The Death of Christ Redeems Us from Sin

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said,

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

John 1:29

The day when an innocent man died a gruesome death after being sentenced a death verdict through a very unjust justice procession, both in the religious and state court, is the most important day where the balance of the entire universe hangs.  That method of death punishment gains world fame because of this one man.  Not in the way people could predict.  The beams used to crucify the walking dead is well known as the cross.  And on that cross, that particular innocent man from Nazareth, who caused the governor of Judea to tremble, was hanged with a verdict: “Not Guilty.”  The state court couldn’t find Him guilty of any of the charges brought to Him.  So the governor ordered that the reason He was crucified was: “The King of the Jews.”  Yes, the governor recognized His innocence, but he wanted to please the crowd and cared only for his political reputation in the eyes of Rome, so he gave in to the irrational demand of the unruly crowd.  The Jewish religious court could only apply to Him the accusation of blasphemy, which of course was untrue yet supported by the majority in order to save themselves.

A few months before the day of crucifixion, this innocent man raised Lazarus from the dead.  One of the most stunning miracles ever recorded in history.  This miracle ought to shock people to the core and then to get them to start believing in Him.  Some did believe, but some did not.  The apostle John reported in John 11:45-53 this way:

⁴⁵ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, ⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. ⁵⁰ Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” ⁵¹ He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. ⁵³ So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

His death has been plotted by the religious leaders.  He was brought to court not because He committed any crime.  But simply because they were afraid of Him.  His signs and wonders were so great that no sane people could deny that He was God.  But fear won the day in the temple that day.  The high priest were so fixated in pleasing the Romans so that they would not destroy Israel.  So he was blinded of the truth.

            They got what they wanted.  Their target was now hanged on the cross, suspended between heaven and earth.  They thought that all the commotion would be over soon.  The man whom they feared did not do anything extraordinary like getting out from the cross miraculously or calling 12 legions of angels from the sky to defend Him or calling the winds to wipe out His enemies.  Instead, they witnessed gracious words coming out of His mouth.  They witnessed Him dead without any struggle.  They witnessed the sky grew completely dark for three full hours up until He gave up His life into the hands of God the Father.  They witnessed the sudden earthquake and the torn curtain that separated the Holy place and the Holy of Hollies in the temple.  Yes that’s the day.  The day an innocent man named Jesus died on the cross.  The day the Son of God died hanging between heaven and earth.  The horrible day recorded in the history as the failure of any human justice system.  The day humanity sank to the very lowest bottom of morality and ethics.  A very sad day.

            That’s the day we now celebrate as the Good Friday.  I wonder: “Why is it called ‘Good’ Friday?”  What is ‘Good’ about it?  Humanly speaking, nothing is good can be considered of that event.  From the night He was arrested through the betrayal of Judas until the court proceedings and then the crucifixion, nothing can be said good about it.  Why do we call it good?  Where is the good?  What is the good?  Today we go to church to celebrate Good Friday.  But what is to celebrate?  The death of an innocent man?  The failure of humanity?  The unjust decision by both the religious and the statesman alike?  The supposedly best of humanity that failed miserably when handling a simple peasant from Nazareth?  Are we feeling cheerful going to church knowing that the Holy Son of God received the worst treatment humanity could ever give to anyone?  If not, what are we celebrating then?

            Brothers and sisters, that gloomy day is a paradoxical day.  The worst and the best happened in that day.  The bad and the good happened in that very day.  We have all the evidences of everything bad that happened that day.  What about the good?  What evidence do we have about the good?  At the start of Jesus’ ministry, His cousin, John the Baptist testified about Him: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  John prophesied about that sacrificial day.  Jesus was the lamb of God.  When God sent His tenth plague to Egypt to kill all the firstborn, so many lambs were sacrificed to redeem Israel.  With the blood of the lambs on the doorposts, Israel was spared from the deadly plague.  Redemption from physical death was executed.  But the entire Egypt cried out bitterly.  Not one house was spared.  They all lost their firstborn.  Human and animal alike.  But in Goshen Israel had a celebration.  They ate the Passover lamb.  They rejoiced over God’s redemption of their lives.  In the same day, there was bitter cry and laud celebration.  Egypt wept and Israel was happy.  This was the type of what would come.

            The Friday we have come to know as Good Friday was the real thing.  The worst and the best met.  The Lamb of God was sacrificed in Good Friday.  His sacrifice was the sole reason of the good in that Friday.  His sacrifice truly saves lives.  Not just the lives of the people who lived in His time on earth.  But also the lives of His people until the end of time.  With His sacrifice, the deadly plague of the second death would not touch anyone who believes in Him.  His blood that He poured out on the grotesque cross has redeemed His people.  We, who believe in Him, are claimed as His forever.  We belong to Christ Jesus.  So God spares us for all eternity.  Yes brothers and sisters, this is the ‘Good’ of the Good Friday.

            But we might not get this just of yet.  It is a very simple arrangement but yet very spiritually deep at the same time.  Some people ask: “Why the bad must happen too?”  The pinnacle of human failure must be realized.  The cross of Christ is the evidence of both the supremacy of God’s love and the failure of humanity’s best.  Let me explain to you in a simple way.  Here it goes.  Humans always want to hang on to what they think as goodness in man.  Humans always want to believe that their goodness is their refuge.  They work so hard to save themselves from death by doing all the good they can.  They restrain themselves in great discipline to avoid doing what is bad, in the hope that their lives would be spared from the coming judgment at the end time.  They look to their leaders to show the way.  The political leaders and the religious leaders; the kings and the priests.  Their hope rests with the best of humanity.  But that day.  That wretched day shattered anything considered good in humanity.  Humanity was proven to be devoid of good.  Isaiah is right to say in Isaiah 64:6: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” Apostle Paul concurred in Romans 3:12 saying: “¹²All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”  No one is good.  That Friday was the proof.

            This revelation is a good thing actually.  Because it demythologizes human infatuation with human deeds.  The demythologization of human good deeds has thwarted all hope in it.  People should not hope in human goodness anymore, past or present or future.  Hoping in human good deeds is futile.  And if we look into our faith, we often actually hang on to our past deeds rather than on Jesus.  We look into our good deeds that we did in the past as our comfort.  As our heart is comforted while looking at our past good deeds, we secretly believe that our seat in heaven is safe because we have evidences of goodness in us.  Brothers and sisters, God reveals on that wretched day that relying on human good deeds won’t save.  If you still secretly put your faith in your past deeds you consider good, realize now that those won’t save you.  Those best deeds only led an innocent man to the cross.  The best of humanity is proven to be evil.  So, brothers and sisters, no, do not put your faith in your deeds, no matter how seemingly good it is.  They can’t save you.  Hanging on to them won’t get you spared from the wrath of God.  Hanging on to them only gets you eternal death.  And so this is the first paradoxical goodness of the Good Friday.

            Now as we lay hopelessly on the ground, we have the first step toward true hope.  This is the second paradox of Good Friday.  That the innocent man who was hanged on that cross that day, is our only hope for salvation.  With our hopelessness state we can’t look into other things anymore.  Our eyes can only look to the cross of Christ.  “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  This realization can only happen through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit.  The soul is revived.  The spiritual eyes can now see that Jesus is no ordinary man.  The centurion realized this as Jesus died, and so he proclaimed: “Truly this man was the Son of God.” (Mark 15:39)  The spirit is reborn.  The true humanity is restored.  The enlightened man realizes his sin.  The regenerated man realizes his need to repent.  And so he believes in Jesus Christ.  For in Him alone one can be justified before the court of heaven.  Only in the Lamb of God one can be redeemed.  Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God.  The sacrificial requirement is satisfied in Him.  His blood covers those who believe so we may be spared from the wrath of God.

            Brothers and sisters, when Christ was hanged between heaven and earth, He demonstrated His great love to us.  As He sacrificed Himself for our sake, He took upon Himself the wrath of God that was supposedly to fall upon us.  It was on Him that the fullness of God’s just wrath for our sin was poured out.  In His blood Christ covered us that we be spared from eternal death.  God’s justice is satisfied in Him and His love bestowed upon us.  This is the second paradox of the Good Friday.  The Lamb has to die.  But His death means our salvation.  The wretched Friday becomes the Good Friday.  The worst of humanity meets the best of God.  So God accepts and justifies the totally depraved man on the merit of Christ’s sacrificial act on the cross.  Salvation is the bestowed upon those who believe Christ.  Eternal life now belongs to us who have faith in the name of Christ.  Brothers and sisters, this Friday is Good.  God has turned what is bad into good for us.  Forget your past deeds that you consider good.  Not in those you may find refuge.   Do not harden your hearts.  Do not cling on your own good deeds as if they could save you.  They can’t.  Only in Christ, in Christ alone you are redeemed.  Only the death of Christ on that wretched cross that has redeemed you from your sins for all eternity.  Brothers and sisters, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  Praise the Lord.  Amen!