Good Friday and a work fulfilled

Almost four thousand years ago, God called a man named Abraham to be the “father of many nations”—a prophesy that birthed the three great monotheistic faiths. But part of God’s calling was a test. He asked Abraham to do the unthinkable. He told Abraham to take his son Isaac into the wilderness—to the top of Mount Moriah—and sacrifice him to God on a great stone. Abraham was willing. He raised the knife. But at the last moment, an angel staid his hand and God provided him an alternative sacrifice (a ram), sparing Isaac’s life.

My wife and I recently visited Israel, my first time in the country. One of the shocking things for us, was how close together everything is. The Sea of Galilee is a small lake around which the bulk of Jesus’ life unfolded. Nazareth really is a dusty town in the middle of nowhere. And Jerusalem, the world’s most important city, is a small aged enclave. The “Old City” behind the walls of ancient Jerusalem is not much larger than a modern outdoor shopping center. In one day, on foot, we toured the entire site. We started out on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus ascended to heaven. In a few minutes, we walked down the mount to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus ultimately submitted to God’s calling and turned Himself over to the Roman authorities.

A short ride up a hill, and we entered the City of David, just outside Jerusalem’s walls. There David erected his palace and his son, Solomon, launched the construction of a grand Jewish Temple to contain the “Holy of Holies” and the Ark of the Covenant…the physical home of God on earth in ancient times. Another few minutes and we were at the Western Wall of the old city, praying, at the base of the Temple Mount, where this holy Temple was erected. The space is now occupied by the Dome of the Rock, which Muslim’s believe contains the stone upon which Muhammad stepped into heaven to receive instruction from God. And it is a few hundred yards away from the two main sites where modern scholars believe Jesus was crucified and entombed (the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Garden Tomb).

What I had not realized, however, was that the Temple Mount—the holiest place in Judaism—was (and is) Mount Moriah. The Temple was erected on the spot where Abraham demonstrated his trust in God, and God, in turn, spared Abraham’s son. The “rock” of the Dome of the Rock, is none other than the Foundation Stone upon which Abraham was called to sacrifice Isaac.

The significance hadn’t struck me until that time. From the fall of Creation, God has demanded sacrifice to restore the relationship we’d broken with Him. He first asked Abraham to sacrifice is own son Isaac. But He intervened, declining to require so much of a man so faithful. For thousands of years, He called the Jewish people to sacrifice in other ways. But then, we Christians believe, God returned to the top of Mount Moriah to do the very thing He could not ask Abraham to do. And His son, Jesus, died at the hands of history’s most powerful empire in a brutal and devastating way. God still required justice—He still required the broken relationship with man be made right. But instead of asking us to make that sacrifice, He took it upon Himself, and in so doing restored a relationship broken since the early days of creation.

Today is Good Friday—the day Jesus was led to carry his cross along Mount Moriah to Golgotha to offer up His own life in repentance for our failings. Jesus voluntarily yielded that life, pleading, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” An on this day, as Sabbath approached, He descended into darkness. The Temple curtain tore down the middle and darkness covered the sky. God had finally fulfilled the narrative arch He’d charted thousands of years before between another father and son.

I wish everyone could see these places in person and to understand that the history that transpired over thousands of years and hundreds of pages can be walked in the time it takes you to stroll through a local park. More than ever, I believe those stories are true. They are heartbreaking, maddening, and impossible intricate. But they are true. Our God did for us, what He would not ask us to do. And in humanity’s darkest moment, Jesus rose again, conquering death, and offering a bridge to the eternal for all those who believe. A story started thousands of years earlier was finally fulfilled.

For those who celebrate, have a blessed Good Friday and a Happy Easter. He is risen.