Greetings CrossTrain Family! How wonderful it’s been to begin to set our minds and hearts on Jesus as we approach Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday! God allowed His people to participate in the dress-rehearsal for hundreds of years to prepare for the day we now celebrate; the day that the Lamb of God took the sin of the world. There is no better time to discuss and memorize our next verse than now, as it will help us to understand just a little more of just what took place on the cross. Please set aside time each day this next week to discuss these things with our children and amongst ourselves so we can set our minds on Jesus and be filled with His goodness.
We’ve discussed much of sin. We’ve als had many opportunities to explain the ugliness of sin and what we earn from it in the last several weeks. Good Friday is the day where we see two AWESOME things meet: God’s wrath and hated towards sin and God’s incomparable love for His people. On the surface, it seems a mystery how these two distinct characteristics could be expressed simultaneously. God’s justice and mercy. God’s wrath and love. God alone could orchestrate all of eternity so that His story could culminate in this stunningly beautiful moment where these characteristics of His could be on full display and He could fulfill the promise that He has given since the very beginning in Genesis.
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” — 2 Corinthians 5:21
Why this verse? Because we have broken God’s laws and not loved Him with all our heart, we’ve learned that no one is righteous and therefore we all deserve God’s wrath for eternity in hell. God tells us in this verse how we sinners can be made right in the sight of our perfect Holy God. The God-man, Christ Jesus, became our substitute. Jesus took on all of our sin and was, as the Bible puts it, made to be sin for us. Because He took on our sin, the entire wrath of God is diverted from us and was put on Jesus. THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED ON THE CROSS!!! THAT’S WHY WE MAY BE SEEN AS INNOCENT AND RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S SIGHT!!! What would have taken us an eternity to pay and suffer, Jesus paid in its entirety during those three hours on the cross. That is why we call it Good Friday. It is so, so, so good because as of that moment, through faith in the work that Jesus did on that day, we may be called righteous as though we had never sinned!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!! This should absolutely overwhelm us. Just before Jesus died, the last three words Jesus spoke were “it is finished.” These are odd words for someone to say as they die, but Jesus was telling us that the debt has been paid IN FULL. There is no more punishment to be had. There is no more work to be done to be made right with God.
It. Is. FINISHED!
Questions 2 Corinthians 5:21 can answer?
How can we be made right with God?
Who took our sin? Why did He do this?
“Blessed is the one whose sins are forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit.” If we have our faith in Jesus alone, we are that blessed one. Period. It is finished. There is no more work to be done. Rest peacefully in this, Church. May our children rest in this. May all anxieties, cares, worries, suffering, and persecution pail in comparison to the assurance we have that we have peace with God and that our sins are forgiven because of Jesus and His work on the cross. We pray that we may all be more fully aware of the glory of Christ and that our faith may grow greatly in this week leading to Good Friday. We pray our children and those we know who are far from God would be given eyes to see and ears to hear this good news. We pray for their repentance and faith in the One who paid it all.
Until next time, may God richly bless you by the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ!
In Christ,
Adam and Audra Griffin
Family Ministries