The Blessings of Good Friday

The Bible is a bloody book. It speaks of millions of animals being killed. Their deaths had sacramental and symbolic significance. But all the blood of animals was never able to cleanse the human conscience from its guilt. Such bloody sacrifices never brought a person into fellowship with God, and even kept people away from God’s presence.

Good Friday speaks about the death, not of an animal, but of a human, and yet more than a human. It speaks about Jesus Christ, who is very God and very man, one who knew no sin, yet who died. The Father gave him up and Jesus Christ gave himself up because he loved us. The death of Jesus Christ is unique, for it alone can open the door to heaven and cancel our sin and its penalty.

Finding True Happiness

Someone recently told me about an unusual doctoral program to find out what makes people happy. The spokesperson said that researchers do not know enough about what gives people hope, energy, enjoyment, and value to life. They are looking for the answer to this question in behavioral psychology. In other words, they want to find an answer in man, but the answer has already been revealed in the Bible. The gospel is the answer to the question, “What makes people happy?”

True happiness comes to us from what happened on the hill of Calvary on Good Friday. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Jesus alone can give us abundant happiness. “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). Jesus loved us and gave himself for us on the cross. Isaac, the one and only son of Abraham, did not have to die. He had a substitute, a ram caught in the thicket. But the Son of God died in our place; there was no substitute for him. He died in our place for our sins. He died that we may live forever in eternal happiness with God. In him alone we find grace, which causes us to rejoice always.

I do not need a doctoral research program to find out what makes me happy. What happened long ago on Good Friday makes us all happy. But this happiness comes to us only on the basis of God’s covenant, concerning which Hebrews 9 has much to say.

The Covenant Structure

We first want to examine the structure of the covenant spoken of in Hebrews 9:16-17. The Greek word for covenant is diathêkê, a word we also find in Hebrews 7:22. The New International Version uses the word “will” in Hebrews 9:16-17, but the word is really “covenant.” Thus, covenant is an important idea in this section.

When God enters into a covenant with man, it is always based on grace. God takes the initiative to impose covenantal terms on his creatures to establish a loving relationship with them. That is why the heart of the covenant is, “I will be your God; you will be my people.” A covenant is a relational agreement designed for our enjoyment and based on our loving obedience to God. Those who violate it must die.

A covenant was always ratified by death, by the shedding of blood, as we see in Genesis 15. Animals were cut in half and put in such a way that there was a pathway between the split animals. Usually both parties would walk through the pathway, calling a curse and death upon themselves if they were found delinquent in keeping the terms of the covenant. But when God established his covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, only God went through that path. If Abraham had violated that covenant, he had to die. But this ceremony showed Abraham was not going to die, but that God himself would die in place of sinful man-God in Jesus Christ.

John Murray says that the covenant is a sovereign dispensation of God’s grace; it is grace bestowed and a relation established. A covenant is divinely devised, administered, confirmed, and executed. When we study the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12, 15, 17), which is the basis of both the Mosaic covenant and the new covenant of which Jeremiah spoke, we notice the following features:

1. Certain promises are given: “I will be your God and you will be my people.”
2. It is characterized by divine monergism; that is, God alone executes the covenant for the enjoyment of his obedient people.
3. It is characterized by perpetuity; it is an everlasting covenant.
4. God himself confirmed his covenant to Abraham by a self-maledictory, covenant-ratifying procedure. God pronounces a curse upon himself if he does not perform the covenant for the blessing of his people.
5. A covenant deals with salvation of a people who are chosen by God and obedient to enjoy the blessings of the covenant, which essentially is a loving relationship with God. Therefore, it is impossible to enjoy a relationship with God without love. Love is expressed by keeping God’s commandments.
6. A covenant is ratified by the death of animals representing God and man, the two parties to the agreement. So animals were killed and blood shed to ratify the covenant. The idea is that the party who violates the covenant must die. But one party is God, who cannot lie and cannot die. God is almighty and good; therefore, he will not violate his covenant. It is man who violates the covenant; therefore, man must die. Because they were sinners, Abraham must die, Moses must die, and the Israelites who were party to the Mosaic covenant must die. We all must die. That is why we see rivers of blood in the Bible. The Bible speaks so much about blood because we did not keep God’s covenant.

We violated God’s covenant because we are born sinners and practice sin daily. Fallen man is morally crippled and unable to keep God’s law. But in God’s own eternal plan, instead of having the actual violators dying for their violations, the innocent party-God himself-decided to die in the place of sinful man. But since God is immortal, how can he die? God’s Son became man to die our death that we may live.

“The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Adam had to die, for he sinned against the God who said to him, “The day you eat thereof, you must die” (cf. Gen. 3:2). Ezekiel tells us, “The soul who sins is he one who will die” (Eze. 18:20). All are born dead spiritually, and will die physically. Unless we trust in this One who died in our place, we will also die eternal death, called the second death in the Bible. We can research all we want about happiness, but it will never come to us outside of Christ. Hebrews 9:27 tells us it is appointed for us once to die and then face judgment.

From Genesis 3 on, multitudes of animals were killed until Good Friday, when Jesus died in the place of sinners. The blood of bulls and goats cannot cleanse our defiled consciences and make us holy to enjoy fellowship with a holy God, who demands, “Be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 19:2). Holiness is an essential precondition for happiness, because holiness brings about eternal enjoyment of the presence of God.

Thank God for the divine principle of substitution and for his divinely qualified substitute, the sinless Son of God! All the animal sacrifices in the history of redemption pointed to him to solve our sin problem. As mediator of the covenant, he made it a new, better covenant, for he ensured that the interests of both parties were secured. Jesus Christ not only vindicated God’s justice and holiness, but he also saved sinners like us by his death once-for-all offered to God.

Christ’s obedience and righteousness in life and death defends God’s holiness and saves us from our eternal destruction. Paul writes, “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:25-26).

The choice is now clear. Either the sinner must die or he must trust in Jesus Christ alone, who died in the place of the sinner who repents and believes.

Keeping the Covenant

Next, we want to look at covenant keeping. The key verse in Hebrews 9 is verse 22: “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” This chapter is full of blood and death, using the term “blood” at least eleven times, and the word “death” several times.

When the Mosaic covenant was ratified, blood was shed upon the altar and upon the people (Exod. 24). As Moses sprinkled blood on the people, he declared, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep” (Heb. 9:20). Without bloodshedding, without the death of a substitute, there is no forgiveness, no cleansing of conscience, no worship, no fellowship with God, and no salvation. A person may give away all his wealth, but that cannot cause his sins to be forgiven. Even our own physical death cannot bring about salvation. We are sinners, unfit to make a perfect, God-pleasing sacrifice of atonement.

Someone must die, but who? The Old Testament promised a Messiah, a suitable substitute, who would make our filthy consciences as white as snow (Is. 1:18). He bore our sins in his death (Is. 53).

We needed a substitute, a mediator, a guarantor of good things. We have one in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. His mission was to bring many sons from shame to glory, from death to life: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-the devil-and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb. 2:14-15). Christ became the mediator of the new covenant. On Good Friday the holy Jesus died as our substitute, making atonement for our sins.

Jesus himself said on the night he was betrayed: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). It was not the blood of animals; it was Christ’s blood that was poured out for our benefit, for the salvation of everyone who believes in him. All our misery, gloom, shame, degradation, hopelessness, and depression is due to sin and guilt. The blood of Christ alone can bring forgiveness. So Jesus said, “This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:28). Paul reflects on this, quoting Christ: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Cor. 11:25).

Praise be to God, a fit substitute died. Paul uses a bold expression in Acts 20:28: “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood” (italics added). Now we understand why only one went through the split carcasses. God shed his own blood in the death of Jesus Christ, and the church is bought with that blood. We violated God’s law and deserve death, yet it is not we, but God, who died. Jesus Christ died in our place for our benefit, our salvation, and our everlasting joy. This is true happiness.

“For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance now that he has died” (Heb. 9:15). That is the basis. A death has occurred which the covenant demanded. Hebrews 9:26 says: “But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” In Hebrews 13:12 we read, “And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.” We are made holy and acceptable to God, and now we can have fellowship with him. Everyone who trusts in the death of Jesus Christ is holy and can appear with confidence and in good conscience in the very presence of God to enjoy pure, unending happiness. A unique death has occurred which will solve our misery, depression, gloom, anxiety, and fear.

In Mark 10:45 we read, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.” The price of our redemption was the death of Jesus Christ. He paid that price on Good Friday on the hill of Calvary in the midpoint of time that we may live, that we may be happy and blessed. It was not optional; it was necessary, demanded by God in his covenant. So Jesus self-consciously makes this statement: “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” (Luke 24:26). It was divinely determined in the covenant of redemption, and agreed to by the Son of God that he would do it. Christ must die.

We were the Barabbases, waiting for the moment of execution. But Jesus died in our place; therefore, we were let go. Barabbas was set free physically; everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ is set free physically, spiritually and eternally, to live in total happiness with God.

Because death was necessary, “Christ became obedient to death-even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:8). In Jesus Christ, God became man and was obedient in life and in death. Paul asks in reference to those who trusted in Christ: “Who is he that condemns?” He is challenging all creation, including the devil and the demons. The answer is, no one can condemn those who are in Christ. The devil is the accuser of the brethren, but he cannot condemn us. No one can. For Paul says, “Christ Jesus who died-more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Rom. 8:34).

A death has occurred, blood has been shed, and we are sprinkled clean. Moses sprinkled blood upon the Israelites when he ratified the Mosaic covenant. But now a new covenant is established. Christ himself died in our place and his blood is shed upon us. Paul says, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). We are saved, cleansed, and happy in Jesus.

The Covenant Blessings

Hebrews 9:11 begins, “When Christ came as the high priest of the good things that are already here.” Every Christian has his guilt and death taken away, and he is invited to enjoy good things in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 2:3 asks, “How shall we escape if we neglect this great salvation?” Hebrews 6:4-5 speaks of some of the good things we who lived in darkness now experience: “It is impossible for those who have been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age. . .” Elsewhere we read of regeneration, fellowship, and forgiveness of all sins (Heb. 8:10-12); good conscience (Heb. 9:14); and eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12). When he came down from heaven, Jesus Christ brought these good things for us, for which we do not have to work. It is a feast of good things, and we are invited to come.

Look at Hebrews 9:15: “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised inheritance.” If a person is not called, he has no part in God’s good things. God calls his people effectually in the preaching of the gospel.

Salvation is limited to those who are called. They are the elect, the chosen ones: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29-30). Hebrews 3:1 addresses us as “sharers of the heavenly calling,” a calling that is from heaven and to heaven.

Thank God, this calling is not limited to national Israel. God told Abraham, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3, KJV). How do we know if we are called? If we repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called and chosen. We feel that pull of the Holy Spirit in our souls, and we come to God’s feast, bringing nothing. Salvation is by grace through faith. We come, clothed in the perfect free righteousness of Christ.

“And for this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant in order that, since a death has taken place, bringing about the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of eternal salvation” (Heb. 9:15, NASV). This verse describes some of the benefits we receive from the death of Christ.

Christ brought about redemption from transgressions. The word “redemption” assumes that we are in a prison about to be killed, and someone pays a redemption price to take us out of that prison, that slavery, and that death. It means there is a redeemer who paid a price to set us free from our death. The Lord Jesus Christ paid that price. Redemption from transgressions means redemption from all sins-past, present and future. In the language of Hebrews, we have been perfected because our sin has been put away.

The moment we trust in Jesus Christ, all our sins, guilt, punishment, and hell are taken away, and we are brought out from prison into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (PGM) We are brought out from slavery to freedom, from darkness to light, from death to life, and from hell to heaven. Jesus Christ sets us free. The price is the death of Christ.

Jesus Christ gives us freedom from sin, freedom from guilt, freedom from the power of sin, and one day, freedom from the presence of sin, when he comes again. We cannot wallow in sin, if we have been set free! If we are true Christians, God is working in us both to will and to do his good pleasure, and we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Sanctification is a cooperative venture of fighting sin, resisting the devil, believing, praying, reading the word of God, and obeying Christ. True Christians have been redeemed to serve Christ. We have been set free from Satan’s dominion, from our fear of death, and from all condemnation: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). No one can bring an accusation against the child of God. Christ died in our place and he set us free.

Christ’s death for our redemption is the negative statement of verse 15, but the positive statement is that believers receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Negatively, all our sins are forgiven; positively, we are now heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. We have been adopted as sons and daughters of God. Jesus Christ came that we wretched, miserable, poor people might become rich, lacking in nothing. God called us that we may receive the promised eternal inheritance.

God performs what he promises because he cannot lie. The Bible says everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved, and God will not change his mind. In fact, Hebrews 6 says that God made his promise even stronger by an oath. Because he could not make an oath by anyone superior to him, he swore by himself, that we may have strong consolation. People promise all kinds of things, but then they change their minds. But God is not a man that he should lie, neither a son of man that he should change his mind. What he promises, he does. Therefore, brothers and sisters, when you read the Scriptures, believe what he is saying to us. Let your whole life hang on the promise of God. He promises eternal salvation, and he can be trusted. Trust in God and in his word.

What did God promise? An eternal inheritance. Peter writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3-5). As children of God, we are rich, for we have an inheritance that cannot be stolen or rust or perish or spoil or fade. Our treasure is kept safe for us in heaven.

What is the problem with earthly investments? Money tends to develop wings and flies away. But what God has promised will not fly away. It is eternal, unchanging, and everlasting. We are rich forever. Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:28).

Hebrews 9:16-17 declares, “In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.” As we said before, the word “will” stands for “covenant.” Our Lord Jesus Christ has died, and he has a will, a covenant. But not only did he die, he also rose again. We can say, therefore, that he is the testator as well as the executor, because he rose. And now he distributes blessings to us, his beneficiaries, one blessing after another. He daily loads us with good things, giving us grace after grace sufficient to walk with him and live a Christian life.

What about you? Is your name in his covenant? If so, you will receive an eternal inheritance. Not only do we receive it when we get to heaven, but we also receive it here, as a foretaste. We shall receive it in all its fullness when he comes again.

Beneficiaries of God

As a result of Christ’s death, benefits come to us daily. We are the beneficiaries of God’s covenant, which is in force because our testator died on Good Friday. His new covenant has our names on it. But not only did he die, he also rose again. Now he lives, to divide and distribute blessings to his people.

The inheritance Christ gives us is his. It is an infinite, heavenly, imperishable, joy-giving inheritance. We rejoice in receiving it. Christ died, that we may live. Christ died, and we are blessed. Christ died, and we are made rich: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). Christ died, and we are made alive. Christ died, and our gloom is gone forever. Thus, we can say with Paul, that we are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Cor. 6:10).

This inheritance will probably not include much gold or a powerful position in this fallen world. We cannot guarantee such things. But we can guarantee this: it is eternal enjoyment of God in his very presence. The thick veil that kept us out has been torn asunder, and we can now come into God’s presence to rejoice in intimate relationship with him. Augustine correctly said that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. Our inheritance is that rest: it is ever-increasing, never-ending happiness in the presence of God.

We find a description of this heavenly bliss in the book of Revelation: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready . . . Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away'” (Rev. 19:6-7; 21:1-4).

This is our inheritance! And, finally, there will be a new heaven and new earth, where God dwells with his people. If we want to define joy, happiness, and peace, this is what it is: the kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. In Revelation 22 we read, “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face” (vv. 3-4). This is intimate communion. This is what we are looking forward to: we shall see God’s face. There will be no sin; it has all been taken away because a death has occurred.

The inheritance of Christ comes to us because of his covenant keeping. What is this inheritance? It is an inheritance of justification and sanctification. If God has justified us, he will sanctify us. He will give us power over sin so that we will live a victorious Christian life by his grace. Jesus is our justification, sanctification, and glorification. He who saved us will keep us from sinning and give us victory. In Jesus there is victory.

It is the inheritance of eternal salvation. The eternal judgment (Heb. 6:2) that was ours is gone, taken by Christ in his person on the cross. He is the author of eternal salvation for all who obey him (Heb. 5:9).

It is an inheritance of blessing. The biblical definition of blessing is the ability to see God face to face and to live with him forever. This inheritance is for all those who trusted in the Messiah before the coming of Christ, and for all those who have trusted in him after his death and resurrection. It is the redemption of sins of all Old and New Testament saints. The moment we trust in Christ, he takes care of our sins so that we can go to God and fellowship with him.

This inheritance is for all the called ones of God, whether Jew and Gentile. Everyonewho calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved instantly. The only thing that prevents us from calling upon the name of the Lord is our love for sin and not for the Savior who died for our sins.

All the families of the earth receive this inheritance in Christ; therefore, all believers in Jesus Christ are truly rich and happy. Look at the latter part of Hebrews 9:24: “He entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.” In the Greek, it is “now to appear in the face of God.” That means to have communion with God in behalf of us. Hebrews 7:25 says he entered heaven to make intercession for us. What, then, is Christ doing in heaven? He is appearing there in behalf of us to make intercession for us. He must do so because we live in a fallen world. Sin is still in us, Satan is loose, and the world is against us. Christ is ever-interceding before the Father to keep us safe.

Roman Catholics would say that Christ is daily offering himself anew before God. That is not true, as this chapter confirms. Christ’s once-for-all offering of himself on Good Friday was eternally sufficient: “The idea of the perpetual offering of Christ is a heretical doctrine that for many centuries has contradicted this and the many other clear biblical teachings about the finished work of Christ. It maintains that inasmuch as the priesthood of Christ is perpetual and sacrifice is an essential part of priesthood, therefore the sacrificial offering of Christ must also be perpetual. Ludwig Ott, a Roman Catholic theologian, explains this perpetual sacrifice dogma. . . [He says] ‘The holy Mass . . . is a true and proper sacrifice. It is physical and propitiatory, removing sins and conferring the grace of repentance. Propitiated by the offering of this sacrifice, God, by granting the grace of the gift and the gift of Penance, remits trespasses and sins however grievous they may be.’ In other words, God’s satisfaction regarding sin depends upon the weekly mass. That is why attending mass is so important to Catholics” (John MacArthur, New Testament Commentary on Hebrews, [Chicago: Moody Press, 1983] 241).

Jesus Christ offered his sacrifice once and for all in history on Good Friday on Calvary’s hill, but the effect of it is eternal. What, then, is he doing in heaven? He is interceding for us so that we may be kept from all evil.

What about the sin still remaining in us? Though we are justified, will we lose our salvation? No. Our salvation is secure, for he has given us eternal life. His intercession will see to it that we shall be preserved, and so we shall persevere to the end in the faith. The ministry of Jesus Christ in the presence of God matters here and now, in our personal lives, keeping us from all sorts of evil. I believe in the session of Christ and the intercession of Christ. Session refers to his kingship; intercession refers to his high priesthood in our behalf. Therefore, he shall give us power to exercise power over sin and Satan, and when we resist the devil, he shall flee from us. We belong to Christ. We are his, and he keeps us.

We do not need the intercession of Mary or others. Jesus himself is the only intercessor in the presence of God. “Christ Jesus who died-more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Rom. 8:34).

Hebrews 9:26 says, “But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” That word “do away” means to expunge, to blot out, to annul, to cancel, to render something null and void. Having canceled our sins by his death once for all, Jesus Christ is now in God’s presence interceding for us. As our substitute on Calvary’s cross, he canceled, nullified, set aside, obliterated, expunged, rendered null and void, and blotted out our transgressions, our guilt, our punishment, our death, our hell forever. It is all canceled. There is no other way to be saved other than trusting in Christ and his substitutionary death.

Leviticus 17:11 says that blood is given by God for our atonement. But know it is not the blood of animals, but the blood of Christ that God himself gave us as a gift to make atonement for us. Christ is God’s gift to us. Christ is our atonement. Christ blotted out our sins. Now God does not see our sins or remember them. It is as if we had never sinned.

A death has taken place. But because of that death, we are a happy people! Our burden is gone. “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Ps. 32:1-2). God does not count our sins against us because he counted them against his own Son. We have been set free, and if the Son sets us free, we are free indeed. We need not fear, especially death: “Death has been swallowed up in victory . . . The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:54, 56-57). “Neither death nor life . . . nor anything else in all creation is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39).