Good Friday is an important day for Christians, but Good Friday should actually be an important day for all people. Why is it called Good Friday? What happened on Good Friday that is so important for humanity?
What is remembered on Good Friday?
What is remembered on Good Friday? On Good Friday the suffering and death of Jesus Christ on the cross is remembered. But what is the significance of the death of Jesus Christ?
Ihu Karaiti, te Tama a te Atua, came to the earth with a mission, namely to restore what was broken in the Garden of Eden.
To understand, why Jesus Christ had to be crucified, we must go back to the moment when man made a wrong choice and disobeyed God, and fell from his position, and the relationship between God and man was broken.
What happened in the Garden of Eden?
God created man perfect and placed man in the Garden of Eden and gave man dominion over the earth. God had a relationship with man and walked with man. There was no lack, God had given everything man needed.
Heoi ano, God had given one commandment to man. Man could eat from every tree in the garden, except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Man walked with God and obeyed God until the serpent approached man and tempted man with his words.
The words of the serpent made man doubt the words of God.
Instead of believing the words of God and keeping the commandment of God, man believed the words of the serpent and acted upon his words, whereby the mission of the serpent succeeded (Panuitia hoki: Is the mission of the devil successful?).
Through the disobedience of man, because man ate from the forbidden fruit despite the warning and commandment of God, the earth was cursed and the relationship between God and man was broken and the spirit of man died and came under the authority of death.
The devil had taken dominion over the earth and became the father of fallen man
Through a lie, the devil had taken the place of man and illegally had taken dominion over the earth, which God originally had given to man. Mai i taua wā, the devil became the ruler of the world and had dominion over the earth, and became the father of fallen man.
Katoa, who would be born of the seed of man, would be born under the authority of the devil and death and live in darkness, and after life on earth would enter hell; the kingdom of death (Hades).
There was (and still is) no one excluded, everyone would be born as a sinner and live in darkness and when he dies, he will return to his father and master, to whom he belonged and whom he served and obeyed during his life on earth.
The promise of God to restore what was broken in the garden
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Genesis 3:13-15)
But God in His greatness and sovereignty had already a plan to restore (heal) what was broken.
Since man was tempted by the woman and the woman was tempted by the serpent, the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of the devil (Panuitia hoki: 'What does it mean the head of the devil bruised because the heel of Jesus was bruised?)
The coming of Jesus the Christ
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believes on Him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God (Hone 3:13-18)
Although God had given this promise immediately after the fall, it took many years before the promise of God came to pass and the Messiah came to the earth to redeem man from the power of the devil.
Jesus Christ came to the earth and was born of the virgin Maria, who belonged to the generation of fallen man. Maria was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and became pregnant and gave birth to Jesus, who was fully Human. Because Jesus could only take the place of fallen man and become their Substitute if Jesus was fully Human (Matiu 1, Ruka 1 (Panuitia hoki: Te tiai ra i te parau fafau a te Mesia a Was Jesus fully Human?)).
Jesus grew up as a Son of a carpenter and when Jesus was approximately 30 years old He began His mission.
Although Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, Jesus was baptized in water by John the Baptism and received the Holy Spirit, Who led Jesus to the wilderness, where Jesus was tempted by the devil for 40 days (Panuitia hoki: 'I will give you the riches of the world’)
Although the devil succeeded in tempting Adam, the son of God, to sin, the devil didn’t succeed in tempting Jesus Christ, te Tama a te Atua, to sin
And after Jesus overcame the devil with te Word, Jesus went to preach the Kingdom of God to the people, who were born of the seed of Israel, and called them to repentance.
Jesus walked as Son of God after the Spirit on earth and preached the Kingdom of God, called the people to repentance, healed the sick, peia nga rewera, prophesied, and spoke words of knowledge and wisdom.
Everywhere Jesus went He caused a commotion that often resulted in persecution, especially of the (wairua) leaders of God’s people.
Until the moment came, for which Jesus had come to earth and that was to fulfill the redemptive work of God for fallen man.
The redemptive work of Jesus Christ would reconcile man back to God and restore the position of man on earth and give back the dominion, which the devil had stolen from man, to the (new) man.
The sufferings of Jesus began in the Garden of Gethsemane
Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonied at thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men: So shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider (Ihaia 52:13-15)
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not (Ihaia 53:1-3)
The suffering of Jesus Christ began in the Garden of Gethsemane, since the garden was the place where it all went wrong with Adam, and through his disobedience to God man was separated from God and fell from his position.
After the spiritual battle and the victory through prayer, Jesus was betrayed and taken captive in the garden and led to the high priest and then to Pilate.
Although Jesus Christ was innocent and didn’t do anything wrong, Jesus went through all the accusations, mockery, rejection, condemnation, and the sentence to death, without defending Himself. Jesus stayed faithful and obedient to His Father until His death.
What happened on Good Friday?
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? for He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was He stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth (Ihaia 53:4-9).
Jesus was scourged, whereby the word of the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled, that by His stripes we are healed.
After the scourging, Jesus continued His way to Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified and sacrificed as a spotless Lamb and shed His blood for the whole of humanity.
Jesus took all the sins and iniquities of the generation of fallen man and bore them in His flesh on the cross.
Jesus finished the redemptive work for fallen man
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors (Ihaia 53:10-12).
And so Jesus became the Substitute for fallen man and carried the sins and iniquities of fallen man and was made sin and a curse on the cross, which caused a spiritual separation between Jesus Christ, te Tama a te Atua, and God the Father.
For a short period of time, Jesus was put below the angels and the devil and the principalities and powers of darkness reigned over Jesus, which became visible in the natural realm by te pouri that came over the earth for three hours.
Jesus was made sin by God and had accomplished His work at the cross and shed His blood and died and entered Hades.
This all happened on Good Friday and was part of the complete redemptive work for humanity, which consists of the scourging, mate, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
If you would like to know more about the passion of Jesus Christ and the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross and salvation for humanity, you can read the following articles:
- Someone has to pay the price!
- The lot fell on Jesus Christ, te Tamaiti a te Atua ora
- The crucifixion of the soul
- The crucifixion of the flesh
- The sufferings and mockery of Jesus Christ
- The battle in the Garden
- Why was Jesus crucified on a wooden cross?
- What is the true meaning of the cross?
- What is the difference between the sacrifice of animals and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ?
'Kia tote mo te whenua’
