Good Friday, part 2

(continued from yesterday’s post)

Reading 4 – Mark 15:33-34 “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” – “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”. This was the first line of Psalm 22, one of the Messianic psalms that David wrote, prophetically describing aspects of the crucifixion. In the day when Psalm 22 was written, crucifixion wasn’t known as a form of execution, the Jewish people generally stoned people to death.

In John 11:49-50, Caiphas, the high priest, prophesied that it was expedient that one would die for many. He called for Jesus to be crucified on the altar of the cross – to be the Lamb of God sacrificed for our sins.

Reading 5 – John 19:28-29 “I am thirsty.” Another reference to Psalm 22. They offered him wine on a sponge offered from a branch of hyssop. To me, the wine speaks of the wine from the Last Supper a few hours before, which is Christ’s blood. Hyssop was used when celebrating the Passover to put the blood on the doorposts and lintel (Exodus 12:22).

Reading 6 – John 19:30 “It is finished”. The last line of Psalm 22 in several translations is “He has done this” or “He has done it”.

The Passover and the Day of Atonement were both finished. No longer would the High Priest need to take the blood into the Most Holy Place to cover sins for one more year. No longer would they need to put blood on their doorposts. God finished the Law of Moses by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, who redeemed us to God by His blood (Ephesians 1:7, Revelation 5:9). Instead of a lamb, God had put man’s sin on Jesus (Isaiah 53:6, 2 Corinthians 5:21).

Reading 7 – “Into Your hands I commit my spirit!” Jesus was trusting Himself to the Father and the eternal plan they’d made to redeem man from the curse. Not only was it necessary for Jesus’ blood to be shed in physical death to cover our sins, but the Apostle’s Creed says “He descended into hell”. Jesus descended into the bowels of the earth, to spoil satan’s forces and lead the Old Testament saints to their reward (Colossians 2:15, Ephesians 4:8). He knew that He was to be abandoned by God, to die spiritually and take on punishment for man, so that we would not have to. He also knew that God would raise Him up on the third day.

Doug