This year, Good Friday falls on Friday, March 30, commemorating the day 2,000 years ago that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and died on the cross for the sin of mankind.
Sometimes referred to as "Holy Friday," Good Friday is the Friday immediately preceding Easter Sunday - the celebration of Christ's resurrection from the dead.
On this special day, many Christian churches hold solemn services, usually in the evening, in which Christ's death is remembered with hymns, prayers of thanksgiving, a message centered on Christ suffering for our sakes, and observance of the Lord's Supper.
The title "Good Friday" may seem like a misnomer, as the events that took place on this day were undeniably horrific. But for Christians, Good Friday is "good" because through Christ's death, God himself was acting to save the world from sin and death as promised in the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3).
Christ's humble death is significant because, without it, there would be no hope of forgiveness or eternal life. Sin, which has affected mankind since the Fall, has separated God from all of the humanity, both now, and for eternity.
However you observe Good Friday, take a moment to remember the tremendous sacrifice of Jesus Christ and thank God for the unconditional love and forgiveness He freely lavishes on His children. Here are ten Bible verses to meditate on this Good Friday.
"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
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8,
"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit." 1 Peter 3:18
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" Romans 5:6-10
"He himself bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24
"He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53: 3-5
"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Mark 10:45
"So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit." John 19:30
"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.'" John 11:25-26
