The Bridge Christian Fellowship
Steve Farnworth
The Pastor’s Pen
It is Friday afternoon on a mount called Golgotha, just outside of a city named Jerusalem. It is a place where criminals receive the ultimate punishment that the Roman government has ever devised. It is called crucifixion, and it is a depraved, disgusting, and deplorable exhibition of the utter cruelty and evil of mankind’s black heart.
On this particular Friday afternoon, three criminals are hanging in agonized, torturous pain as the life in their bodies is slowly ebbing away, even as the crowds who are finding entertainment in their suffering shout out obscenities and curses, aimed not at the soldiers and authorities, but at the three who are suffering.
Two of the criminals earned their place on the cross by heinous crimes committed against others. The third criminal, however, was declared a criminal only because of the corrupt politicians of His day. For the previous three years, He had consistently demonstrated their religious inconsistencies and hypocrisy, confronting them at every level of their immorality.
The corrupt politicians had two choices: repent of their sin or kill the messenger. So, kill Him they did. Wrapped in their pride and arrogance, they rejoiced at the sight of this Jesus from Nazareth hanging in agony on that cross. “We have rid ourselves of this pest,” they thought. “We can get back to our religious and political normal now that he will be gone!”
They just didn’t get it. They did not hang Jesus on that tree. He did. Had they tried their best, they could not have kept Him from that appointment with crucifixion. From the very beginning, God’s plan of redemption required the shedding of blood. And only the shed blood of the perfect Lamb of God had the power to conquer sin and destroy the hold that death held on mankind. This is why, the very first time that John the Baptizer saw Jesus, he proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the world.”
As Jesus breathed His last, the sky turned dark as night, the ground shook with a violent earthquake, and the curtain in the temple tore in half, from the top to the bottom. The religious rulers felt vindicated; the disciples felt dejected. Satan and his host were elated; the followers of Jesus were defeated. Jesus was dead; hope was lost; His kingdom was gone. What none of them realized was this: it was Friday; Sunday was a ‘Comin’!
You and I, as those who follow Jesus, will experience our share of Fridays, times of testing and desperation in which all hope seems lost and all of our sacrifice seems a waste. In these seasons we can feel the evil of our adversary and experience the darkness of his will. May I suggest that it is in these hours of desperation that we must remind ourselves: “Its Friday, but Sunday’s a ‘Comin’!”
This same Jesus, who died on the cross and then rose from the grave, is coming back to earth very soon. It will probably be at a time of extreme spiritual darkness here on earth. Suddenly, the eastern sky will brighten with a brilliance beyond our imagination, the trumpet of God will sound, the skies will part, and this same Jesus, who came to save, will arrive in His glory, surrounded by the Heavenly host, as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, to judge the inhabitants of this earth.
It is only Friday, my friends, but Sundays a ‘Comin’! Are you ready?
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