Good Friday - In Memory of Jean Halvorson

On this Good Friday, we know that the adjective “good” is God’s premiere word. It means in its general terms “satisfactory to God”. It is always His designation, from the creation story as each day ended, to the Father’s reference to His Son, as well as the phrase to be uttered in the future for all that are “good and faithful servants, enter into the joy of the Lord”. We also add Romans 8:28 to this, as God’s intention is always that things meet this designation, as Joseph in Genesis found that “…What the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good”.

Now, let us take the word “good” and take out one “0”. Then we have “0, God”, where we appreciate the true sense of the word “good”. Mark 10:18 reminds us about the portion where Jesus said: “Why call me good. There is none good, but God”. In the Latin vulgate the rendering is this: There is none good, but the one God. The original Greek has “the”, which is the definite article, stipulating that God (Greek theos) is the only God, and though Jesus said this in His humanity as the Son of Man, it does apply to Him as God in the flesh, for He is part of the Trinity. This portion is written in Mark, which is the narrative that highlights Jesus as the humble servant.

Psalm 100:5 -The Nature of God
1. Good is the Hebrew word “tows”, pronounced “tobe”.
  1. Look in that pronounced word and separate in the middle and you find “to be”, the verb phrase containing “be”.
  2. This means “to be, exist” and scripturally it includes the phrase “I am”.
2. It is the present tense of “I Am”.
  1. First of all, what we have here is the sense of the nature of God.
  2. In this Psalm it talks of God. He is called the Lord and his divine name is Yahweh, who is the great I Am, the ever existing one; the covenant name of God to His people.
  3. He is the subject, noun, verb (action), direct object, the connector of language.
3. The technical word “tows” means “pleasant, agreeable, good, good and kind.” In the Genesis account of creation good means “good, excellent”.
The Nurture of God
1. Nurture means to nourish, bring sustenance, feed. It is part of the divine name of El Shaddai (el meaning “God of the nations” – the male strength, and shad meaning “Breasted one” – (the female nurturer). Together the name means “the provider, nourisher”.
  1. In Genesis 3:6, where Eve saw that the fruit was “good” to eat, notice that her eyes were like a G.P.S., in that they lead her to the wrong path.
  2. When our eyes are on God’s G.P.S. (God’s Personal Spirit), we use His eyes, for the Spirit’s eyes.
  3. We go in the direction we are looking, so if we look to the tree while driving, we will drive into the tree. The key is to see God, who is good and does good things.
2. “Tows” here means “sweet, agreeable for eating”. It means what she was looking at (the fruit) was beautiful and met God’s criteria for creation. It’s just that neither she nor Adam were to go to that tree. It was ultimately about obedience to the Word of God.
  1. This word “tree” is the Hebrew word “ets”, pronounced “ates” (notice it sounds like it should be eaten). Taste and see that the Lord is good.
  2. This word can mean “tree, trees, or wood”. Notice that it is the first focus of the wood of the cross. Everything points to that in the Bible.
  3. When Eve and then Adam disobeyed, sin came because of it, followed by shame. Shame is, essentially, becoming aware of one’s nakedness, vulnerability, and they couldn’t cover themselves.
3. This is how we come to Good Friday. Someone had to change the meal and in so doing, that first bite bit Jesus something fierce (note: read the poem “Eternity Hinges on Jesus”, that I wrote in memory of Wally Steele).
The Supernatural Work of God
1. “Good” Friday
  1. Though it didn’t feel good or look good, it was beautiful in the Father’s sight.
  2. Actually, it is the only event in biblical history that Heaven, Earth, and the Devil agreed on – only for different reasons.
  3. The days of creation God said were good; for man’s creation He said it was very good, and on the seventh day – that final day of original creation, God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath.
2. Only at Calvary did He add “It is finished”, meaning Calvary’s sacrifice is the ultimate completion of the creation of God, because it was the recreation bringing man back to his original purpose, with sin out of the way. Remember that “the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world”, so God didn’t clean up after us as much as He cleaned the way before our failure.
3. To this end, we need to eat the Word, relish its value, be nourished by its life giving presence and see inside the good and beautiful treasures God has tucked in there.

I was reading about William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. He was converted at age 15 after recalling the relief he felt when the guilt that bothered him after making a profit off of a friend, brought conviction. Later on in his life, at a low time, he met Catherine Mumford and on their second meeting, which was Good Friday, April 9, 1852, they began a partnership which culminated in their marriage in 1855. Good Friday is all about the relationship God creation and recreated at Calvary.