What is Good Friday?

Source: Desiring God

Good Friday is not the darkness that must necessarily yield to light. It is not the winter sleep that contains and nourishes the seed of life within. It is the day on which human beings — human beings who wanted to be like gods — kill the God who became human, the love that became person; the day on which the Holy One of God, that is, God himself, dies, truly dies — voluntarily and yet because of human guilt — without any seed of life remaining in him in such a way that God’s death might resemble sleep.

  

Good Friday is not, like winter, a transitional stage — no, it is genuinely the end, the end of guilty humanity and the final judgment that humanity has pronounced upon itself. . . .

  

If God’s history among human beings had ended on Good Friday, then the final pronouncement over humankind would be guilt, rebellion, the unfettering of all titanic human forces, a storming of heaven by human beings, godlessness, godforsakenness, but then ultimately meaninglessness and despair. Then your faith is futile. Then you are still in your guilt. Then we are of all people most to be pitied. That is, the final word would be the human being.

 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Good Friday sermon of 1928 - 

Love Lustres at Calvary

Source: The Gospel Coalition

 

Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,

cast off that I might be brought in,

trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend,

surrendered to hell’s worst that I might attain heaven’s best,

stripped that I might be clothed,

wounded that I might be healed,

athirst that I might drink,
tormented that I might be comforted,

made a shame that I might inherit glory,

entered darkness that I might have eternal life.

My Saviour wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,

groaned that I might have endless song,

endured all pain that I might have unfading health,

bore a thorned crown that I might have a glory-diadem,

bowed his head that I might uplift mine,

experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,

closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,

expired that I might for ever live.

- The Valley of Vision, “Love Lustres at Calvary” -

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If I am called to walk alone with Thee,
O Lord please give me this grace to do it.

If I am called to serve alone to Thee,
O Lord please give me this gift of the Holy Spirit to do it.

If the path that Thou are walking is a lonely path,
O Lord please give me this courage to walk this lonely path with Thee.

If Thy grace alone is sufficient for me,
O Lord teach me to live by Thy grace alone.

If to be a leader of Thy flock is a lonely job,
O Lord may Thy presence goes with me.

If I am to find joy in Thee alone,

O Lord let me rest in Thy rest alone.

 

Are You His Sheep?

Jesus says: "I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.
I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice,
and there shall be one flock and one shepherd."
John 10:16
  
He brings His sheep back to the Father
through different ways, in different places, at different time:
 
Some by miracles, some by ordinary circumstances.
Some by prosperity, some by poverty.
Some by illness, some by healing.
Some by despair, some by calamities.
Some through righteous man, some through wicked man.
Some in the hometowns, some in the foreign places.
Some at young age, some at old age.
  
He has His ways, and He has His timing.

  

Different sheep have different struggles

and stumbling blocks.

  

Some are Creator vs. science.

Some are Holy One vs. sinner.

Some are obedience vs. rebellion.

Some are presence vs. empty.

Some are faith vs. doubt.

Some confession vs. stiff-necked. 

     

___________________

   
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.
He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9

I am Thine, O Lord (Draw me nearer)

I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith
And be closer drawn to Thee.
 
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
 
  Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
By the pow’r of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine.
 
O the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend!
 
There are depths of love that I cannot know
Till I cross the narrow sea;
There are heights of joy that I may not reach
Till I rest in peace with Thee.
 
- Fanny Crosby -

  

 ___________________

  

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,

having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,

and our bodies washed with pure water. 

Hebrews 10:22