On the evening of the Passover meal, Jesus and His disciples shared what we've come to know as "the Last Supper." Then they went to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed for His Father's will to occur, asking, perhaps, if that will could be for this "cup to pass." It was not. He was arrested in that garden on false charges, underwent an illegal trial by the Sanhedrin, handed over to the local government for sentencing with the demand, much like so many do today, that justice be done in the way they demanded. "No justice, no peace!" Pilate sentenced Him to ... "I'm sorry, Sanhedrin, did you say 'crucifixion'? Yeah, that's what I thought. Just asking. Will do." And they nailed the only perfect human who ever existed to a cross. Why? He went willingly. Why?
Jesus's death was necessary (John 3:14). It could not be avoided (as evidenced by God's refusal to let the cup pass). Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice for sin (Heb 10:7-10), the process foreshadowed in the Old Testament fulfilled in the perfect Lamb of God. This death was required to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29; Heb 9:28). Peter said that we were not redeemed (bought back) with corruptible things, "but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (1 Peter 1:18, 19) Christ "redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us." (Gal 3:13) Paul wrote about the problem -- universal sin (Rom 1:18-3:20) and then God's solution:
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it — the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Rom 3:21-26)In order to manifest the righteousness (or justice -- same word) of God, God put forward His Son as the appeasement of His righteous wrath ("propitiation") so that Jesus's blood, received by faith, can justify sinners who believe.
"Good" Friday? Indeed! For us! It was the moment in history when God demonstrated His love and His grace and His mercy and His righteousness/justice all at once to pay Himself for our sins. Without this, we would be without hope. With His death, we can have a saving relationship with God. It just doesn't get any better than that.
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