The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Why Is It Called "Good Friday"? (EP 91)

Episode Date: April 14, 2025

In this episode, Bryce goes into detail about the purpose and meaning of Good Friday.

I have a huge announcement before you guys continue to watch this episode of the podcast. Guys, May 18th, we are doing our second live podcast show in my home state, Atlanta, Georgia. We're going to be at the Cobb Energy Center, May 18th, for worship and a powerful word. Guys, I am so excited to be back in the same city that God took me from death to life. If you guys want to come out to the hometown live podcast show, May 18th, go to Ticketmaster and search up Bryce Crawford and get your tickets today. Guys, I'm looking forward to seeing you guys on May 18th. Go to Ticketmaster.

Search Bryce Crawford. Get your tickets to the live podcast show, May 18th. Love you guys. Now enjoy the episode. What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryson. In today's episode by the title of this podcast,

you know, it's coming out a few days early. But I wanted this podcast to be the summary of this Palm Sunday, Good Friday Easter thing. So the title of today's podcast is, Why is it called Good Friday? Why is it called Good Friday? I'm going to highlight three stories from the Bible that I believe exemplify the gospel. And they all happen to be from the Old Testament, which is, I think it's going to be so amazing.

So if you guys have your Bibles, we're going to be flipping to three different stories in the Bible. And before we get into these, I do want to preface something really quick. And that is the title, Good Friday. Why do Christians call the day that Jesus Christ was crucified Good Friday? I mean, in my opinion, that's not even that good of a day. That's a pretty dark day. I mean, if you read the Gospels, if you look through history, non-Christian historians, I mean, they would tell you that that was a,

pretty dang bad day i mean a dude had all the flesh of his back ripped off his face was beaten so bad he didn't even look like a human being he was stripped naked in front of people he was accused of saying and doing things that he didn't even do and then he carries a couple hundred pound wooden cross up a hill and gets nailed to it pinned to it by nails and his body weight sagging through the nails ripping holes deeper and deeper and thicker and wider into his skin and people call that good fried why do they call it good Friday? Well, it obviously wasn't a good day for Jesus in the physical. The reason we call it good Friday is it's a good day for you and me.

Good Friday is called Good Friday because it's the day that you and I had a chance to be set free from the things that keep us bound and separated from God, our sin. The reason it's called Good Friday is because for the first time, in any pinpoint of history, any human, human being can accept this free gift called friendship with the God of the universe that offers them a clean slate from the sins and rebellion that they've done against God. That's why it's called Good Friday. I mean, it was God's will that Jesus Christ would be crushed and crucified and beaten and die for the sins of the world. Like, I mean, if you were to be real with yourself,

it's not good. Like to say that Jesus was having a good day. I mean, the Bible's very good. clear in Hebrews 12 that it was the joy that was set before Jesus that he endured the cross, meaning there was pain, there was agony, there was suffering, and the thing that held him up against the cross wasn't, oh man, I'm having a good day. The thing that held Jesus on the cross was the fact that he was thinking about you and me. So when we celebrate Good Friday, and we celebrate Resurrection Sunday, and we celebrate, we celebrate, we celebrate, Palm Sunday, we have to understand that the goodness aspect of the crucifixion of Christ is for us. That's why we call it Good Friday. Now, the first story I want us to talk about is a story in the Old

Testament about our friend Abraham. Abraham seemed to be the father of many nations. And when you read the story in Genesis 22 and 23 about this guy named Abraham, you see, God had told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations through a son that he would have with this lady named Sarah, which was his wife. Now, Sarah in that time period, she was barren. She couldn't have kids. So in the natural, what happens is Abraham goes, oh, shoot, well, I'm not going to be able to have a kid.

He begins to doubt God. And so he does what was culturally appropriate at the time if your wife couldn't have kids. You slept with the servant lady. And so he slept with the servant lady named Hagar and had a kid named Ishmael, and God went silent for 15 years. Because Abraham doubted God's promise

that he would have a son with his wife, Sarah, who naturally couldn't have kids, but through the strength and the power and the miracles of the Spirit of God could, he just doubted. 15 years go by. Then God comes back and says, no, you're going to have a son with Sarah.

It's going to be Isaac. And when Sarah's like freaking 90 years old, she has this son named Isaac, so God's a promise keeper. Now, I want to pause here for a second. I love how God is still a keeper of his promises even when we screw up and turn our back on him. How many times has a son?

has spoken something to me, and Bryce has gone, no, that can't happen, because I'm looking at it from the natural lens. I'm looking at it from a natural perspective. But what we don't understand is that God conquers the natural. We're believing in a supernatural God, an infinite, all-powerful God to do something in the natural. How many times if I said no, yet God doesn't go, oh, promise revoked? And that happens all the time in today's society. I think back to all the times before I knew Christ, the times I know.

neglected him the times I sinned, the times I continuously turned my back on God, the times I blamed God, the times I did this. And every time I did that, it wasn't like Jesus goes, nope, all right, that was it was it. That thing that you said, Bryce, all right, it was done. Now, you're never getting it. You're never. Nope, off the table. Or that time, Bryce, when you were 15 and you got mad at me, when your grandfather died, and you thought I was killed him, nope, that was enough, salvation revoked. It's not even an option for you on the table. It doesn't do that. Jesus Christ loved his enemy so well that even the disciples didn't know who would betray him until he physically passed the bread to Judas. I mean, Jesus Christ is on the cross, thinking about you and me,

and during the suffering, and he knows who's going to say no. He knows who's going to say no, but he still dies for them. Unconditional love, even for those who will reject it. That's why as Abraham and Isaac grew up, and, you know, God proposes something to Abraham. He goes, all right, Abraham, you've got to kill Isaac, super intense. Because you've got to sacrifice Isaac. Now I want you to think about where Abraham's at. Doubted God one time, but understood that God's a promise keeper.

And in this dialogue that God has with Abraham, God promises to provide a lamb for Abraham. And so Abraham, understanding that he's doubted God before, he goes, look, all right, now I know, God's made me a promise. my son Isaac, I'm going to be the father of many nations through this son. So either he's going to spare his life or he's going to raise him from the dead. Either way, I am going to listen.

And so what happens is Isaac, he takes his son Isaac and he's got two servants with him, one on the left and one on the right, he makes him stay down on the mountain. And they go up on the mountain, him and Isaac, and he lets Isaac sit on wherever they kill children. It's not normal. and as he gets ready right before he strikes him, God stops it. And he looks and there's a ram in the thicket bush. And they sacrifice the ram and praise God.

Now, why is the story imagery of this so-called day, Good Friday? Well, think about it. Abraham riding up to the mountain with two servants, one on each side, symbolism of Christ in the center and two thieves on the side. And the same mountain that Isaac was almost sacrificed on. 2,000 years later is the same mountain that Jesus Christ was sacrificed on. Now, wait, wait, hold on a second, Bryce. I thought you said God was a promise keeper.

Maybe he's a liar because he told Abraham that he was going to provide a lamb. But then after, right before he sacrifices Isaac, he provides a ram in the thick of bush. That wasn't a lamb, it was a ram. Did God misquoted or did someone write it down wrong? No. 2,000 years later, the lamb of God that the father provides is Jesus Christ on that. mountain to take away the sins of the world. This beautiful imagery of Good Friday. Do you think Abraham a thought riding up to the mountain after he had finally been given this gift that wasn't able to be

obtained in the natural a son, his only son? Do you think Abraham for once in his mind goes, dang, this is a great day? Oh man, I'm feeling so good about this. You're right, God, I need to kill the son I've been begging for for decades. Think he's thinking of a good day? You think so? I don't think so. And the next story I want to go to in chronological order would be Leviticus 16. Now, some of you guys might say, oh, dang, that's a pretty boring chapter or book.

Book of Laws. But I want to hint at something. A few weeks ago, we were on the road, and I was in Texas. And I got the opportunity to drive up to Waco and sit down with a pastor-friend mentor. of mine and he showed me this in in Leviticus and it blew my mind. Now this one actually kind of correlates back to the gospels. You know in the gospel of Matthew, the gospel of Matthew is the only gospel that we understand Barabbas's full name. Did you know that Barabbas's full name was Jesus Barabbas? And Barabbas actually translates to Son of the Father. So when Pilate is standing on a stage in front of

a bunch of Jews, you got two people sitting on that stage. You have Jesus, son of the father, and Jesus, son of the father. Pretty crazy, right? Now, remember that. Now, let's go back to Leviticus 16. And Leviticus 16 on the Day of Atonement. On the Day of Atonement, they used two goats. The first goat, they would pin all the sins of the world, the sins of mankind on this goat,

and release it into the wilderness as the cleansing of sins. That the sins are being released, and the scapegoat would be released into the wilderness. And then the second goat would be sacrificed for the atonement. of sins. Now, does this look similar? Two goats. One, released into the wilderness for the sins of mankind, and the other one atoned, sacrificed for the sins of mankind. When you look on this stage, Pilate, and you have Jesus, Son of the Father, and Jesus' Son of the Father, Jesus Barabbas is actually released into the wilderness. Jesus Barabbas is the personified version of you and me. Jesus Barabbas is you and me.

The ultimate exemplification of sin. It's you and me. Rebellion, sin, murder, all of it combined, and he's taken and released back to the people. And Barabas thought that the people wanted him free, but it was the love of God that set Barabbas free. He's the scapegoat from Leviticus 16. Jesus Barabbas is the scapegoat.

And as he walks off this stage, set free with all the sins of the world, I mean, you've got to understand when he's barren. I mean, he was supposed to be crucifference. I mean, this guy, Jesus Barabbas, I mean, he was a murderer, he was a thug, he was a rebel against rummies, the worst of the worst, he built the cross, he deserved the crucifixion. Not only that, some people said he was even a rapist back in that time, this guy is sin literally all on paper, and he gets released into the wilderness. The scapegoat, Jesus Barabbas, and then who is it that gets sacrificed? The other one, Jesus Christ, who did absolutely nothing wrong. but wanted to die this death that Barabbas and I deserve because of love, because of Hebrews 12 too,

because of the joy that he was thinking of and looking at you and me. And when I read Leviticus 16 and I look at that scapegoat, the first goat that gets pinned and blamed for the sins and released into the wilderness, I'm like, that's me. I'm the goat that was spared. I'm Barabbas. I'm Jesus Barabbas. And you know what's crazy about Barabbas being literally named Jesus, son of the father, is that when we receive the free gift of salvation,

we become adopted into the kingdom of God. So now I am a son of the father. John 8 says a slave is temporary, but a son is forever. You and I, you become a son or a daughter. of the fop because we've been released and set free from the penalty of sin that the second goat in Leviticus 16 takes or that Jesus Christ has taken because there's one of two ways our sin can be paid for with our own life or his but even when his life is paid for our sin the least we can do is return our life and give our life back to him and live for him that's the richer fuller life

that's the second story in the Old Testament that I believe exemplifies Good Friday Last is the Book of Hosea I love this book of Hosea Basically to sum up the book of Hosea Which I think is one of the greatest Greatest stories of love in the Old Testament

You know what? It's like before we break it down You know a lot of people ask you What was the God of the Old Testament not loving? I mean I'm looking at all these instances in here And I'm like, dang like this is love love, but Josea, you see, Josea, the Lord told Josea, the book of Josea, this is what happens. God told Josea to marry a prostitute named Gomer.

So, Josea marries this prostitute named Gomer. And every night, Josea and Gomer would fall asleep in their house happily married. But every night, Gomer would hear music coming through the window of their house from the city. And so Gomer would get up and sneak out of the house and go and prostitute herself in the city. and every morning, Josea would wake up to an empty bed, knowing that Gomer had rebelled against him, and he would go into the city every day and find Gomer beaten, bruised, and abused. Probably a little haze in a day, could barely see because she was beaten and abused physically and sexually the night before prostitution. And every day and night, the same thing happened.

Josea goes to sleep, probably hoping and praying because his life was so loving and devoted to Gomer, this is the day that she is loving back to me. But every night she would leave, rebel against Hosea and go. And then finally one day she sold into the slave market. Meaning that everyone in the city thought she was so worthless, she was, for lack of better terms, ran through. You know, nobody wanted her. She had no value.

Now she's on the slave market. She's only good enough to be bought as a slave. So what does Hosea do? Let's stop right here. What does Hosea do? Yeah, you deserved it, Gomer. You suck. Yeah, you got what was coming to you, Gomer.

There's no record of that. Rather, Josea goes to the slave market, buys Gomer back off the slave market, and goes, this time I buy you back, not as a slave, but you will be my faithful wife to me from this day forward. You and I are Gomer. God's so faithful to us, but we oftentimes turn our back on him,

and substitute ourselves in the place of God and we sin. Or we prostitute ourselves for God or we're not fully satisfied. So we turn to sin. So we hear the sweet music of sin through the window. And then we say, oh, man, I got to go. You know, the eyes and ears are the windows to our soul. And even though God's done something good, sometimes we see the sweet temptation or hear the sweet temptation of sin or the devil.

We go, oh, man, I got to go after that. And we turn our back on God and we turn our back on God. And we turn our back. And we've done it so many times that we're so worthless and we're not worth anything. But Jesus Christ is looking at us and sees value in us. And says, no, no, no, no, no. Look, look, I buy you back. You were a slave to sin, but I don't buy you back as a slave to sin.

But today, you will be faithful to me. Because of my faithfulness to you, Gomer, now you will be faithful to me. Because of God's faithfulness to you and me, it gives us strength to be faithful to him. Why on earth would I follow someone? that doesn't care about me. Why? No reason to. But God has proven his love to us. God has proven his faithfulness to us

by doing something he didn't have to. By paying a penalty that he doesn't have to pay. By paying the bill that he doesn't have to pay. By paying the price of our sin. You and I are Gomer. The Lord is Josea, but he buys us back with his life. It says, but today you will no longer be called by your sin but you will be called my own and today you will be free today you will be mine it's a beautiful

picture of good friday it's so good it's so good good friday is so good not because jesus was having a grand old day pinned onto the cross it was good friday because jesus knew the goodness to come when after it was finished and he uttered his last breath that three days later he would defeat the very thing that separated me from him that separated you from him and that is sin and death. Last thing I'll share to close is um when I was uh when I was in high school I got the chance to babysit for uh two boys and that lived down the street from my neighborhood and unfortunately um I was a babysitter was very short-lived but I got to babysit for them for a little bit and um you know a couple years later housefire and one of the boys had passed away in

the house fire. He was in the fourth grade. And he went to the private Christian school. I graduated from and he took a Bible quiz. That was the last quiz he took in school when it was a Bible quiz. And for his thing, he had to explain this Bible verse from John 11. And I love the simplicity of it. He says, yeah, if I believe in Jesus, even though I die on earth, I won't die in heaven. I'll be with him forever in heaven. and I look on Walker's life and his child like faith, his easy grasp of, man, if I receive this good gift that God is so freely given me, then I actually don't die. This thing, sin and death, it actually doesn't really happen.

I mean, it's just like a moment. I'm a pilgrim. I'm there, but I'm there. I'm gone, but I'm there. I'm with the father. And I love that. It's good because now you and I can be friends with God for an infinite amount of time, the same reason why Walker is friends with God now.

You got to experience that. I'm just going to pray for us to close. That this week may be sobering, leading up to Good Friday, understanding what's going on. I mean, thinking about the Garden of Gethsemini, thinking about the crucifixion, thinking about the resurrection, that God did the thing that makes him different

than any other human being he defeated death, allowing you and me to be friends with him. I'm going to pray that you just be sober. Be sober. feel the weight, understand the heaviness. Jesus, thank you. Thank you for dying for us. Thank you for defeating the very things that separate us from you, sin and death.

God, I just ask, would you keep us sober and aware to understand the weight and gravity of what you've done? I mean, God, every time I close my eyes to pray, every time any viewer or listener watching closes their eyes to pray, may we be able to picture your body, your face, ripped apart, beaten to unrecognition. Can we just be able to picture this love that you have so desperately and graciously shown us, God? Thank you. Let us be able to feel it and understand it. God, we love you.

I want to continue to love you. We want to continue to love you. God, keep us sober. Help us feel the weight of this. God, help us feel what you felt. Help us feel the emotions you feel. Help us understand. God, we love you, thank you, and praise you.

Jesus' name. Amen. Guys, thank you so much for watching and tuning in to these episodes. Guys, if you love watching and listening to these episodes, aside from following us along on Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, I want to ask you guys, would you guys consider partnering with our ministry financially? Your guys' radical generosity is actually what continues to fuel and produce these podcast episodes and our evangelism videos.

So if you guys feel a burden to support this ministry, reach lost souls with the gospel through digital and in person ministry, go to Jesus in the street.org, pray and ask God, how should I partner with Bryce and their ministry and Jesus in the street ministry? Should I partner with them in prayer? Should I partner with them in finances? Should I partner with them in support? Whatever it may be, pray and ask God, how should I support Jesus in the street ministry? Love you guys. See you guys next week for the next episode.