Today marks Good Friday, a day that will forever be remembered as the darkest day in redemptive history. On this day, the Son of God, the Light to the world, would momentarily be extinguished by the grim powers of darkness. As we consider the events of Good Friday, it is also a time to soberly reflect on the tremendous sacrifice made for sinners. The passion of Christ reminds us of the profound love and grace that He bestowed upon His people. Ultimately, Good Friday serves as the cosmic cliffhanger within God’s drama of redemption, pointing to the greatest hope, victory and redemption that would soon follow on Resurrection Sunday.
However, as Christ followers, we tend to forget just how gory Good Friday was. So, this day should also serve as a reminder for us to contemplate just how horrific and brutal the death of the cross really was.
Leading up to the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ endured an agonizing onslaught of physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual torture. On Thursday, we see that after His betrayal by Judas, He was arrested and underwent a secret trial before the Sanhedrin. Here He was falsely accused and repeatedly slapped and punched by chief priests filled with murderous intentions. Then foaming at the mouth like a pack of virulent vipers they each spat warm saliva onto His Head. The next day, He was in the custody of Pontius Pilate and stood before a rabid crowd, jeering loudly from the top of their lungs, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”1 Chained like an animal He was brutally whipped. Every stroke of the cat-o’-nine-tails viciously dug deep into His flesh, leaving Him marred beyond recognition and bathed in a pool of His own blood. Shortly afterwards, a horde of tormenting Roman soldiers mocked on, dressing their Creator in a purple cloak while shoving a crown of thorns on His forehead.
As if this wasn’t humiliating enough; He was forced to tote His execution instrument up to place where He would be hoisted.
Next, they bound Him to a wooden cross-beam, extending His arms on each side and hammered long iron spikes into His hands and feet, securely fastening His blood-stained Body. Then they hoisted Him up like a mainsail, intensifying the excruciating pain even further.
After enduring nearly three hours of searing agony, along with the scornful insults from the heartless executioners below, He finally let out a blood-curdling cry, saying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”2
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Cor. 5:21
For the first time, our dying Lord is cursed and forsaken by God as He bears the unfathomable weight of sin. The sinless and innocent Son of God endured the Father’s righteous wrath against sin, suffering the infinite pangs of Hell on behalf of sinners. The Son downed the dreadful cup of the Father’s wrath and was crushed in order for the payment for sin to be made.3 Only Jesus’ blood, through sacrifice, could fully appease God’s wrath against the sins of His people and thereby expiate the sins of His elect.
“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 our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds 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 53:4-6 ESV
Afterwards, He exclaimed, “It is finished!”4 And gave up His Spirit and died. To prove this, a Roman Soldier grabbed a lance and stuck it into His side. To which they brought Him down and laid Him in a tomb.
As we reflect upon “Good Friday,” let us remember that it was also a “Gory Friday.” Although this gory Friday would inevitably lead to a glorious Sunday. Let us not forget to ponder the gory gauntlet leading up to the sacrifice. Let us not gallop thoughtlessly over the grisly details, forgetting the scandal and great lengths He went to redeem us. We must remember that every ghastly detail was sovereignly foreordained by God, the Holy One and Playwright. The more deeply we meditate on the infinite cost of Christ’s sacrifice, the more our hearts will be re-animated with heart-melting gratitude. And as a result, the more willing we will be to give our lives away for the advancement of His kingdom and glory.
On this “Gory Friday,” let us remember and cherish the bleeding, dying love of our Lord Jesus Christ – who showed the greatest demonstration of love by offering His life for sinners.