It’s normal to remember the day of somebody’s death. Anyone who’s lost a loved one knows that you’ll never forget the day they passed on. It’s the end of a life, and it’s heartbreaking.

Of course, as a human race, we don’t only remember loved ones. When important public figures die prematurely, we remember and mourn the day they were taken from us as well. Our nation remembers the day Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, and the day John F Kennedy was killed. But those particular days are never referred to as good. Those were horrific days, where beloved men were murdered by malicious assassins.

Yet, two thousand years ago Jesus of Nazareth was murdered by his own malicious assassins, and we remember that day as “Good” Friday. What’s so good about the day when the most talked about man in human history was violently beaten and killed by his enemies?

The fact that wicked men would plot to murder the Son of God is tragic and it’s undoubtedly the greatest sin ever committed. But his death is unlike any other death before it or after it . We can call that day “Good” Friday for many reasons. He are two.

1. Good Friday is good because of what Jesus accomplished through his death

When most of us approach death, we’re coming to the end of our life’s work and hoping for peaceful rest. But when Jesus went to the cross, He was beginning the most important part of His life’s work. Jesus’ death was more than the end of a heart beat; it was the execution of God’s plan to save sinners. Jesus resolved to take on the sin that separated us from God, or as Paul says it, Jesus was, “making peace by the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20).

Listen to the bittersweet words of Galatians 3:13, “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’”

Despite his innocence, Jesus Christ stood in the place of sinners, and took the judgement that we’ve earned.

1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God…”

The day that the Son of God was put to death can be called a good day, because by it we are brought to life!

2. Good Friday is good because it isn’t the end of the story

God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. (Acts 2:24)

Jesus’ body did not remain frail and lifeless. Sunday morning, He was raised from the grave— full of power and glory. He was seen, in the flesh, by hundreds after his death, and soon after ascended into the Heavens.

If Jesus had not risen from the grave, then we could not call this “Good Friday.” If Jesus was still in the grave, I would have absolutely no hope. There would be no hope of redemption for fallen man or restoration for our broken world. But we know that He has been raised, and this gives us reason to rejoice and to trust in Him.

Save your dirges and your R.I.P.’s, because Jesus Christ is no longer dead. He is alive and well, and He reigns supreme! Good Friday is Good News for sinners like you and me.

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