner, or by doing and suffering that which is accepted in lieu of the sinner's obedience.
 

In order to be freed, a slave must be redeemed. Could we as slaves have bought ourselves back? No, we had nothing of worth. Silver and gold would not do it. In fact, nothing short of the blood of a completely innocent sacrifice would suffice to pay the “wages of sin”. Only God the Son, by laying aside aspects of His deity and taking on human flesh, could be that perfect sacrifice. “And he saw that there was no man [capable of redeeming mankind], and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation” – Isaiah 59:16. In his love and in his mercy He redeemed them by His own blood, buying us out of bondage to sin and Satan.

Notice also that this redemption is not just something we hope for; it is a fact! He has done it, it is finished, and it will never be undone! “You shall know that I the LORD am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob” – Isaiah 60:16. Jesus, our blessed Redeemer.

1 John 3:16 “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.” 

 

In Christ, Brian