Good Friday commemorates the death by crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It was an event in time, carried out under the imprimatur of the Roman governor of Judea Pontius Pilate at the insistence of the Jewish chief priests and officials of the day in Jerusalem.
All that happened two millennia ago on an earthly plane took place according to the plan of God for humanity’s redemption from the curse of sin. The Bible provides to us revelation concerning God’s will for his creation, and insights and perspective on how we ought to relate to God.
Jesus is introduced as the Lamb of God. When John the Baptist first saw Jesus, he exclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). We are told that we have been redeemed from our previous empty way of life not with perishable things like silver or gold but “with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18–19).
Most noteworthy of all in the biblical revelation is that the Lamb was actually slain from the creation of the world (Revelation 13:8).
God created the world with the knowledge that sin was going to enter the world to corrupt it. He had the prescience that the devil, whom God created perfect, had already sinned in heaven and would lead the first man and all of humanity astray. Why did God proceed to create the world, having known all these in advance?
The world that God created was good. Seven times in the first chapter of Genesis, it is said that God saw that what he had created was good. The apex of his creation is man, a creature made in the image of God, made to have a relationship with God for eternity. And yet, God foreknew that the very first man and woman were going to succumb to the temptation of Satan and rebel against God, bringing upon themselves and their posterity God’s righteous judgment. But in love, God created man with the freedom to think and choose.
The slaying of the Lamb from the creation of the world means that God paid the ultimate price when he created the world and man in it. It means that God has loved the world with an everlasting love, from the very beginning. The Son, through whom the world was made, became the Lamb of God when he created the world. He would lay down his life for his creation, and in the plan of God, he was already slain from the creation of the world.
God sent his Son into the world in the fullness of time (Galatians 4:4), that he might love us and give himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2). Greater love has no one than this: To lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13). Jesus Christ did this on the cross, becoming a curse for us so that he may redeem us from the curse of the law that brings condemnation (Galatians 3:13).
Sin separates us from God and brings condemnation. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save it through him (John 3:17). For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
Just as God sent his Son into the world in the fullness of time, so we have been born into the world at the appointed time. If you have believed in Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord, your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 13:8). Just as the Lamb was slain from the creation of the world, the names of the saved have been written in the book of life from the creation of the world (Revelation 17:8).
Is your name in the book of life? There is no need to conjecture. If you are able to declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Roman 10:9). You will then triumph over the devil by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony (Revelation 12:11).
There is nothing more important or worthwhile in life than to make sure that Good Friday is effectual for you. On the first Good Friday, there were two criminals who were crucified next to Jesus. One of them said to him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:42–43)
That condemned criminal was assured that his name was written in the Lamb’s book of life, in the last moments of his life. You too can make sure that your name is in the book, and that you have eternal life.