Great Friday 2026

It is so good to have you with us tonight on this great Friday. This is the greatest of all, all days. It's the highest of all the holy days.

It is the apex of redemptive history. Everything from Genesis one pointed to this day, the day in which our Lord was crucified on Calvary's tree. But the funny thing about resurrection Sunday and great Friday is that it's only a weekend in our celebration.

Christmas is a season. It begins basically in October, goes all the way through November into December. And we have parties and get-togethers and gatherings and exchanging of gifts and all kinds of celebrations.

And yet the highest of all holy days just gets a day. In fact, most churches don't even have a great Friday service. And yet it's the best of all the days.

In fact, I've always thought about the fact that during Passion Week, we should probably get together as a church every day of the week. We should meet on Sunday because that was the day of his reception in Bethany with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. And they had dinner at the home of Simon the leper.

And then we would come back from Sunday and gather together on Monday because Monday was the day of his coronation. It was a day in which he rode into Jerusalem on that Palm Monday in which the cries of the people that blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And then we get back together on Tuesday because Tuesday was the day of indignation, the day in which he went in and cleansed the temple and cursed the fig tree.

And then we gathered back again on Wednesday because Wednesday was the day of instruction, instruction around the temple mount as he would answer questions and even ask questions and instruct about his coming kingdom. And then his instruction on the Mount of Olives, of course, that late afternoon into the early evening with his men.

And then we could gather again on Thursday because that was the day of his affection for his men, which he would wash the disciples’ feet. They partake at the Lord's table. He'd give his high priestly prayer and he'd give them great comfort and encouragement about his coming again.

And then, of course, we'd gather together on Thursday because Thursday was the day of his incarceration in which they would gather him together and begin to interrogate him.

And then we gathered together on Friday, which Friday was the day of his crucifixion. And then on Saturday was the day of his proclamation. First Peter 3:19, he went to the lower parts of the earth and made a proclamation. That He’d gained victory over sin, death and Satan.

And then we gather again back on Sunday, which is the day of resurrection, on which we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. And that would just be a week, but we could gather together just for that week.

I remember when we went to the study of Luke, we spent five months on five days of Passion Week. Just to cover all the details that that were there because there's so much to cover.

And of course, most of John's gospel is about the last hours of our Lord's life. And yet today in modern day Christianity, we spend very little time ever contemplating the cross. Ever celebrating the cross. Ever considering the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord.

And yet there are there are people who who will wear crosses. Maybe you have one on this evening.

We've come to a place in in life where we've learned to venerate the cross. It's become a piece of exquisite jewelry that we wear. We wear it around our neck. We put it on our lapel. We have pictures of the cross in our homes. Some of them are 14-karat gold. Some of them are sterling silver. Some of them have diamonds on them. Some of them have rubies on them.

And we wear them to dress up our outfits because it is so becoming to those who see it. But just think about that for a moment. For those of us who wear crosses and put them on display.

Just think if you were a first century Christian. I wonder what you would do. You certainly wouldn't be wearing a 14-karat gold cross around your neck.

I mean it would be like the first century Christian taking an image of a noose. And making it into 14-karat gold and putting it on their lapel or around their neck.

We would ask the question what are you doing? Or they would take the image of an electric chair or even a gas chamber. And they would decorate it with rubies and all kinds of paraphernalia and maybe put it on their lapel or around their neck. We'd ask the question what on earth were you thinking? Or if they were to take a syringe and a needle and outline it with diamonds and wear it around their neck.

We'd ask the question why would you wear something so cruel and brutal to symbolize a lethal injection around your neck? Makes you think of things a little differently, doesn't it? You see we look at the cross and the first century Christian would say this is a symbol of brutality. A symbol of cruelty. No first century Christian would be wearing a cross around their neck.

Because of the horrendous death in which it it causes. And even though the Persians were the ones who began crucifixions and 500 BC. And then it moved to the Egyptians and then it moved to Rome, in 63 BC the Romans perfected the crucifixion.

And even though there they had gone through all these crucifixions and during the time of Christ there were some 30,000 crucifixions during his time on the earth, the ironic thing about that is that is that it wasn't until 500 BC that crucifixions were even thought of or first recorded except in the book of Zechariah. Where in 550 BC, 50 years before the Persians ever initiated crucifixions, Zechariah would prophesy about the Messiah being crucified.

But in 700 BC, 200 years before the Persians ever thought of crucifixions, the prophet Isaiah would prophesy about the crucifixion of the Messiah. Better yet, in a thousand BC, 500 years before the Persians ever enacted crucifixions, it would be David who would prophesy about the crucifixion of the Messiah.

Because that was the plan. It was always the plan. And even though the world finally caught up to where the Bible really is, that's the way it always is, the Bible, I mean, the world has to catch up to where the Bible is, the Bible is not catching up to where the world is, the world has to catch up to where the Bible is.

It was our Lord who had made sure that the prophecy of the cross was well written in the scriptures. And yet it was such a devastating way to die. It was William Barclay who called the crucifixion a dreadful routine.

A man by the name of Clawson, a Jewish historian, says that crucifixion is the most terrible and cruel death man has ever devised. Cicero, who was well acquainted with it, says it was the most cruel and shameful of all punishments. And William Wilson, in his judicial literary and historical investigation of the cross of Christ, writes these words.

Not only was the cross the most painful of deaths, it was also considered the most abasing. The condemned man was stripped naked and left exposed in his agony. And often the Romans even denied burial to the victim, allowing his body to hang on the cross until it disintegrated.

We forget about the cruelty of the cross. And yet when you read the Bible, it simply says, and there he was crucified. It doesn't give you any details.

Oh, we have movies that give you details. But the Bible doesn't give you any details. It doesn't have to.

Because everybody knew about crucifixions. Everybody knew the details to the crucifixions. So the Bible just simply says, and there he was, was crucified.

And yet our Lord would hang on a cross for six hours. Six hours, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. And during those six hours, he would utter seven sayings.

The first was a word of pardon. He would say, Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.

The second word was a word of promise that he gave to the thief on the cross. Today, you shall be with me in paradise.

The third word was a word of provision. We look to his mother and he said, behold, your son. And then to John and said, behold, your mother. That was all during the first three hours in which it was as bright as day. Until noon, when all of a sudden the sky became darkened.

And toward the end of those last three hours, he would utter four more sayings. The fourth or the fifth one would be, or the fourth one would be a word of pain. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

From there, there was a word of petition. That petition was, I thirst.

Then came the word of purpose. It is finished.

And then the word of peace. Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit.

The fact that he even said one word was remarkable. The fact that he said seven times seven different sayings is remarkable considering the pain that he was in. And yet our Lord was in complete control of everything. It's remarkable to understand the sovereign power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And tonight I just want to mention one of those phrases to you tonight. We'll call it the word of purpose. And that is one word tetelestai, it is finished.

And that word tells us many, many things. But I'm just going to give you four very simple principles that that word explains to us. The first one is this, that that word tetelestai or it is finished.

Delivers for us the consummation of his mission. That word alone delivers for us the consummation, the completion of his mission. It is finished.

A remarkable statement. Our Lord knowing that all the prophecy had been fulfilled except for the one that says, I thirst, having said that, he said, it is finished. And he said it in such a way that Matthew, Mark, and Luke don't even tell us what he said. They just said, he shouted. John doesn't tell us he shouted. John just gives us the word that he shouted.

It is finished. Knowing that at the end of six hours, he'd be out of breath, he'd be suffocating, he'd be at the point of death, he would yell, it is finished. Because you see, our Lord was on a mission.

It was a mission that that was granted to him, that was given to him, that he accepted. And when he was 12 years of age, the mission is articulated when he says to his mother, do you not know that I must be about my father's business? In Luke's gospel, there are seven divine musts, and they all center around his mission in life. He says, don't you know, mother, I must be about my father's business.

I have a mission, and that mission is to come and to die. And then in Luke's gospel, in the 4th chapter, he says, I must preach the gospel of the kingdom. Why? Because he's the king. He's presenting the king. He's only got the kingdom. As the king, he's presenting the kingdom.

He only has a few short years of his ministry. So he must preach the gospel of the kingdom. Then when you come to Luke chapter 9, it says, the son of man must suffer.

He must suffer. It was his divine mission. It was the master's must mission, the three Ms. The master had a mission, and it was all a divine must.

This must happen this way. And then you come to Luke chapter 13, and he says, I must journey to Jerusalem. Why? Because a prophet is not to die outside the city, but in the city.

Again, the divine must was moving him toward a direction that would be the apex of all of redemptive history. Then you move on to Luke's gospel, I believe it's the 19th chapter, in which he said, Zacchaeus, come down because I must go to your house. Why? Why? Because our Lord is the one who comes to seek and save that which is lost, and he must save Zacchaeus.

And then when you come to the 24th chapter of Luke, at the resurrection of the Messiah, and the men in white apparel say to the women, why do you seek the living among the dead? Do you not know that the Son of Man must suffer, die, and rise again? And then when you come to the end of chapter 24 of Luke's gospel, our Lord says these words to the disciples after his resurrection. He says, these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Seven divine musts all characterize the mission of the Lord.

And so when he says it is finished, he is saying the mission's been accomplished. I've been born to die. I've come for this purpose.

I've come to give my life a ransom for many, and I've come to give my life away. I've come to die as a substitute for those who cannot pay the price for their sins. I've come to take their place.

I've come to die on Calvary's tree. And so you have our Lord who said several times, I've come to do the will of my Father who is in heaven. I've come to accomplish one thing, everything that the Old Testament was looking forward to, everything that the Old Testament pointed to was Calvary.

That was the prophetic promise. And so his mission was fulfilled. And so when he says it is finished, it truly delivers to us the consummation of his mission.

Number two, it describes for us the satisfaction of his redemption. It describes for us the satisfaction of his redemption. When he says it is finished, there's nothing to add to it.

There's nothing to take away from it. Because everything about salvation is wrapped up in the finished work of Christ on Calvary. So when Christ says it is finished, there's nothing you can add to the saving work that will get you into glory.

It's the finished work of Christ on Calvary. When Christ says it is finished, that means all that prophecy about the seed of Genesis chapter 3, verse number 15, that would crush the serpent's head. It is finished.

It is completed. It has happened. That Genesis chapter 22 prophecy about how the Messiah would be a substitute for you and me, it has happened exactly as he said.

The prophecy in Exodus chapter 12 about the spotless lamb. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. That was accomplished.

The prophecy about Isaiah 53, him being a sin-bearer that was scorned and that was slain has been fulfilled. And in Isaiah chapter 25, when it says that the Messiah will swallow up death, he is the swallower of death. Christ says, I have destroyed death.

It is finished. I am the death conqueror. That's what Christ did.

The satisfaction of redemption, so much so, so much so that Isaiah 53:10 says that it pleased the Lord to crush his son. That's the satisfaction of redemption. So much so that Hebrews chapter 9 says these words, that he came to taste death for every man, verse 14 of Hebrews 2, therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

That's our Lord. So Paul would say, death, where is your sting? Death, where is your victory? It's gone. Why? Because redemption has been satisfied with the phrase, it is finished.

So while that word delivers for us the consummation of his mission and describes for us the satisfaction of his redemption, that word also displays the perfection of his revelation. It displays the perfection of his revelation. Think about this with me for a moment.

There is a centurion, the commander of a hundred men, that is with Jesus the whole time. He's leading the hundred men from the temple over the Kidron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane on late Thursday evening. With him comes the temple police, which would be around 600 people, along with him the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees.

So you have upwards of 800 people coming with torches and lanterns to look for the light of the world. But they're coming to get him. They get to the garden entry and there the Lord is waiting for them and the Lord asks them, whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazarene.

Christ just simply says, I am. And they all fall over backwards, all 800 of them. And the remarkable thing is not that they fell over but that they got back up again.

And Christ re-asks the question, whom do you seek? Jesus of Nazarene. This is his incarceration. And this centurion is there to lead the arrest of Jesus, the incarceration.

And from the incarceration, he leads Christ to the interrogation, which is with Annas, and then with Caiaphas, and then with Pilate, and then with Herod. And then from that interrogation, he witnesses the persecution and the humiliation as our Lord is beaten mercilessly. And then he takes the Lord down the Via Dolorosa to the place called Calvary, and there he is crucified.

And as he is crucified, he hears this intercession. Father, forgive them for they know not what they're doing. And then he sees this conversion of a thief and then hears the confession of the thief.

Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He hears this confession that the one hanging next to him is the Lord of the universe, and that he has a kingdom because he's a king. He speaks to his deity and to his royalty, and Christ gives him that great promise today, you shall be with me in paradise.

And the centurion is witnessing all of this because he is the one in charge. And then he hears and witnesses the interaction of Christ with his father in heaven. He can read the inscription above the cross, Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews.

Then he hears Christ say, it is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, and he pillows his head. He doesn't slump over as if to say, thank God it's over. No, he pillows his head because no one takes his life from him. He lays it down on his own initiative. He was laying his life down, and so he just pillowed his head.

And the centurion watching all this, hearing all this, this is the perfection of his revelation because the centurion then says, surely this is the son of God. And Luke's gospel tells us he began to praise and glorify God. You see, he came to saving grace.

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing about a word concerning the Christ. And he heard all there was about the Christ. He witnessed all there was about the Christ because that was the question, who is Jesus? He witnessed Caiaphas saying, who are you? Are you the Christ, the son of God? To which the centurion would reply at the very end, truly this was the son of God.

And so, when Christ says, to tell us, it is finished, it delivers for us the consummation of his mission. It describes for us the satisfaction of his redemption. It displays for us the perfection of his revelation.

And one more, it declares for us the anticipation of his final declaration, which is Revelation 21, verse number 6, which says, it is done. We live in anticipation of a final declaration. It is finished, says that redemption has been accomplished.

It is done, says recreation of the universe has been accomplished. Because the universe will go out of existence and there'll be a brand-new heaven and a brand-new earth. And Christ will say, it is done.

It is finished as the apex of redemptive history, but it is done as the apex of human history. And everything is leading to that one time, that one event where Christ, from the tree, said, it is done, but from the throne will say, it is done. I'm sorry, from the tree, he said, it is finished.

From the throne, he will say, it is done. That's our Lord. That's our Christ, which leads us to our time around the Lord's table, for which our Lord would say, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

We're living in anticipation of his coming again, knowing that one day, there will be this final declaration that says, it is done. It is completely over. No more sin, no more pain, all of righteousness, everything perfect, as God had designed it to be from the very beginning.

And that's what we're looking forward to. So, we gather together on the eve, or this night of Great Friday, the greatest of all holy days, the most anticipated day of prophecy, was this day. Oh, yes, his birth was a great prophetic fulfillment.

It was. But he was born for one reason. He was born to die.

He came for this reason. He came to be your sin-bearer. He came to be your substitute.

He came to be the spotless land that would be slain, and scorned, and crucified on Calvary's cross for the wages of sin is death. So, Christ paid the penalty for sin. He died in your place so that you would have to pay for your sins.

So, we gather together to partake at the Lord's table, recognizing that our sins have been forgiven at Calvary. We've been set free from the bondage of Satan. And no longer do we fear death, because the swallower of death has destroyed it.

That doesn't mean we're not going to die. Oh, we will die, but we will live forever with the Lord Jesus Christ.