April 18 2025
“You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,” 1 Peter 1:18-19.
On the church calendar, today is called Good Friday. In the history of the church, the day has been known by other names, such as, “Day of the Cross,” “Day of Absolution,” and “Day of the Lord’s Passion.”
In spirit, let us kneel at the foot of the cross at Calvary and meditate upon the horrible suffering that Jesus endured. He had been beaten and bruised. He was mocked and ridiculed. He was crowned with thorns and scourged, and then He was nailed to the cross to die, as if He were among the worst of criminals.
Now, when you are told, “Today is Good Friday!” you might be tempted to ask, “What’s good about it?” To that question, we can only respond by pointing to the good that was gained for all people through the life, suffering, and death of the Lord Jesus. The prophet Isaiah portrayed the scene at Calvary seven hundred years before Jesus was crucified. He wrote, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” Isaiah 53:5-6.
From the cross comes the message recorded by the apostle Peter in the text above: “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Jesus was the sinless Lamb of God to whom John the Baptist pointed and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” John 1:29.
The words of John the Baptist took the Israelites, and they take us, back to the Old Testament Passover lamb by which the children of Israel were delivered from slavery and death in Egypt. The children of Israel were instructed by God to kill a lamb on a designated night. They were told to put some of the blood of the lamb on the door posts and above the door of their homes. On that night, the Lord would pass through the land of Egypt and slay the firstborn child in every home. When He came to a home that was marked with the blood of the lamb, He passed over that home, hence the name Passover Festival. They were delivered by the blood of the lamb.
It was a symbol of the Lamb of God who would come to deliver all people from the slavery of sin, from death, and from the power of the devil. Peter writes that we were redeemed, “With the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” In his First Epistle, the evangelist John wrote, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin,” 1 John 1:7. This is the Good News of Good Friday. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” John 3:16. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” Romans 5:8. To the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “He died for all,” 2 Corinthians 5:8. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them . . . (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him,” 2 Corinthians 5:19, 21.
This is the Good News that makes this Friday good! God loves you! Jesus suffered, died, and rose again to save you. Believe and trust in Him and you will be saved!
“Inscribed upon that cross we see,
In shining letters, ‘God is Love.’
He bears our sins upon the tree,
He brings us mercy from above.” Amen.