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Intro

Saints of Cross Creek, saints of Scholls: what a privilege to be gathered here with you tonight to worship the Crucified One.

The Crucified One… why call him that? Does it honor him when we call him that?

Truly, as Christians, we love Jesus as the Risen King. He conquered sin and death, and he reigns from heaven until the day of his return, yet also walking with us by his Spirit in this life—all of those things from his victory on the third day, which we will celebrate this Sunday. Both our congregations will celebrate it, Lord willing, and it will be glorious.

But then, why Good Friday? Why this time set aside for something so very different—for remembering the day he was slain and appeared defeated to the watching world? Why do we even call this Friday “Good” Friday, if it commemorates the day our Beloved King was slain? Why not Evil Friday, followed by Good Sunday?

Well, I’d like to take a few moments tonight to let our King himself answer the question for us: Why is Good Friday good?

What? God’s Glory Displayed

And so, we turn the the words of our King in John 12, beginning in verse 27. In this verse, Jesus is talking about what he calls, “the hour”. It’s a phrase that means the hour of his crucifixion, specifically. Here’s what he says:

John 12:27–28 ESV

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”

Notice, by saying this, Jesus gives the hour of the crucifixion a double sense:

It is both the kind of hour that you would want to be saved from—dark, and terrifying…

…and yet also, an hour in which the Father would be uniquely glorified.

So, it will somehow be both an hour of darkness for Jesus, and also an hour in which the glory of the Father will shine radiantly through what happens.

And so Jesus prays for the Father to glorify his name, and then the Father answers Jesus’ prayer in the second part of verse 28. He says:

John 12:28 ESV

“I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

In other words, the Father would brightly glorify his name through the dark crucifixion of the Son.

And to be clear, when it says that the Father would glorify his name, it has the sense that he would glorify his reputation; he would exalt the way that he is known among human beings.

Or to put that another way, the mysterious God, who is beyond all human knowing and praising, would yet reveal his majesty and goodness to us in a way that we could see it and know it and praise it. And he would do that, somehow, through the crucifixion of Jesus.

So then: on that first Good Friday, the glory of the Father shone through the crucified Son.

How? The Cross as the Glory of God’s Faithful Love

But how? How could such an ugly thing as a crucifixion, in which a man is slaughtered by a torturous and prolonged death, be a display of God’s goodness and majesty?

Well, when the Father replied to Jesus’ prayer in this passage, the crowd actually heard the noise of the reply, but didn’t understand what was said. And that gave Jesus an opportunity to explain it to them, which he does in verses 31 and 32.

So, explaining the significance of the hour of his crucifixion, he says to the crowd:

John 12:31–32 ESV

Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Notice, there’s two things there:

First, a negative: the hour of Jesus’ crucifixion would bring judgement on the world’s ruler, and of all who stand with him. There’s a lot in those words, but for our purposes this evening, it means that the people of the world would in some way be freed from the grip of Satan and his kingdom by Jesus’ death

But second, a positive: in the hour of his crucifixion, Jesus would be “lifted up” from the earth, and so would draw all people to himself.

What did Jesus mean, saying that he would be lifted up from the earth? The next verse tells us. Verse 33:

John 12:33 ESV

He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

So, Jesus would be “lifted up” in the sense that he would be physically lifted up from the earth on a cross to die.

Yet, there’s a purposeful double sense to these words: you could translated this same phrase to say that Jesus would be “exalted from the earth.”

And the point here is that, by being physically lifted up on a cross, Jesus was also being spiritually exalted and glorified.

But again, what could something so ugly as a crucifixion have to do with exaltation and divine glory? Answer: it was the display of God’s saving love.

By giving himself up to crucifixion, Jesus was giving himself to die in the place of us sinners, who deserve death by rights. We deserve the divine curse and judgement for our sin; he took them on himself, that we might receive life instead.

For many long centuries, God had promised his people that he would send this savior to atone for their sins and restore them to fellowship with God. In Jesus’ crucifixion, that promise of God’s saving love came to full flower.

And so the cross, while ugly by any human measure, is yet the most unexpected and radiant display of God’s love in all of history. It is a radiant display of the glory of God’s love.

So then, the picture Jesus gives us in verse 32—where he says that when he’s lifted up from the earth, he’ll draw all people to himself—is a picture of the glory of the Father’s saving love shining through the glorified Son as he hangs dying on a cross. It’s a glorious display of divine love that will draw the nations.

Isaiah described this same thing long before Jesus’ day. He said about Jesus:

Isaiah 11:10 ESV

In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

So Jesus would be a signal—or you could translate that, a banner—who would draw the nations to enquire and seek salvation.

And later, Isaiah also wrote about Jesus (Isaiah 52:13-15) that he would be high and lifted up, exalted; that his appearance would be marred beyond human semblance; and so that he would sprinkle many nations—that is, that he would save them by his blood.

And so it is that, on the cross, on that original Good Friday, the Father’s saving love was revealed through the Son’s death. Jesus was exalted from the earth on the cross to become the radiant banner who shines—even as he dies—with the glory of the Father’s saving love. A radiant banner who draws all people toward salvation.

And that is why Good Friday is good!

And so, as Christians, we don’t just walk in the light of Jesus’ resurrection. We walk also in the light of his crucifixion—the light of the glory of God’s love shining in the face of the crucified savior.