Why I Believe That Good Friday Is a Glad Feast and Not a Time for Mourning for the Saved
I remembered what the late great Charles H. Spurgeon said in his sermon "Sad Hearts Changed to Glad Feasts":
The Lord of life and glory was nailed to the accursed tree. He died by the act of guilty men. We, by our sins, crucified the Son of God.
We might have expected that, in remembrance of his death, we should have been called to a long, sad, rigorous fast. Do not many men think so even today? See how they observe Good Friday, a sad, sad day to many; yet our Lord has never enjoined our keeping such a day, or bidden us to look back upon his death under such a melancholy aspect.
Instead of that, having passed out from under the old covenant into the new, and resting in our risen Lord, who once was slain, we commemorate his death by a festival most joyous. It came over the Passover, which was a feast of the Jews; but unlike that feast, which was kept by unleavened bread, this feast is brimful of joy and gladness. It is composed of bread and of wine, without a trace of bitter herbs, or anything that suggests sorrow and grief. …
The memorial of Christ’s death is a festival, not a funeral; and we are to come to the table with gladsome hearts and go away from it with praises, for "after supper they sang a hymn" [Matt 26:30, Mark 14:26].
The memorial of Christ's death is a celebration. It should not be at time of mourning like the Papists. Many of these Papists think that they can mourn for their sins this Lent with manmade burdens but it's a time of hypocrisy. Come Easter Sunday and there may be shouts of Hallelujah that they can go back to living like the rest of the world. But holiness is not just on holy week but it's a daily event. Christians are to walk in holiness.
This is not a celebration of reckless mirth but a celebration of the fact that Jesus defeated sin on the cross and salvation is now made free. It's a celebration that Jesus' death on the cross not only paid for the penalty of sin but also provided freedom from the power of sin. Why do I love the songs that sing of the blood of Jesus? It's because they really celebrate the fact that it's by His death that I may live for Him. He died for me because without it I can't live for God. I can only live for God because His Son died for me on the cross on that gloomy day.
The glorious truth of Good Friday is that "It is finished!" and that this sacrifice will never be repeated again (Hebrews 10:12). I have every confidence in the very finished work of Christ. This finished work of Jesus can be summarized in this song which is a song of celebration of repentance and new life in Christ:
There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in His day;
And there have I, though vile as he,
Washed all my sins away:
Washed all my sins away,
Washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he,
Washed all my sins away
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its pow’r,
Till all the ransomed church of God
Are safe, to sin no more:
Are safe, to sin no more,
Are safe, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God
Are safe, to sin no more.
E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die:
And shall be till I die,
And shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.
When this poor, lisping, stamm’ring tongue
Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save:
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save,
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save;
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.