Good Friday marks the day when Jesus Christ was crucified. It’s called “good,” not because the events themselves were joyful, they were actually brutal and heartbreaking, but because of what Christ accomplished through them. On this day, nearly 2,000 years ago, Jesus was nailed to a Roman cross outside Jerusalem. He suffered not just physically, but spiritually, bearing the full weight of God’s wrath for the sins of His people. He was our substitute, our Passover Lamb.
Looking at the timeline from the Gospels, the night before, Jesus was betrayed by Judas, arrested in Gethsemane, put through a corrupt trial by the Sanhedrin, handed over to Pilate, sent to Herod, then back to Pilate. Even though Pilate said he found no guilt in Him, the crowd cried out for His crucifixion, and Pilate caved.
Jesus was mocked, beaten, scourged, and then crucified between two criminals. Around noon, the sky went dark for three hours, a clear sign of divine judgment. Then Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, ESV). He wasn’t just expressing pain, He was quoting Psalm 22, pointing to fulfilled prophecy and revealing Himself as the true suffering servant.
After that, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), and gave up His spirit. His life wasn’t taken from Him, He gave it up willingly. As Isaiah 53:10 says, it was the will of the Lord to crush Him, and He did it for us. He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). The temple curtain tore from top to bottom, showing that access to God was now open through Christ, no more earthly priests, no more animal sacrifices.
So what happened on Good Friday was the most important moment in human history. The Son of God died to satisfy divine justice and to bring sinners back to a holy God. Without this, we’d have no gospel, no hope, and no peace. But because of it, we have everything if we are in Christ.
It’s a day of deep sorrow, but it’s also full of hope, because Sunday is coming.
