“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John
3:16).

 

God did love us so very much, didn’t
He?  The proof is this day: Good
Friday.  It was not a “good Friday” when
it happened.  After the last supper, the
apostles went to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed.  These men who swore they would never leave
Jesus would completely disown Him—either through word or deed—in just a matter
of hours.  

 

But Jesus went on.  He appeared before Pilate and offered nothing
in His defense but allowed His own creation to declare Him guilty of crimes of
which He was innocent.

 

Carrying His cross down that long path to
the outskirts of the city.  There “they crucified him
there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.  Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know
what they are doing’” (Luke 23:24).

 

One of these criminals, in repentance, asked
Jesus to remember Him and Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me
in paradise” (Luke
23:43).

 

Out of concern for the provision of His
mother, Mary, Jesus told her and the Apostle John, “…here is your son…here is your mother” (John
19:26).

 

Around the middle of the afternoon, Jesus
shouted, “My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew
27:46).  It was here that He became sin
for us (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21).  He was
making the atoning sacrifice to us.  The
perfect Lamb was being slain for our sins.

 

Close to His death—after the merciless and
tortuous beating and hanging from the nails on the cross—He said “I am thirsty” (John 19:26).

 

After receiving the drink, Jesus said “It is finished” (John 19:30).  The sin-debt was paid in full.  The payment for sin was done.

 

With His last breath, our Lord Jesus “called out with a loud
voice, ‘Father,
in your hands I commit my spirit’” (Luke 23:46).

 

Then…True Love died.


For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him
is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because
they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 

This
is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness
instead of light because their deeds were evil.Everyone who does
evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their
deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into
the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been
done in the sight of God.

John
3:17-21