Today is Good Friday. The day many believe to be the day Jesus was tried, beaten and nailed to a cross. This Jewish man was dealt this punishment and sentence not because he stole anything, or killed anyone. He did not commit adultery nor was he a threat to the Roman Republic. This man was an innocent man. Not only with regard to man's laws but to God's as well.
The real reason this man was arrested was due to fear. Jesus of Nazareth was preaching in synagogues and throughout towns in Galilee. He was not a Jewish priest nor was he a doctor yet his words and hands healed and comforted many. His only crime was in amassing a great deal of followers. With Social Media today, many influencers on Facebook and Instagram would be guilty of this very same crime.
Jesus knew this would happen. His sole mission was to teach the Word of God and bring truth to the people of His day. While the role of the priests of His day was to be intercessors between man and God to forgive sins, He was God come down to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sin.
who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24
God knew as did probably some of the Jewish priests of His time that man could not be purged of sin and the career of a Jewish Priest would be long lasting as men would continue to sin. Jesus came down to finally put an end to that. His death or sacrifice of Himself was the final and last sacrifice of the lamb God would accept for the sin of mankind. No longer would lambs, sheep and bulls be necessary for slaughter to get right with God. in fact, around 70 AD this practice finally ended when Rome sacked Jerusalem.
The tearing in two of the veil of the Temple was the supernatural event that would usher in Jesus as our only High Priest and the true Holy intercessor between us and God. His painful, humiliating punishment and death on a wooden cross would open the door to eternal life for us all. Our Sin was incapable of being overcome by our own hands. Only God Himself could take away our sin but it could only be accomplished in one way. God Himself would have to die as an atonement to bring mankind back in line with the Creator. His death, one would hope, would finally get mankind to wake up and understand why sin was so cosmically terrible.
I pray this day, we will all come to grips with the price was paid for our eternal souls and that we will praise and thank God every day going forward for His love of mankind and His ultimate sacrifice.
And that is the Whole Truth!
May God truly bless you in your walk with Him.
And remember, God always answers His kneemail.
