When Life Died

Today is a holiday we call Good Friday; it’s a day that we celebrate death. Good Friday is the day that nothing good seemed to happen. On what we now call Good Friday, Jesus was snatched, because one of his disciples sold Him out. On ‘Good Friday’, the very people that screamed ‘Hosanna’ (literally, a week ago), now surrounded Jesus screaming for His crucifixion (my…how their song has changed). On Good Friday, Jesus was mocked and brutally beaten, forced himself up a hill, and surrendered Himself to the nails that they put in His hands & His feet. On Good Friday, He handled His final affairs, & committed His spirit to His Father. On Good Friday, Life….died.

Quite a few things happened in the moments that surrounded Jesus’ death. The natural realm responded when Life died. The spiritual realm responded when Life died. Everything changed, because when Life died...

The earth mourned. When Life died, the sun shut down. According to Matthew, Mark, & Luke, the sun shut down when they put Him on the cross. It couldn’t bear to see its Creator - the Eternal God in human form - die a slow, and extremely painful death. 

God departed. While on the cross, Jesus screamed “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” It is said that God departed from Him because in that moment, Jesus didn’t look like God’s son; Jesus looked like straight up sin, and God could not be associated with sin. Yet, while God departed Jesus….

Access was granted to us. The Bible says that the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom. Essentially, the veil represented separation or distance between God & man. You had to be SOMEBODY (like…a priest) to go behind the veil. There was an entire process required to get to God. Yet, through His death, Christ caused the veil to be torn from top to bottom (because then, you couldn't say that a man did it - the veil was prettttyyyy highhh). Therefore, through His death, and by taking on our sin, Jesus removed every barrier that kept us from accessing God. The only middleman we needed hung on a cross, and….

Faith spoke. At this moment, we have Jesus on a cross, gasping for air. He’s bleeding uncontrollably. His heart is working overtime in a fleeting attempt to keep Him alive. Yet, He gathers enough breath to say “Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.” He’d already acknowledged the fact that God had forsaken Him, yet He knew God well enough to know that if He put this situation in God’s hands, He’d come out alright in the end. That…that is faith personified. Faith says ‘it looks bad right now, but it’ll be better in the end.’ Faith says ‘I know you don’t like what I’ve done, but I still know and recognize who You are.’ Faith says ‘I can’t trace you, but I still trust You.’ Faith says…

Mission accomplished. In His last moments, Jesus said “it is finished,” and declared that His mission was complete. He came to give access. He came to set the captives free. He came to heal. He came to deliver. He came…to give life. And ohhhhh did He do that! I know that His mission was accomplished because after the life left His body…

The earth felt fear. The Bible says that after Jesus died, the earth shook, and revival took place. Graves opened, and people who had died rose. They were revealed after His resurrection. When Life died, we received second chances in more ways than one. When Life died, He dispersed life to those that had been in graves, and empowered them to rise. When Life died…

Confirmation came. After Jesus’ death, those that were guarding Him while He was on the cross noticed the darkness, the earth quake, and probably heard about the veil. They looked at the evidence and how the earth literally responded to the death of Jesus, and said “truly, this was the Son of God!” Had He not died, their eyes wouldn’t have been opened. Had He not died, we would still be lost. Had He not died, the veil would still separate us from the love of God. It was through His death that His life was confirmed. It was through His death that people realized that He was the ‘real thing’. It was through the bad events of Good Friday that….

Restoration started. The moment Jesus died, the countdown started for His resurrection. That’s why He could die the way that He did: He knew that Sunday was coming. His death was simply the prep for His resurrection. He knew then what we know now: resurrection was on its way. 

While reading this, I realized that Jesus’ death is similar to our own lives. It gets dark, but the darkness seems to open our realization of our access to God. If we give the situation to God, He will be seen through us & we'll "rise up" and come forth from something that should've taken us out for good. The earth make shake after you give it to Him. Rocks may split, and the darkness may remain, but if you hold on, you’ll see that the things you thought were dead, things that you'd given up on & decided you'd just have to live without, will rise again. People will see Him through you, & God will be glorified. So just hold on, because Sunday is coming....and on Sunday, we get up...because He got up. 

Background music: You Got Up - Travis Greene & Don’t Cry - Kirk Franklin

---