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Finding the Truth of Easter in the Disciples’ “Good Fridays”
Posted by Eric F. Langborgh on 14 Apr 2006 at 06:52 amToday is Good Friday.
What kind of religion would call a day “good” on which its leader died an excruciating and shameful death? Most holidays celebrate obvious victories of the military or political sort. But not Christianity.
Good Friday is good because this is the day my sins were nailed to the cross, and this is the day my savior, Jesus Christ, paid the debts and absorbed the wrath that I deserved, and declared through His words, “It is finished,” that I have been delivered completely and forever from my sins and into glory. But Christ died not just for me. Jesus was crucified for the whole world — for all who would believe that Jesus came for them and for all who repent of their sins and who by faith nail those sins to the cross of Jesus.
But why should we believe in this promise of Easter? We believe this promise to be true because of the historical fact of Easter — that Christ the Lord is risen.
And because the body of the God-Man was resurrected - and because He was seen, touched, and heard by hundreds upon hundreds of his disciples, many of whom even dined with Him - a great number of disciples, and all of Christ’s apostles save one, gladly went to their own deaths proclaiming all they saw. The other, the Apostle John, died in lonely exile for the same reason. No one recanted their faith.
And so, we believe because of the hundreds of “good Fridays” that came after the first. The most heinous crime in history came when the only truly innocent and sinless Man was nailed to the cross. But because that was God’s plan, to accomplish good out of our evil — just as He did for His people through Joseph after Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers — the day Jesus was murdered was also eminently good. The persecution and execution of so many of Jesus’ followers and apostles after Him were also most heinous crimes. Many were even nailed to the cross just like the One in whom they refused to recant their faith. But these were also “good” — because through their blood we have great assurance that Jesus’ blood does indeed save us from our sins, and ultimately from death itself.
As Tertullian, the great early Christian, wrote: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
Or, as the Apostle Paul wrote from prison: “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’”
When Paul said this, his hearers knew he was referring to Isaiah 22:13-14. Verse 13 is what Paul quoted, but his hearers were very aware that it is followed by verse 14: “‘Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,’ says the Lord, the LORD Almighty.”
In other words, if Christ was not raised from the dead, Paul and the apostles and the hundreds of Christians who would die because they proclaimed the truth of Easter would not be resurrected, either. And that would mean that we are still in our sins, because Easter is a lie. And without the blood of the perfect Lamb, Jesus Christ, “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for.”
But Easter is not a lie, thanks and praise be to God! And this is the truth we Christians proclaim. The blood of the martyrs proves the promise of Easter. Because if it were a lie, there would have been very few willing to die a martyr’s death in order to perpetuate it, and far more would have confessed their deceit to avoid being nailed to the shameful cross themselves. But we know they didn’t recant. Moreover, because they shed their own blood for the faith, we know that Good Friday is truly good, for Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!
May the Lord bless each of us with faith in the Risen Lord this Easter, and greater faith to trust even more.
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For further examination of this issue, I strongly recommend the following:
- Today’s short article by Chuck Colson: “Secrets, Lies, and the Resurrection”
- “The Uniqueness of Jesus” by Pat Zukeran
- The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection by Lee Strobel
- Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
- More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell
Eric, A very good blog or teaching as I would call it. For without His sacrifice, and His resurrection, there would be no Christianity, no faith, no purpose in life, and all would seem hopeless. Why is it that ever Easter, the media and the world want to come out and destroy the image and belief in Christ as a Lord and Savior? Its simple, He represents the only truth, passion and holiness that the world really has. His spirit lives each and every day through those who believe in Him, what other religion can claim that? What other religion can claim an empty tomb for their originator — one who served others and died for them, giving them a future and a hope; rather than one asking their followers to kill others so they might receive some personal reward in the hereafter. Only one faith has an eternal living God with everlasting promises of righteousness; all others serve a demonic god of death, destruction, and lies. Thank God, we serve the Christ of Easter, who is never forgotten, for even if one sides against Him, He is always there and always will be!
Thank you, Tom, for your compliments. I agree.
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