History’s Darkest Moment: Good Friday

This Good Friday, as you reflect on what Christ has done and what it means for guilty sinners like you and me, meditate on these verses:

Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief. (Isaiah 53:4–10)

Why was it “the will of the Lord” that Jesus should be crushed? Because that was the only way for sinners to be made right with God! It was God’s plan from eternity. Christ was crushed for us that we might be saved from our sin. Praise the Lord for the depths of his love and mercy toward us!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.