I am the resurrection and the life It was a good Saturday. Or was it? Truthfully, it could have been disastrous. It certainly did not look good in the beginning. I suffered a heart attack. Seems it was quite a significant episode; frightening for Bronwyn and, yes, deeply troubling for me. Was this it? Had my time come? Is this how the Lord was calling me home? What about the kids and the grandkids? What about Bronny? What about my ministry? I still had things that needed to be done. This was not a good Saturday. It was awful, frightening, dark and scary. And yet, yes, as it happens, it was a good Saturday. As I reflect on that day last October, I celebrate the miracles of that scary day. The right people intervening at the right time. Christian concern that led to action. A beautiful Salvationist nurse whose friend was a Christian cardiologist. A life-saving intervention and even a promise from God himself that all will be well. God’s timing was perfect. His providence abundant. So, as I reflect and look deeper into the events that transpired, I have come to the conclusion that it was a good Saturday after all. I remember as a young junior soldier being perplexed by the use of the word ‘good’ in the Easter story. Good Friday – the day they crucified Jesus. How can that possibly be described as good? I mean, let’s not sugar-coat it. It was a horrible day. A day of unjust conviction, brutal torture, of unrelenting pain and suffering. The cross, a weapon of the devil, used against the Lamb of God. Horrifying, ugly and unforgivable. But if, without excusing the events of the day, we look deeper, we actually witness God himself in action. God meets the manifestation of pure evil represented by a physical cross, with all its brutality, with the redeeming love that conquers evil, sin and, yes, death itself. He turns an ugly Friday into an exceptionally ‘Good Friday’ indeed. Understand this: whatever else was going on, Jesus himself was motivated by love. He went to the Cross out of love for all humanity; out of love for you and for me. In his Letter to the Romans, Paul wrote: ‘But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us’ (Romans 5:8 NIV). Christ demonstrated the extent of God’s love for all of us by taking upon himself the sin of the world. On this Friday, Jesus was motivated by love. The truth is, God loves us and Jesus is the proof. The writer to the Hebrews asks the question: ‘…how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?’ (Hebrews 2:3 NIV). The prophet Isaiah wrote: ‘…by his wounds we are healed’ (Isaiah 53:5 NIV). It is a mystery for sure. In some mysterious and divine way, the events of Good Friday hold the key to our own healing, our forgiveness, our salvation and our adoption. The atonement makes possible our being embraced by Almighty God himself. Jesus, motivated by love, makes possible our restoration, redemption and reconciliation. We are healed; we are saved. We are loved. It can be difficult to see the events of Good Friday as triumphant, but that is exactly what it is. First, it is a triumph for Jesus. He was faithful and obedient, even to death on the Cross. ‘It is finished,’ he declared (John 19:30 NIV). I have completed my mission. It is done. The power of sin and death is defeated. Second, the triumph of Calvary is the defeat of evil. In Jesus’ victory over sin and evil, his ‘triumph’ becomes our triumph as well. Because we live on this side of the Resurrection, we are able to celebrate our Lord’s vindication. He conquered death and lives forever more. His victory becomes ours. It was Jesus himself who said: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die’ (John 11:25-26 NIV). Jesus acknowledges the reality of physical death, but goes on to declare that death does not have the final word over those who, by faith, belong to him. This means death is no longer a wall, but a doorway. It has lost its ultimate power and its terror, and it cannot sever a person from the life Jesus gives. Eternal life is not only duration, but also dimension. It is a life infused with the presence of God and it begins the moment we place our trust in Jesus. Turns out, it was a very ‘Good Friday’ indeed! My prayer for each of you is that you will be captivated by, and experience for yourselves, the reality of God’s love for you, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Saviour of the world. God bless you.
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