The day of Jesus' crucifixion is known to the world as “Good Friday.” As a child, I misunderstood Good Friday thinking that it referred to the Last Supper. I suppose this was because at that age I could understand nothing “good” about the day they killed Jesus.
Today, I appreciate the wonder of Jesus having willingly laid down His life as opposed to it having been “taken” from Him (John 10:18). It was this willingness to give Himself that makes the day of His crucifixion “Good” Friday.
Nevertheless, I cannot to this day think too deeply about Calvary without being overtaken with a profound sense of sorrow. I have on many occasions visited the church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem which is supposed to cover both the place of His crucifixion and burial, yet even with hundreds in attendance at any time, there is always a hushed and reverent tone.
Something good happened at Golgotha that day, and I do not pretend that I understand the whole of it. Nevertheless, I wholly accept the fact of that great goodness and embrace it within the very depth of my being. In the light of the Cross, I can do no other thing! Of course, I do understand that ultimately Friday is good because of Sunday!
About thirty-four years following the day of Christ’s resurrection, the Apostle Paul wrote: "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all He appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born" (I Corinthians 15:1-8 NIV).
Following His resurrection, Jesus spoke of another group of disciples who were to one day also know Him; He did so while appearing to Thomas. “Then Jesus told him [Thomas], ‘Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” Who are “those?” Among “those who have not seen and yet have believed” is you, is me, is every disciple who is the spiritual descendant of those who did see Him after His resurrection. We are those “blessed!”
We have not “seen Him,” but we have and do “know Him!” That is part of the wondrous blessing of faith, and it seems fitting that it was Peter who proclaimed this most clearly when he wrote of us saying, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls" (I Peter 1:8, 9 KJV).
That unspeakable joy is echoed in the lyrics of Barney E. Warren's wonderful 1900 hymn entitled Joy Unspeakable.
I have found the joy no tongue can tell, How its waves of glory roll! It is like a great o’erflowing well, Springing up within my soul.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, Full of glory, full of glory. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory; O the half has never yet been told!
And, that is the unspeakable goodness of Good Friday!
HIS IS RISEN!
Dennis D.Frey, Th.D., President Master's International University of Divinity | 
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