https://odb.org/2026/04/03/why-good-friday
1 John 4:7–12 (NIV): 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
What’s so good about Good Friday? Why isn’t the day called Bad or Sad Friday? After all, it’s meant to be a day of sorrowful reflection, not a day of celebration. Sometimes, this day takes other names, such as Holy Friday. In Germany, it’s called Karfreitag, or Sorrowful Friday. So where did we get the tradition of calling it “Good”? Some believe it may have originated from the older tradition of calling it “God’s Friday.” No matter the origin of the name, it’s still appropriate to call the Friday on which Jesus died “good.” Out of Christ’s sacrificial love, He died for our sins. That’s why Good Friday is good. And the great news is that three days later He rose from the grave in victory. (Alyson Kieda, Our Daily Bread 3rd April 2026)
When we dwell into the history of Good Friday, we will find some interesting facts. Although the answers are not conclusive, they nevertheless point to some history and possible origins. It is the same with Easter Sunday and Christmas. There is some pagan backgrounds to those festivals, unlike the Jewish festivals. This is because the latter festivals were instituted by the LORD God Himself through His Word for the Jews. That is also why there are believers amongst us who refuse to celebrate these Christian festivals but instead choose to celebrate the Jewish ones instead. The major problem with us celebrating Jewish festivals is that we are not Jews and we do not practice Judaism. Jesus has already been sent to the world by God the Father so that humanity will not perish but have life everlasting. The New Covenant has superseded the Old Covenant. The veil at the Temple has been broken and torn into two.
In the end, we are believers of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are adopted children of God, grafted into the Kingdom of God. We are now the chosen generation, the Holy priesthood, the present-day Israel. We are His people and the Great I Am Jehovah Elohim the LORD God is now our God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Thus no matter their origins and from where our early church fathers adopted them, it is the meaning behind our festivals that really matters and for Good Friday, it is to commensurate Christ’s death on Calvary as it is through the cross that we have life eternal per John 3:16. He died for our sins as the Lamb of God. The ultimate sacrifice from the only One without sin who bore the sins of mankind once and for all.
Our Christian journey and our walk of faith in the Kingdom of God would not have been possible if Christ had not died on the cross. We would remain as heathens destined for damnation. Instead we are now poised for great exploits for His kingdom in this fallen world and one day we will live in the new heaven and new earth, the new Jerusalem. At the end of time, we will be at the place where God again dwells amongst His people, where the tree of life will be freely available to us to live for all eternity in a place without sickness, pain, tears, sorrow and death.
The true meaning of Good Friday is that we will only experience one death as we have had two births! That’s the Good News and thus the “Good” of Good Friday! One death only when the time comes but to eternal life! Have a blessed Good Friday, everyone!
Ronnie's Thoughts 