Why Call It Good Friday? Only Because Of The Resurrection!

Appropriately, I can announce that the second edition of my book is available today, at least on Kindle on Amazon US, UK and other amazon sites around the world.. The paperback and hardback will follow soon and hopefully before Sunday. Here is an extract from the book about Good Friday:

As a young child I asked my father a series of questions one evening as he put me to bed. This is the conversation as I remember it:

“Why is Good Friday called ‘good’?”

“Because Jesus died for us.”

“But why was it called good when someone died?”

“Because he came back to life.”

“But why is it not Bad Friday and Good Sunday then?”

I somehow instinctively knew that the cross could not be good news without the resurrection.

My dad then explained that sin led to punishment—something I understood as a child growing up in the seventies. Jesus, unlike us, did not deserve to be punished by death or hell. I could be forgiven only if I accepted the grace of God. The offer seemed almost too good to be true. In that moment, a rather one-sided deal was struck between me and God. I offered him my sinful heart and surrendered to him, and he gave me the gift of his righteousness. Because of his sustaining grace, I have never really looked back.

Frequently when I heard the gospel explained in later years, the resurrection was either omitted altogether or briefly discussed in passing. When I began to share the Christian message with others individually and while preaching, to my shame I often did so without mentioning that Jesus is alive. The resurrection had become an afterthought to the message that Jesus died for our sins. READ MORE