Why do Christians call the Friday before Easter; Good Friday?  After all, it was the day that Christ hung on the cross. Before that, he was whipped and had a crown of thorns pressed into his head. He endured incredible pain.

The fact that Jesus hung on that cross is what Good Friday commemorates.

Before Christ appeared on earth, all humans risked permanent separation from God.  That meant that when a human died, they would face eternity separated from God and that is what is often referred to as hell. All humans sin and that sin displeases God.  We cannot continue to sin and expect to spend eternity with God; something Jesus referred to as “paradise.”

Instead, what happened, is that God came to this earth in the form of a human; born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life; the only human to ever do so. And then, fulfilling prophesies from hundreds of years before, Jesus took the sin of mankind upon himself and died on the cross to allow humans the chance to always be with God.

In light of that fact, “Good Friday” should be called “incredible, miraculous, wonderful, thank-God-it-happened Friday.” Because of that event on the first Good Friday, we humans who accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior can spend eternity with God and not separated from him.

If you haven’t already devoted your life to following Jesus and invited the Holy Spirit into your heart, now is a good time to do it.  Just read the prayer on the About page of this website.

Once you have done that, you will understand why Good Friday might be Fantastic Friday or Life-changing Friday or Wondrous Friday.  It is all good though, so it’s a time to rejoice.