The Final Judgement

Here we are once more on this terrible day called “Good Friday.” How could it possibly be called “good” when it commemorates the death of an innocent man, so that a guilty one (a murderer, no less) could be set free?

Pontius Pilate, as the Roman Governor, had absolute authority over Israel. But the last thing He needed was countless deaths as his soldiers subdued  a riot. If word of that got back to Rome, he’d be recalled and severely punished. Which sets the scene for this:

Mark 15:12-15 Pilate asked the people again, “So what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?” The people shouted, “Kill him on a cross!” Pilate asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?” But the people shouted louder and louder, “Kill him on a cross!” Pilate wanted to please the people, so he set Barabbas free for them. And he told the soldiers to beat Jesus with whips. Then he handed him over to the soldiers to be killed on a cross.

Okay, so Pilate was afraid of a riot, he’d been pressured by the Jewish religious leaders, and it seemed that personally he was ambivalent, so He chose the expedient route. Who cares? What does it matter?

And yet, through it all, God’s hand was on these proceedings. He’d sent the very Son of God to die on that Cross to pay the penalty of my sin, of yours, and that of anyone else who would believe in Jesus … that we might be forgiven completely, that we might have a new life, that we might have an eternal life.

So, in the final judgement, the innocent One died on behalf of the guilty one – for Barabbas, for you, for me. That’s why it’s called “Good Friday”.

And that’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.