Sunday’s Coming, but it’s Friday…

I know, I got that backwards, didn't I? Now let me be clear, I don't want to detract for a moment from the wonderful exclamation, "It's Friday, but Sunday's Coming!" That joyful line has been used as sermon titles, song lyrics, and a meaningful reminder for believers celebrating the resurrection of Christ for many years. There is a lot of concentrated meaning in that little sentence. Christ faced the worst, but the worst wasn't the end, which makes it true for his followers that our worst is not our end. Christ faced the lowest, only to be exalted to the highest, and in so doing he lifts us up out of our lowly state into resurrection heights as well. It's Friday, but Sunday is coming!

Yet, there is a reason that the day we commemorate the dying of our Savior and King has been called "Good Friday" by the church for centuries. Sunday's resurrection victory is nothing without Friday's calamity. While this is not the intention, if we are not careful we may say "It's Friday, but Sunday is coming" with the mindset that Sunday is the part that really matters; but both are necessary, indispensable parts of the work of Christ's Gospel. Now, think about this - in our subconscious, are we guilty of thinking that Good Friday (the death of Christ) is just a necessary evil in order to get the victory of Easter (the resurrection?) Maybe this leads to the oft-asked question, "what makes Good Friday so good?"

The resurrection is a glorious, miraculous display of God's power and Christ's victory over death and the grave. But what about the other resurrection stories in Christ's ministry? Hadn't he already proven that the power of God was mighty over even death? In fact, hadn't that been proven even in the prophets of the Old Testament? Elijah and Elisha both raised the dead to life through the power of God. Any student of scripture in Jesus' time would have already known that God was a dead-raising God. Others had been raised before Christ. So there must be something more to his resurrection story than just death and resurrection. If the act of someone dying and God raising them from the dead was all we needed, then that had already been taken care of.

So, am I saying that power over death and victory over the grave is not a great victory? Of course not! Again, I repeat, the resurrection of Christ is a glorious, miraculous display of God's power and an indispensable part of the Gospel of Christ. But that is not the whole story. The work of the Gospel was not just victory over death - the reason for death had to be dealt with. What brought death in the perfect Garden of Eden? What brought dying to a place with nothing but living? What introduced mortality to an experience of pure immortality? And what makes the resurrection of Christ so much more significant than any of the other Resurrection stories in Scripture? It is the fact that every other person raised from the dead was worthy of that death, dying because of the curse of sin. But Christ Jesus died as the only one not worthy of that death. Remember Paul's words to the Galatians? "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'"

Every other person raised from the dead died a typical, insignificant death. There was nothing miraculous about the death of Lazarus, or Jairus' daughter - they were normal human deaths. A part of the human experience, and they both would die again. But Jesus' death was miraculous in that he gave his life willingly. He is the only one who could subject himself to death. Not because he was a typical human under the curse, but as one who was free from that curse he placed himself under it, yes, even became a curse. And why? For us. That is, in our place. The resurrection is significant because of the atonement. Imagine you could devise a way to defeat death and exist forever apart from the work of the Gospel. What would you gain? Immortality? But to what end, would you really choose to live forever under the curse of sin, under the wrath of God?

And remember, that question is not all that hypothetical. For each individual will exist eternally. Eternal life is not so much a matter of quantity as it is quality. Eternal existence isn't the victory of the Gospel. Why is the promise of the Gospel, salvation by grace through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ so precious? It is because the eternal life won in the resurrection is marked by the holiness and righteousness purchased in the Atonement. What about that question, "what makes Good Friday so good?" Good Friday is good because of propitiation (satisfaction) of wrath. What is salvation if there is nothing to be saved from? What is victory if there is nothing to be victorious over? The victory of the Gospel is the satisfaction of God's wrath, salvation from the calamity of condemnation, and the promise of dwelling before Him eternally clothed in Christ's own righteousness.

Sunday is coming, but it's Friday. I encourage you today to meditate deeply on the atonement of Christ. The fact that he bore our sin, as he died in our place - the Just for the unjust, the Blessed for the cursed, the Immortal for the mortal, the Perfect for the tarnished and stained. And when you rejoice in His resurrection this Sunday, know that the victory won is sweet and significant because it is a victory over not just death, but the very cause of death itself - our sin and offense before the Holy God.