Today is the day in Holy Week we call Good Friday. That name is quite oxymoronic because Good Friday in a sense was a very dark day. It was the day that Jesus was crucified.

Oh to see the dawn of the darkest day, Christ on the road to Calvary, Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten then, Nailed to the cross of wood.

Jesus on this day, after being arrested and condemned to death by Jewish authorities, was turned over to the Roman authorities for crucifixion. You see, although the Jews wanted to kill Jesus, they legally weren’t allowed to by law. That power was put into the hands of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. And although he was reluctant and tried to absolve himself of the decision, he eventually gave into the Jewish mob and sentenced Jesus to scourging and crucifixion.

Romans soldiers, after almost scourging him to death with a cat-of-nine-tails and mercilessly mocking him, led him away to a place called Calvary in Latin and Golgotha in Hebrew. In English, those words mean skull. They led Jesus to a placed called the Skull. It was either a hillside outside the city of Jerusalem that kind of looked like a skull, or it was a place where people were put to death and turned into skeletons. It was a grim place. And there Jesus was crucified, which is a horrific way to die.

But remember, this dark day is called Good Friday. You see, although the events of that day were very awful, they were also very good because on that day Jesus paid for our sins.  There on the cross, the sins of every person who will believe on Jesus were paid for, and the wrath of God toward them was extinguished. What a good day indeed!

Beloved, Jesus went to the cross on that dark day to save you from the penalty your sins, and every person who will turn from their sins and trust in Him will be saved. If you have never done that, today would be an excellent day to that. It would turn Good Friday into the best Friday ever for you!

In fact, you can talk to God right now. Pray to him. Tell him you know you are sinner and that you hate your sin. Ask God to forgive and Jesus Jesus to be your Savior and Lord. Put all of your hope in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and follow Him.

Change begins in you!