Today is Good Friday, the day we remember on which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was put to death on a cross to pay the penalty for sin on behalf of all mankind. For Christians this is a day for sober reflection on our personal contribution to the sin of the world and the great love that motivated God the Father to send his Son on a mission to rescue us from our natural state of condemnation.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
—John 3:16-18
Many people have gotten the impression that Jesus came to send people to hell; that he stands above us pointing an angry finger that threatens us with condemnation if we do not “repent and believe.” The truth is very different. The Bible says that we already exist in a state of condemnation; it’s our natural state of being. To “stand condemned” means we have already been found guilty — guilty of sin against God.
It’s not like Jesus came into a world that existed in a neutral state, neither judged nor unjudged, and then handed out red cards (condemned) and white cards (not condemned) based on how we responded to him. The Bible says all of us were already holding red cards.
Jesus came, offering to give us white cards for our red cards. Note that we weren’t allowed to drop our red cards on the floor in order to take his white card. We had to give him our red card, which he keeps, in exchange for his white card. He took our condemnation on himself.
To use another metaphor, we’re born separated from God and doomed to die separated from God unless we grasp the life ring tossed to us as we tread water on the open sea. The life ring is Jesus, who tells us that if we believe in him, we are no longer doomed to destruction.
It’s a remarkable thing to contemplate on Good Friday: the sinless Son of God willingly abandoned the comforts of his position to become human for the express purpose of securing our freedom from the consequences of condemnation.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
—Philippians 2:5-8
May Good Friday find you contemplating your rescue, and may you have a wonderful Easter as we celebrate Jesus’ victory over sin and death.
Amen! Praise God! 🙂
Beautifully written Dave. Happy Easter!