“The Friday”

FRI., APR. 13, 1990, 8:00 AM
FARM, STUDY

Yes, o son, this is “the Friday” called Good, and also “the Friday” numbered the 13th. It is an interesting juxtaposition and an appropriate symbol for the Day. You were not sufficiently attuned to the season to remember the “celebration” of the Last Supper, last evening. Consider whether you should be part of the noon service today. It is not necessary, but you should consider the potential value.

You are here this morning ready to hear My observations on the events of “the Friday.” Do not concern yourself about whether I, as Jesus, gave My life willingly or whether it was taken from Me. You see that there is some spiritual value in each, so that’s how it should remain… both. It was a speedy trial, but there were opportunities for Me to “plea bargain.” Even by natural means I could have avoided the death penalty. Still, there was opposition to Me and My messages, and I had done little to appease those religious Jews who seemed threatened.

As I have told you before, the circumstances could have worked out differently and there still would have been a Christianity, and you would be here with Me today even if there had been no crucifixion. Good Friday was not necessary, but it was the way I chose, and therefore it was exceedingly “Good.” It was a willing sacrifice, and yet it still had to be “forced.” I, as Almighty God, chose to have it happen this way. But it was not the “only way” it could have happened. As Almighty God I always have alternatives, any of which are good.

You see, one of the important symbols of this Friday remembered is that death can be good… and persecution can be good… and sacrifice can be good. Your culture has little feeling for the notion that death is good. You have a reverence for life that is both good and destructive. This should be matched with a reverence for death that balances the too dominant sense that death is always undesirable.

Easter morn has little significance without the balance of Good Friday. There can be no resurrection without a crucifixion. There can be no new life without the death of the old one. Even My perfect life as Jesus had to be ended. Salvation could come only with sacrifice.

And yet you know that I knew I would be resurrected and that My life would continue. Was it truly a sacrifice if I knew My death, as Jesus, was only a temporary inconvenience? Yes, it was… by definition. In somewhat like fashion you know that your hand is in Mine, and that your life is eternal, whatever happens to this incarnation of you as Bob Russell. You still repeat the various prayers of confession, with the sense that you are a sinner. And then you hear the words that you expect, the pardon, the forgiveness of sins, the acceptance of you as one of My saints. Both are true. Death is real, and so is everlasting life. Sin and rejection are real, and so is forgiveness and acceptance. I just am not the cornerstone of a rational, logical religion!

The positive view of life that I urge on you (but not on all Christians… always remember that) allows you to celebrate Easter even if you have missed the actual services of Thursday and Friday. Tonight write the letters that you should, in the spirit of sacrifice. And on Sunday glory properly in the power that I demonstrated, as your Triune God, over evil and death. Sing the great Easter hymns with gusto. Let your spirit celebrate, for Easter trumpets that life is eternal. It is for you, so what have you to fear?