Timeline Of Events On Good Friday

So below, you will see a timeline of all the events that happened on this day in history. Friday was a very long day in the life of Jesus. Believers have called this day Good Friday. And this time each year, reading and remembering these events is good for us. (This might be an excellent tradition to establish if you have yet to do so.)

But the question that will come to your mind when you skim over the timeline and verses is this — "What makes this day so good?"

And to answer this question, we have to look beyond the events of this day. We must look beyond what people are doing to Jesus and see what Jesus is doing. But to see what Jesus is doing, we need to reference four other scriptures. These scriptures describe in great detail the story behind the story. They reveal a divine plan that was far greater than man's plan. And they tell us why this day is so good.

First, Romans 3:23:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. — Romans 3:23

Second Galatians 3:13:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” — Galatians 3:13

Third Colossians 2:14:

[God] By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This [God] set aside, nailing it to the cross. — Colossians 2:14

Fourth 2 Corinthians 5:21:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. — 2 Corinthians 5:21

Now let's put these four incredible scriptures together into one complete idea. An idea that describes the divine plan God had on this day and what Jesus was doing, which makes it so good.

Jesus, on this day in history, took all our self-glorifying sin that despises God and bore it on his body. At the moment Jesus was laid down and nailed to that cross, God was nailing all our sins onto Jesus's sinless body. Jesus was unjustly sentenced, beaten, tortured, mocked, and nailed naked to a cross for my sin and yours. If we look exclusively at the historical timeline of events on this day, we will miss it. We will only see what sinful men were doing to Jesus. But simultaneously, there was a divine plot being revealed. Something unseen and supernatural was unfolding at the same time. Jesus was redeeming sinners. He was lifting the curse by hanging as a curse on a tree for you and me. In doing so, he paid the penalty and canceled our debt. One sinless man purchased the debt of our sin by becoming sin so we might know the righteousness of God.

Now, if a person doesn't believe they are a sinner, they will look at this day with great confusion. They will only see the injustice of it and marvel at why we call this day "Good." But for me, a man who knows I am a sinner. I look at this day differently because I have done nothing but sin and deserve punishment for it. I see what Jesus did as glorious. Today is the day a sinless man paid the penalty for my sin that I might know the righteousness of God. Have a blessed Good Friday.