Good Friday? What’s so good about it? March 30, 2013

 

Growing up, I always remember the Friday before Easter being called “Good Friday.” All I really knew about it was it was a day off school and that Easter was a couple days later and people seemed to put fancy labels on the holiday weekend. Honestly, I couldn’t figure out why they wanted to call it “good?”

I grew up in a Christian home. I was in church just about every time the doors were open. Easter wasn’t a foreign concept or just a tradition for us, it was a reality of celebrating Jesus death and resurrection. But still, this “Good Friday” thing I just never could understand. Jesus DIED – that’s not “good” is it?

Only in the last few years have I realized the depth of the “good” of “Good Friday.”  It wasn’t necessarily good for Jesus….but for us!  His death provided freedom from sin and death, a restored relationship, life eternal, the gift of the Holy Spirit, Joy and Peace! He knew something that we didn’t – He knew Sunday was coming! Sure it was prophesied and Jesus spoke of it, but it was still a mystery! The disciples couldn’t even understand!

God had a plan. Jesus was the main character in this plan; this story. After all, it’s “His-story!” We know how Jesus showed us His love by teaching, ministering, healing the sick, the lame, raising the dead, loving sinners, etc. But, maybe in order to really grab our attention, He knew he had to do the one thing we would never have expected. Lay down His life. That is an incredible “good” thing! (Actually it’s pretty heroic if I can use the term.) As a military family, we understand that very well. We may have experienced this in our lives or know close friends who have gone through the pain and suffering watching someone we know “lay down their lives.” Can you imagine how Mary and the disciples felt? To lay your life down for one person is great, but to agree to do this for the whole world, for salvation and to regain a right standing with God again, knowing many of them will reject you and not believe it even happened, takes a great man. A perfect man. Actually it could only be a perfect God who loves us with an everlasting love!

This is why Friday before Easter is good. If Jesus didn’t pay the penalty for my sin, I would be lost. We needed a Savior and God had a plan. Thank God for making a way through His son! The crushing weight of my sin and shame, my sickness and diseases were put on Him so I wouldn’t have to carry them any longer. He looked from eternity past to eternity future and saw me. He saw you. He willingly laid His life down because He saw the joy of our salvation before Him and he endured the cross for that. This is why it is GOOD!

A song that is a great reminder ends like this:

“Jesus paid it all! All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain and He washed it white as snow!”

I will also leave you with this great song from Downhere – How Many Kings

Sacrifice March 4, 2013

I’ve been thinking and meditating on the word SACRIFICE lately. I’ve had a new perspective through worship recently. The Lord began to reveal a few new things I never saw before.

I had a conversation awhile back about how the Old Testament is always pointing to God’s redemptive work in us, Jesus, and the New Testament. They go hand in hand. We began talking about the Tabernacle. When God told Moses to build the Tabernacle, as you entered the Outer Courts there was the Brazen Alter. It was the first thing people saw when they entered God’s house. This alter was set up for all the burnt offerings for the Israelites. Here they slaughtered the animals, drained the blood, laid out every inside part of the animal, guts, blood, gore and all. Then the fire would consume this animal as a representation of the sins of the people. The smoke that rose became a sweet smelling fragrance to the Lord. He delighted in the sacrifices and burnt offerings these people brought to Him – DAILY!

The Lord showed me something here. These animals/burnt offerings, although a representation of Jesus on the cross for us, is also a representation of ourselves. WE too are laid out on this alter in the presence of our God – cut open, all the inside is revealed, guts, gore, blood, etc. we are very vulnerable, open and there is NOTHING to hide! When we lay ourselves on the alter in this way, God’s holy fire comes and consumes us from the INSIDE OUT! (Deuteronomy 4:24 tells us that our God is a jealous God, an all CONSUMING FIRE) He takes all of us, and the smoke that rises is a sweet fragrance to the Lord. There’s also mention of incense burning in the temple/tabernacle at all times which represents the prayers of His people (us). All of these things – everything about the tabernacle and what God intended it for, is all a representation of Jesus Christ, coming, living and dying for us, and we partake in all of it.

And the great finale came, of course, when God split the curtain, opened up the Holy of Holies so we may have complete access to Him!

When we lay ourselves on that alter, we’re truly sacrificing ourselves in an act of worship. He wants all of us. He will burn up our fleshly desires, those things that keep us from that closeness with God. But that burning, although painful, is a sweet fragrance to the Lord, and this is what can allow us a deeper fellowship with the Lord. He renews us, fills us with His Spirit and allows us to walk with Him without any barriers in between.

There’s an older song I used to sing that began, “Take me past the outer courts, into the holy place, Past the Brazen Alter, Lord I want to see your face…..” To enter the Holy of Holies, we must be offered as a sacrifice on the Brazen Alter to come into the place where we can enter the Holy of Holies with God.

We need to daily put ourselves on the alter and let the fire of God consume us so we can enter His Holy Place!

Kayla Atkins

YouTube for Holy of Holies