It Is Good Friday

This morning I opened my Easter file and took out some pictures I have kept for countless years. I display them in my home during Easter week. They help me focus.

   

   Vanessa, my daughter-in-law, pointed out to me that we are all like the robbers next to Jesus on the cross. 

   Luke 23:39 "And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."

  We are not innocent and justly deserve our condemnation. But, this "Good Friday" helps us see that due to His suffering we can be with him in Paradise.

    In these last seven statements, made from the cross, I see the divine ability He has to finnish his mission, putting His Father and his brothers and sisters first, before his own pain.

 1- Luke 23:34 "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

  2- Luke 23:43   "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."

  3- John 19:26 "When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."

   4-Matthew 27:46 "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

   5- John 19:28 "After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst."

   6- John 19:30 "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."

  7-Luke 23:46 "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."

   After the hours of darkness following his death, the veil was rent.

 The death of Christ was accompanied by terrifying phenomena. There was a violent earthquake; the rocks of the mighty hills were disrupted, and many graves were torn open. But, most portentous of all . . . the veil of the temple which hung between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was rent from top to bottom, and the interior, which none but the high priest had been permitted to see, was thrown open to common gaze. (Talmage, JTC, 662)

 "Before the death of Christ, only the High Priest could enter in – now all could see into the Holy of Holies, which symbolized the Celestial Kingdom, or being in the presence of God."