Tonight, our Lenten journey ends. It ends, just as Jesus said it would end. Several times, Jesus said that He was going to Jerusalem, where many would mock and ridicule Him. His own people would hand Him over to the Gentiles to be beaten and crucified. He was going to Jerusalem to die. Yet, more than that, on the third day, He would rise from the dead. All these events took place to fulfill the Scriptures.
That is the glory, the true glory, on this most-solemn day of the year. What looks to be nothing but a criminal’s death is Jesus fulfilling the Scriptures. That’s the glory hidden in the cross. It is not what it seems. For in such a shameful and humiliating death, Jesus fulfills what the Scriptures had foretold.
Think about that. The Old Testament had foretold this journey of Jesus, going all the way back to His birth in Bethlehem. One prophecy after the other described this journey of God’s Son, from His glory in eternity to the anguish when God the Father would forsake Him on the cross. How terrible, how heartrending, are these events of Good Friday. Yet, God had promised every single one of them.
In Psalm 22, King David wrote of the day when his Messiah would be crucified. He wrote:
But as for me, I am only a worm and not a man–insulted by one and despised by another. Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads: “He trusts in the Lord, so let God deliver him. Let God rescue him, for he delights in him.” … I can count all my bones. They stare at me; they gloat over me. They divide my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing” (Psalm 22:6-8, 17-18).
Isaiah pictured Good Friday so graphically. He wrote:
But he was wounded 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…. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth (Isaiah 53:5, 7).
Even the books in the Old-Testament Apocrypha prophesied Jesus’ death. The book of Wisdom described how the Jewish leaders would abuse Jesus.
Let us see if his words are true. Let us test what will happen at the end of his life. For if the righteous man is God’s son, he will help him and will deliver him from the hand of his enemies. Let us test him with insult and torture… Let us condemn him to a shameful death. (Wisdom 2:17-20, which prophesied Matthew 27:41-43).
Try to wrap your mind around that! God prophesied this torment of His Son. And the Son of God agreed for all this to happen to Him. And so along every step of the way, God the Holy Spirit gave the prophecies to the Prophets of old. Along every step of the way, God the Father ruled over history. Along every step of the way, God the Son directed His own footsteps, so not a single promise of God would fail. How astonishing!
Now each of us here has probably, at one time or another, promised to do something for someone else. But to make a promise that ensures torture, ridicule, and pain on yourself–and then to keep it, that’s something else all together! To make such a promise, and then to keep it when no one is forcing you to do so, that’s something else all together!
But that’s exactly what happened to Jesus on His journey to the cross. Jesus promised that He would come of His own free will. He promised that He would suffer the torments of death and hell–not because He deserved it–but for us and our salvation. And He kept His word. He kept it down to the last detail. He kept it without flaw.
Yet, what still remains for Jesus to keep is the promise of His resurrection. Yet, how can we doubt that Jesus won’t fulfill that promise, as well? For if Jesus has kept all the promises that caused Him so much pain and anguish, surely He will keep the promise of His triumph!
But still, even more glory is hiding in the cross of Good Friday. We simply see a beaten and emaciated man dying there. Yet, hidden in that man, Jesus, is God fulfilling His promises to you. For the true glory of the cross is not that Jesus died to save people in the abstract. No, Jesus’ true glory is that He died to save you!
In John, chapter 3, Jesus promised that He would be raised on a tree and that all who would believe in Him would have eternal life. This is the promise. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one-and-only Son, so all who believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). And God extends that promise, not just to the world in abstract–but to you! On Good Friday, we see Jesus fulfill the promise to die to save even you.
So don’t doubt Jesus’ Word of promise! Since He kept His promise to suffer and die, He will surely keep His other promises. Indeed, Jesus gives eternal life to all who trust in Him for their salvation. For it would be ridiculous for Jesus to pay the highest price for your salvation–His own life–and then not get what He paid for: Your redemption and salvation! By His promise, you can be sure that you have God’s forgiveness for all your sins and eternal salvation!
Do you now see the glory hidden in the cross of Christ? God has kept His promises–even those that seared His heart as He saw the torment of His Son. On the cross, Jesus has kept the promises that even left Him bleeding, that even left Him dead.
But that is not all. Throughout the Bible, God makes beautiful promises to you, promises that hold true even after you die. And if God kept His promises of the cross–hard and painful promises–you can be sure He will keep His other promises, as well! Behold the glory hidden in the cross!
In every Divine Service, God fulfills the promise of your baptism to wash away your sins, to give you a new life, and to assure you of a heavenly home. He fulfills His promise to forgive your sins through the words of absolution. He fulfills the promise to give you Jesus’ body and blood to forgive your sins and to fortify your faith.
And God fulfills even more. He fulfills His promise never to leave you or abandon you (Hebrews 13:5). He fulfills the promise to work in all things for your eternal good (Romans 8:28).
Yes, God’s promises even go all the way to the grave and beyond. Jesus promised, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). So even death cannot rob you of your life in Christ and your life with Christ. As Christ would keep His promise to rise triumphantly on Easter Sunday, victorious over death, so He will keep His promise to give you His victory over death, as well.
It is Good Friday. A blackened darkness now shrouds the hill of Golgotha. The sun refuses to shine on the body of its suffering Creator. It is Good Friday, and the bystanders who happened to see Jesus’ death went home stunned in sorrow over the sight.
It is Good Friday. Our church is draped in black. It is Good Friday, and we also go home stunned by what our sins have done to Jesus. For Jesus pays for our sin with His suffering and death.
But do not stop there. Being stunned and filled with sorrow is not enough. Tonight, also go home with your hearts throbbing, filled with a hope that cannot disappoint, with a joy that will never fade, and with a life that does not end. For through the eyes of faith, you have seen the glory hidden in the cross. You have seen the glory of Jesus fulfilling His promises to you.
Yes, go home now in the sorrow of repentance. But even more, go home now in the joy of forgiveness, confidently awaiting the cry that will soon arise. For then will be fulfilled that resounding promise of Jesus’ resurrection, when we rejoice to hear again: He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Amen.
