Today is Good Friday. Many Christian blogs have been following the Passion week theme. For instance:
- The Bible Archive has been narrating the Passion week one day at a time (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
- Fides Quaerens Intellectum has been exploring the philosophical issues surrounding the resurrection (1, 2, 3, 4).
- The Irvins and Lutheran Confessions have both highlighted the last seven statements of Jesus before his death (1, 2).
- CoffeeSwirls had something to say about the wondrous cross.
- Brad over at the Challies Community Blog reminds us (with curiosity) that Easter is in the Bible.
I know that’s a lot of reading, but if you have time there are some great remarks from all of these folks and in the comments that have been left.
As for me, I would like to focus briefly on the Old Testament celebration of Passover. We find it in Exodus 12:
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. . . . Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. . . . Eat it in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.
“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
Notice, the Lord intended to bring judgement on all the inhabitants of Egypt, including the Israelites if they did not observe the Passover. No one was worthy to escape the Lord’s judgement without having the blood on their doorsteps. Those whose entryways were covered by the blood were passed over, no questions asked. The lambs’ blood was all they needed to secure safety for themselves and their households.
The Passover celebration, though full of meaning in its own right, finds it’s ultimate and originally intended significance in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We are told in 1 Corinthians 5:7 that “Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.” Jesus is literally our Passover lamb, elsewhere called the “Lamb of God” ((John 1:29, 36)). The glorious gospel truth is that, being covered by his blood, we can be passed over and saved from the wrath of God.
Good Friday is a celebration of the day our Passover lamb was sacrificed. Last Sunday, known as Palm Sunday, the cross hanging front-and-center in the sanctuary of my church was adorned with a purple sash signifying the Lord’s royalty on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Today, that purple sash will have been replaced with a black sash in honor of his crucifixion. On Sunday, the black sash will be replaced with a white sash indicating the resurrection and the glorious hope of Easter. I don’t know how many churches of which denominations follow this tradition, but I have found it a simple but poignant reminder of what transpired during this Passion week.
It is proper for us to think on these weighty matters every day of the year, but these next three days, commemorating the three days Jesus was in the tomb, should be a special time of solemn reflection and meditation. My hope and prayer is that we can all come a little closer to the Lord this weekend.