But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him (1 Corinthians 15:20-23 NIV).

Have you ever stopped to wonder what made “Good Friday” good? Our Savior was nailed to a cross and crucified that day–how could that possibly be a good thing? The good news is that He was the incarnate Son of God, perfect and sinless, and His death cleansed all of our sins, and through His death, we have forgiveness. Crucifixion was one of the worst forms of execution, meant to shame the guilty; however, the Christians of the time realized that Jesus was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of a sin-forgiving Savior. 

But…why couldn’t the Easter story end there? It was “good” that Christ died for us, but even more good had to happen for the Easter story to be complete. 

Paul describes the answer beautifully in this week’s passage: the resurrection of Christ solidified that Good Friday was in fact a good thing. In verse 21, Paul says that Jesus rose from the dead, as a first sign of the fruit that we Christians could eventually have–a new life in Christ! That is the second good thing about Easter–that we have the gift of eternal life.

Earlier in this passage, Paul says that the work of forgiving our sins was not 100% complete on Good Friday. He tells us that without Christ’s resurrection, we would still be in our sins (vs. 17) since we are the descendants of Adam. Good Friday was good because it was the beginning of an even better thing–the three days that led to our salvation and forgiveness of sins! God knew that our hunger for a Savior for our sins needed to be fulfilled, so he sent Jesus to die on the cross for us. 

However, we would not have been completely satisfied without the resurrection of Christ, so He rose up from the dead, as a sign of the future eternal life we would have after dying to our sins. God also had a certain hunger–one to be able to look at His people without the stain of sin. Since the resurrection completed the work of cleaning our sin-stain, the Lord was also satisfied. 

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your goodness, and for providing us eternal life in You. Thank you for satisfying our need for a Savior, and sending Your one and only Son to die for the forgiveness of our sins. We pray that we are reminded of this goodness each and every day, and not just during the Easter season.   In Your Name, Amen.