REFLECTIONS FOR GOOD FRIDAY

Ezekiel 7:6 “it is over. This is the end. You are finished.

These are conclusive words coming from the lips of anyone isn’t it? If someone tells you something like this then it sounds like there is no going back on that decision. God was speaking to the Israelites through Ezekiel. He was done warning them and giving second, third and fourth chances. Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, etc; Prophets and Priests the Lord sent to his people asking them to give up idol worship and reconcile with him but they always refused. This time around his anger was fierce and unquenchable.

Ezekiel 5:8-9 “…behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgment in the midst of you in the sight of the nations…I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again”.

The Israelites were in exile for about 360 years just as the Lord revealed to Ezekiel. Yet, his anger was not as eternal as his love for His people and he rescued them from Babylon and destroyed the Babylonians and all those who had brought pain on the Israelites in the face of the Lord’s fury.

This was not enough though. God knew how stubborn the Israelites are, how prone the human body is to temptation. The volume of sin that we commit on a daily basis cannot be measured. He desired to save his people; as many as could be saved so he made a new covenant with them.

Jeremiah 31:33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”.

Thus the first covenant is obsolete. The method wherein the priest has to offer blood sacrifice of an animal every time for his own sins and that of the people will no longer be needed because this new covenant will have one sacrifice for all humanity that will last eternity.

Hebrews 9:12 He entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Do you understand what this means? The old method of worship is no longer needed because Christ has served as a mediator of a new sacrifice. He did this of his own freewill so that we could be united forever in love with the Father in heaven.

A thorough read of John chapter 19 will help us understand further the importance of the sacrifice of Christ. Jesus knew that the High Priests and people were ignorant. Pilate was a coward who had no power over Jesus even though he thought he did because he was willing to satisfy the crowd if it meant being a friend of Caesar instead of doing the right thing. The chief priests and elders who declared that they had no King but Caesar were also headstrong in their desire to kill the man that threatened their religious and political authority. Jesus didn’t mind; he bore his cross for us loving till his last breath.

That was when it was truly finished. God’s love is greater than our sin and guilt. When we sin knowing what we are doing we make the sacrifice of the Lord become vain. He died that we might live guilt free not for us to commit sin upon sin praying for forgiveness yet without the desire to be better.

Christ loved us till the end. We are called in this period to manifest this love to others in whatever way we can. To take recognition of old habits that need to go for us to truly enter into the new covenant with Christ. To forgive from the heart those who have wronged us and to not let the guilt of our sin lead us to condemnation because God’s love for us is greater than sin. He is never finished with us till we breathe our last…Just ask the Israelites!