Good Friday is one of my favourite holydays. In South Africa, Good Friday is a public holiday, and we are privileged as Christian churches to meet for worship on this day. It is a service I rarely do not preach. I love Good Friday because the cross is central to Christianity. There are many “languages” or “grammars” of the atonement: various “languages” by which the saving work of Christ on the cross is presented. For example, the victory of Christ at Calvary can be portrayed in terms of a battlefield, marketplace, exile, temple, or law court. But the single most irreducible theme that runs through every one of these is the idea of substitution. The substitutionary death of Jesus on behalf of sinners is consoling and appealing. Though on that particular Friday the Lord Jesus suffered much, nevertheless He also accomplished much. He accomplished the salvation of His people (Isaiah 53:1-12), the defeat of the devil and his demons (Colossians 2:14-15), the glorifying of His Father … [Read More...]
