I woke up wondering why today was called “Good Friday”…
This is just hours after Jesus prayed on the Mount of Olives. “And being in agony He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground”. Luke 22:42

My sweet Jesus was in agony… And before Friday rolled around, Jesus was betrayed and arrested, He was denied by His own, and He was mocked as well.
The weight of the world literally on His shoulders.

The Son of Man was in pain that NO ONE would ever be able to understand. So why is the Friday of the crucifixion called “Good Friday”.
It is a “Good Friday” in retrospect but in those dark hours before His crucifixion, no one could even fathom to call that day “good”.

Whatever dark situation you are in, it will indeed look dark because you are in it, but in retrospect? You will be amazed by what God will bring out of it (Romans 8:28).

Even Jesus’ faithful disciples couldn’t believe there was something beautiful coming out of this dark day even though He had prepared them for his death and crucifixion. (Luke 9:21-22)

You can’t ignore the darkness

The darkness of my heart, the darkness of you, the darkness of human kind.
I don’t have to look far to see the darkness of where I am.
This darkness is what He came to conquer!

“It was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two”. Luke 23:44-45

Darkness always precedes the Light.

Yes, today may be “Good Friday” but let’s not forget that it was a “dark Friday” first. “All we like sheep have gone astray…” Isaiah 53:6 We were all sheep wandering in our darkness with no sense of direction or wisdom. We were sheep wandering aimlessly. We needed a Light. Without a Light, we would have stayed in darkness forever. Darkness is in us since the Fall of Adam and Eve.

But only after you have wandered in darkness long enough do you desperately appreciate and hold on to light!

God uses the dark because He must get the glory. If it wasn’t for Calvary, we may still believe that we might have a chance to go to heaven on our own.

Out of the darkness (Genesis 1:2), God created Light and saw that it was good! (Genesis 1:3) Out of the ground, out of the darkness of the earth, He creates us. He created you. We came out of the darkness of the earth.
We all come out of the darkness of the womb. No wonder why we get attached to darkness? We do what we shouldn’t be doing, we brag when we should be encouraging, and we rebel when we should be obeying.

because of our darkness, “He poured out His soul to death…” Isaiah 53:12

This darkness of you and me is so real, but us, people of the 21st century we don’t want to hear that. We want to hear that we are all “good”. We ignore the dark, and therefore we don’t seek the Light. Because unless you know you sick, you will not bother go look for a doctor!

Yes, there is Good Friday, but there is also the darkness of my heart that has to be conquered and crushed by a Savior every day.

The darkness ain’t the whole story

Few chapters capture my heart like Isaiah 53. If I could engrave words on my skin and my heart it would be Isaiah 53. “yes, you are dark and sinful, that’s why I had to pay a very high price for your darkness to be removed…”

Isaiah 53 tells a one of a kind love story. A love story that we still struggle to believe. A love story that very few accept. It’s not the love story that hollywood sells, it’s not the love story that you would want, if we are being honest. This is a love story of a Man that first tells you how wicked you are. but He doesn’t stop there, He goes on to say that He will die to purify you. That He would do. anything. to. see. you. whole.

But this love comes with a price. a bloody kind of price. But He is a Man who keeps His word. So He paid the ultimate price for you and me.

Read these verses slowly and be amazed with the Son of Man who willingly stepped into our darkness.

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed Him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced for your transgressions;
He was crushed for our iniquities;
upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with His wounds we are healed.

“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers
is silent,
so he opened not His mouth” Isaiah 4-5; 7.

I never tire to read these words. but verse 10 takes my breath away:

“Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him;
He has put Him to grief”. Isaiah 53:10

I’m speechless because of the price He had to pay. I’m deeply thankful for the price He had to pay.

Out of my darkness, He shines His light…
Out of the dark Friday, He resurrected my King…
Out of the darkness, because of His death, we call today “Good Friday”…