Black Friday

            For the past several years, we have become accustomed to the term, “black Friday.” The term signifies that retailers want to finish the period in the black and not in the red. They want to make an overall profit and so they have every trick in the book to get you into their store and to attract you to all kinds of bargains that will ultimately make them a profit in the end. I had a hard time with the name of the day at first as I didn't understand what it meant. To be honest, when I first heard the term “black Friday” I immediately thought of Calvary. That was truly a black day in history but it had nothing to do with businesses and making a lot of money. It had to with the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross at Calvary for our sins. Luke 23:33 says, “ And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.” 

              In the black Friday of today all you have to do is to write a check and take home your purchased items. It is a simple transaction. We might think that it would have been nice if Jesus could simply write a very big check and give it to His Father in order to compensate for our sins. Wouldn't that be nice. The idea of blood being shed in compensation for sins goes way back to the garden of Eden when we see God shedding blood to make adequate clothing for Adam and Eve. Blood being given for an offering then goes on and on as we see it with Abraham and then the Books of Moses, the Pentateuch. The Book of Leviticus describes exactly how each sacrifice would be performed. One of the largest examples was the dedication of the Temple by King Solomon where thousands of lambs were offered for the sacrifices. The blood line continues through the Old Testament all the way of to the statement of John the Baptist when he sees Jesus coming over the horizon and heading his way. John 1:29 says, “he next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” That was the end of it. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't write a check to cover the payment for our sins. He died on the cross and shed His own blood to make the payment that was required. There was no other way and for Him, it was the most awful and painful thing to suffer. To me, that is black Friday. Our bodies and nervous system make such a death unbearable to even think about. We often think today that the execution of prisoners should be done as humane as possible and so we tend to just put them to sleep with a lethal injection. Crucifixion was the ultimate producer of pain and suffering. It usually didn't occur in just a short time. Some cases took hours and perhaps a full day to happen. Christ hung on the cross in agony for six hours, the last three the most painful as our sins were paid for. Every nerve in His body cried out in anguish until He finally said, “It is Finished.” Those are the words for the expression, “telestai” which means, “Paid in Full.” the final check was written to pay for our sins. When a person wants to end up with a profit, they need to think of the expression from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ, 'What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses His own soul” in Mark 8:36. Black Friday that occurred on a hill called Mount Calvary was where your sin debt was paid for in full. The profit is yours if you believe in Him as your Lord and Savior. Even though I know what the term means today in our culture, I am still pointed back immediately to Calvary. That was the true Black Friday. Praise God for His unique plan for salvation.