Have you ever had a day or week where everything seemed to go wrong? Your alarm malfunctions, the toast burns, the car won’t start, the boss is mad at you, you get a speeding ticket on the way home, you back into the neighbor’s fence, then come home to find the refrigerator isn’t working. That’s a bad day.
Other days are just strange. The nice neighbor is grumpy. The grumpy neighbor is nice. It’s warm in the winter. It’s cold in the summer.
Good Friday was many things. It was the darkest day in human history. It was the turning point of human history. It was the day where literally everything went wrong.
But it was also simply the strangest day in human history. It was the day everything was turned upside down. Everything was the opposite of how it should have been.
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The only perfectly innocent human to ever exist was convicted of sins and crimes. The Creator of the universe was murdered by His creatures. The Sustainer of the universe was victimized by the creatures He sustained. The Source of all happiness and joy experienced pain, sorrow, anguish, and despair on a level that we can’t even imagine. The One who formed the first human from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life, had His body broken and beaten and gave us His Spirit.
Everything that day was backwards and upside down.
But there was a reason for this. This was not the universe flying out of control. This was God going to radical lengths to reclaim His beloved and restore the cosmos.
Luke 22:19-20 says, “And He [Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.’”
The Greek term translated “for you” (ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν) has a variety of meanings depending on the context, but can have the idea of representation or substitution. It can mean “in place of you”. “This is my body which is given in your place. This is my blood which is shed in your place.”
By rights, it should be our body that was broken and our blood that was shed. This would have been the just and right consequences of our actions. Every time we eat the bread in Communion we are reminded that our body should have broken to pieces. Every time we drink the cup in Communion we’re reminded that our blood should have been poured out.
But instead, God turned the universe upside down. He poured out His wrath upon the only Person who never deserved it.
When we put our faith in Jesus, what we are doing is identifying with Him. Which means our destinies are now linked. So when Jesus suffered, we suffered. When Jesus was punished, we were punished. When Jesus died, we died.
But not only is Jesus’ suffering and death counted as our suffering and death, so is Jesus’ resurrection and glorification is also countered toward us. Jesus rose to live forever. We also rise to the newness of life. Jesus is the King of Kings. We shall reign with Him. Jesus is the High Priest forever. We are priests in Him. Jesus is the Sacrifice offered once to God. We are living sacrifices offered up daily to our Lord. Jesus is the Father’s beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. You are God’s beloved child in whom He is well-pleased. Jesus enjoys renewed fellowship at the right hand of His Father. The Father will also receive you unto Himself where you will enjoy Him forever.
God turned the universe upside down to turn your soul right side up.
This Good Friday, let’s take just a moment to praise God for the miracle that is our salvation; the incomprehensible lengths that our God went to in order to rescue you from yourself and bring you to an everlasting relationship with Himself.
Joshua Stilwell is the associate pastor of Alathea Baptist Church of Des Moines, Iowa
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