The KING who Choose the Cross - Good Friday Message
Welcome, fellow learners of the Word, to another deep dive into the wondrous and inexhaustible riches of Holy Scripture. Today, we are embarking on an extensive, verse-by-verse, and thematic exploration of a truly monumental exposition of Scripture. I am privileged to reflect on the sermon titled "The King Who Chose The Cross," delivered by Pastor Sam Merigala at Grace Gospel Church on Good Friday, April 3, 2026.
Through this insightful sermon, Pastor Sam Merigala unpacks the deeply embedded theological truths, ancient types, and eschatological promises surrounding the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Far too often, modern Christianity approaches Good Friday merely as a day of somber mourning, a tragic interlude before the triumph of Resurrection Sunday. But as Pastor Sam Merigala so brilliantly articulates in his sermon, Good Friday is fundamentally a day of divine strategy, an unveiling of God's eternal battle plan, and the ultimate declaration of victory over the forces of darkness. Once we grasp the magnitude of this reality, our faith is forever altered. Good Friday is not the story of a helpless martyr; it is the crowning achievement of the Sovereign King of the Universe.
In this multipart blog post, we will journey together through the theological principles taught in Pastor Sam Merigala's sermon. We will examine the sovereign control of Jesus over His own death, the breathtaking fulfillment of the Exodus Passover typology, the profound liturgical shifts in the Last Supper, and the earth-shattering cosmic miracles that accompanied the final breath of the Son of God. I invite you to open your Bibles, open your hearts, and prepare to encounter the depths of God’s redemptive love.
Section I: The Sovereign King in the Shadows of Treachery
To understand the cross, we must first understand the context of the days immediately preceding it. Pastor Sam Merigala begins his sermon by drawing our attention to the Gospel of Mark, specifically Mark 14:1-2. The timeline is crucial: it is two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Mark, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, abruptly shifts his narrative focus. Having delivered the grand eschatological discourse in chapter 13, Mark now zeroes in on the immediate, impending doom that awaits Jesus in Jerusalem.
The Plot of the Religious Elite In Mark 14:1-2, we see the chief priests and the scribes frantically seeking a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and murder Him. Why by stealth? Because the city of Jerusalem was overflowing with pilgrims. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that during Passover, the population of Jerusalem would swell to millions, with over a quarter of a million lambs slaughtered. The religious leaders feared an uproar from the people, who still viewed Jesus favorably.
Here, Pastor Sam Merigala masterfully points out the supreme irony of the biblical narrative. The Jewish leaders are preparing to celebrate the Passover—the great feast of liberation where the angel of death passed over the Israelites in Egypt because of the blood of a lamb on their doorframes. Simultaneously, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was meant to signify a total break from the past, the removal of the old leaven of sin to embrace a new, holy beginning. Yet, the very leaders celebrating this feast of liberation and purity are plotting the unjust murder of the ultimate Passover Lamb! They were meticulously searching their homes for physical leaven to burn, while their hearts were completely saturated with the leaven of malice, hatred, and murder. They were trying to get rid of a "troublesome young rabbi" rather than addressing the sin in their own souls.
The Extravagant Devotion of a Marginalized Woman In stark contrast to the dark plotting of the religious elite, Pastor Sam Merigala directs our attention in his sermon to the house of Simon the Leper in Bethany. Here, an unnamed woman performs an act of staggering, extravagant devotion. She breaks an alabaster jar of exceedingly expensive perfume and pours it over the head of Jesus (Matt 26:7).
Theologically, this moment is saturated with meaning. By dining in the house of Simon the Leper, Jesus continues to radically identify with the marginalized and the outcasts of society. And by accepting this anointing, Jesus is receiving a prophetic act. In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with oil. The very word "Messiah" or "Christ" literally translates to "The Anointed One". As Pastor Sam Merigala teaches in his sermon, whether she fully grasped the theological weight of her actions or not, this woman was anointing the Messiah for His burial, encouraging Him at the onset of His final, agonizing march toward Calvary. Furthermore, this highlights a beautiful and persistent theme in the Gospels: while the male disciples often faltered, bickered, and eventually fled, it was the women who proved to be the most steadfast, faithful, and reliable followers of Jesus in His darkest hours.
The Master of His Own Destiny One of the most comforting and powerful theological principles woven throughout Pastor Sam Merigala's sermon is the absolute, unyielding sovereignty of Jesus Christ over His own passion. As we move to Mark 14:12-16, the disciples ask Jesus where they should prepare the Passover meal. Jesus responds with highly specific, almost clandestine instructions. He sends two disciples (whom Luke identifies as Peter and John) into the sprawling, chaotic city of Jerusalem, telling them to look for a man carrying a jar of water.
In ancient Near Eastern culture, carrying water was almost exclusively the labor of women or slaves. A man carrying a water pitcher would have stuck out, even in a throng of two and a half million pilgrims. Pastor Sam Merigala explains that this meeting likely took place near the pool of Siloam on Mount Zion, fed by the Gihon spring.
What is the takeaway here? Jesus is not a victim. He is not a tragic hero who got caught up in political machinations that spiraled out of His control. As the sermon emphasizes, there is no hint of desperation, fear, anger, or futility in the actions of Jesus. The betrayal of Judas, the plotting of the Pharisees, the cowardice of Pilate—none of these forced Jesus to the cross. Jesus orchestrated His own path to Calvary. He possessed a sovereign freedom and divine authority, actively choosing to fulfill the eternal plan of God. As Pastor Sam Merigala profoundly preaches in his sermon, "A God who is in control when the foundations of his own earthly existence are crumbling is a God who can be trusted to sustain us when it appears our life is tumbling in". When the world feels out of control, we look to the King who meticulously arranged the very meal where He would announce His own death. He is the master of history, and He is the master of your life.
Section II: The Blueprint of Redemption – The Exodus Typology
To fully apprehend the glory of Good Friday, you must trace the scarlet thread of redemption all the way back to the Old Testament. In a masterful stroke, Pastor Sam Merigala takes us back 1,446 years before the birth of Christ to the sands of Egypt.
The children of Israel had been enslaved by the most powerful empire on the face of the earth for over four centuries. They lived in bondage, in misery, and under the cruel whip of Pharaoh. But God heard the cries of His covenant people and prepared a deliverance that would serve as the ultimate typological blueprint for the salvation of humanity.
The Precision of Prophecy: Selecting the Lamb In Exodus 12:3, God gave Israel highly specific instructions that were not merely logistical, but profoundly prophetic. God commanded that on the 10th day of the first month (the month of Nisan), every household was to select a lamb. It could not be just any lamb. It was not a mere symbol; it was a real, physical lamb that had to be taken into the home, examined, and lived with for four full days. According to Exodus 12:5, this lamb had to be a year-old male without defect or blemish.
Pastor Sam Merigala's sermon brilliantly overlays this ancient command with the passion week of Jesus. On the exact same day—the 10th of Nisan—Jesus Christ made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He, the Lamb of God, presented Himself to the nation of Israel. And for the next four days, what happened? He was placed under the intense microscope of the religious authorities. The chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees all took turns questioning, testing, and challenging Him in the temple courts. They were looking for a theological, political, or moral blemish to disqualify Him.
Yet, every single snare they set was evaded by the infinite wisdom of the Son of God. He answered perfectly. He lived perfectly. He was entirely without blemish. Even the pagan Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, was forced to declare in John 19:4, "I find no basis for a charge against him". The Lamb of God had been rigorously examined for the requisite four days and was declared completely, utterly perfect.
The Ninth Hour: The Slaughter at Twilight The precision of God's prophetic blueprint only becomes more staggering as the sermon progresses. God commanded in Exodus 12 that the lamb must be slaughtered at twilight. Pastor Sam Merigala notes that the original Hebrew phrase here is literally "between the evenings". In Jewish tradition and temple practice, this specific window of time was understood to be between 3:00 PM and sunset.
For centuries, year after year, the priests in the Jerusalem temple would begin the massive assembly-line slaughter of the Passover lambs at exactly 3:00 PM. The blood was dashed upon the altar, and the scent of roasting lamb permeated the city. Now, consider the timeline of the Gospels. At what precise hour did Jesus Christ cry out, "It is finished," and yield up His spirit on the cross? The Gospels explicitly record that Jesus died at the ninth hour—which, in the Jewish reckoning of time, is exactly 3:00 in the afternoon.
At the exact moment the priests in the temple were sliding their knives across the throats of the Passover lambs, the true Lamb of God was offering His own life upon the altar of the cross outside the city gates. As Pastor Sam Merigala states in his sermon, "The Lamb of God and the lambs of Israel died at the same hour on the same day in the same city. That is not coincidence. That is the author of history signing his name across 14 centuries".
Unbroken Bones and the Bloody Cross on the Door In Exodus 12:46, God added a seemingly peculiar constraint to the Passover meal: "Do not break any of the bones". When we understand Roman crucifixion, this ancient command leaps off the page. Crucifixion was a torturous death by asphyxiation. To breathe, the victim had to push up on the nails in their feet. To speed up death before the impending Sabbath, Roman soldiers would take massive mallets and shatter the shin bones of the victims, preventing them from pushing up, causing rapid suffocation.
The soldiers did exactly this to the two criminals crucified on either side of Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they found He was already dead. Therefore, they did not break His legs. The Apostle John explicitly connects this in John 19:36, stating, "This happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: 'Not one of his bones will be broken'". Century upon century of Passover lambs whose bones were carefully preserved intact were pointing forward to the unbroken body of the crucified Christ.
Furthermore, let us look at the application of the blood. In Exodus 12:7, God commanded the Israelites to take the blood of the slain lamb and apply it to the doorframes of their houses. When the angel of death moved through Egypt, he would see the blood and "pass over" that house, sparing the lives within.
But notice the specific geometry of God's command. The blood was to be placed on the two side posts and the top lintel. Pastor Sam Merigala brings out a breathtaking visual reality in his sermon: when you apply blood to the two sides and the top of a doorframe, you are painting the undeniable shape of a cross. Fourteen centuries before the Roman Empire even existed, let alone invented the cruel instrument of crucifixion, God had His people drawing the cross of Jesus Christ in blood on their doorways.
The Israelites who walked out of Egypt as a liberated people literally had to walk through the shape of a blood-stained cross to step into their salvation. The blood on the door was never just about escaping the final plague in Egypt. It was a cosmic, eternal prophecy. It was God declaring that every human soul needs an unblemished substitute, an innocent sacrifice whose blood can cover them so that eternal death will pass over them.
As the Apostle Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 5:7, "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed". Paul does not say Christ is like a Passover lamb, or that He is a metaphorical Passover lamb. Christ is the Passover Lamb. Good Friday was not God improvising in response to human sin. As Pastor Sam Merigala teaches, the cross was not Plan B. The cross was always Plan A, written in the blood of a lamb on a doorframe in Egypt 1,446 years before Calvary.
Section III: The Seder of the Savior – Fulfilling the Ancient Liturgy
If we are to mine the full depths of this Good Friday sermon, we must turn attention toward the upper room, to the event we traditionally call the Last Supper. The modern western church often views this meal as a casual, informal farewell dinner where Jesus decided to spontaneously invent the sacrament of Communion. But Pastor Sam Merigala's sermon shatters this anachronistic view.
Entering the Ancient Seder The night before He was crucified, Jesus did not host a random dinner party. He hosted a full, structured, deeply liturgical Passover Seder. This was the exact ceremonial meal God had commanded in Exodus 12, rigorously observed by the Jewish people for over a millennium. It involved the roasted lamb, the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, the retelling of the Exodus narrative, the singing of the Hallel psalms, and four specific cups of wine.
In Luke 22:7-8, Jesus explicitly tells Peter and John to "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover". Jesus did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; He came to fulfill them. On this night, He stepped into an ancient liturgy that had been waiting for Him since the days of Moses.
The Four Cups and the New Covenant A traditional Passover Seder is structured around four cups of wine. Each cup corresponds to one of the four "I will" promises God made to Moses in Exodus 6:6-7 regarding the deliverance of Israel.
- The Cup of Sanctification ("I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians").
- The Cup of Deliverance ("I will free you from being slaves to them").
- The Cup of Redemption ("I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment").
- The Cup of Praise/Restoration ("I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God").
Pastor Sam Merigala's sermon provides a brilliant exegetical insight here. In Luke 22:20, we read that "after the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you'". Biblical scholars who study the liturgy of the first-century Seder identify this specific cup—the one taken after the supper—as the Third Cup, the Cup of Redemption.
Consider the monumental weight of this moment. For 1,400 years, the Jewish people had raised the Cup of Redemption, remembering how God saved them from Pharaoh. Now, the Son of God holds the Cup of Redemption in His hands and fundamentally redefines it. He says, "This cup is my blood. This cup is the new covenant". Jesus is declaring that He is the ultimate fulfillment of the Exodus. The redemption from Egypt was merely a shadow; the true redemption—from sin, death, and hell—was about to be purchased by the blood flowing through His veins. He fulfilled the Seder from the inside out, in real time, at the very table where it was being observed.
The Untouched Fourth Cup and the Eschatological Promise But the theological marvel does not end there. If Jesus took the Third Cup, what happened to the Fourth Cup? The Cup of Praise? In Matthew 26:29, Jesus says, "I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom".
Pastor Sam Merigala highlights a truth in his sermon that most Christians completely miss: Jesus deliberately interrupted the Passover Seder. He stopped the liturgy short. He left the final cup, the Cup of Praise, completely untouched. Why? Because the work of redemption was moving from the upper room to the cross, but the final, complete restoration of all things awaits His second coming.
Jesus essentially told His disciples, "I am pausing this meal. The next time we gather at the table, the Kingdom of God will be fully established, and we will drink the Cup of Praise together." My fellow believers, do you realize what this means? Jesus began a Passover Seder in the upper room 2,000 years ago, and He has not finished it yet. The final cup is still waiting. The Last Supper was not an ending; it was the beginning of a final chapter that is still being written across church history. When Christ returns, the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb will commence, the Cup of Praise will be raised, and every promise of the Passover will find its ultimate, eternal, cosmological fulfillment.
Whenever we take communion, obeying Christ's command in 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 to "do this in remembrance of me," we are not merely looking backward to the cross; we are looking forward to the Kingdom. We live in the tension between the Third and Fourth Cup.
Section IV: The Cosmic Upheaval – Five Miracles at the Cross
As we progress into the third part of Pastor Sam Merigala's sermon, we shift our focus from the prophetic preparations to the immediate, earth-shattering aftermath of the crucifixion. When Jesus Christ breathed His last breath on the cross, the world did not quietly mourn. Instead, history fractured, and creation itself convulsed in recognition of what had just occurred. The death of the Son of God triggered five specific, immediate miracles that unveil the true depth and cosmic significance of His sacrifice. Let us examine each of these divine revelations as taught in the Good Friday sermon.
1. The Veil of the Temple was Torn in Two
In Matthew 27:51, we read the first astonishing consequence of Christ's death: "And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom".
To grasp the magnitude of this, we must understand the architecture of the Jewish temple. Deep within the temple complex lay the Holy of Holies, the innermost sanctuary where the localized presence of the glory of God resided. Separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was a massive, heavy, intricately woven veil. This curtain was not a decorative drape. It represented the absolute separation between the unapproachable holiness of God and the depraved sinfulness of humanity. Only one man—the High Priest—could pass through that curtain, and he could only do it once a year on the Day of Atonement, carrying the blood of a sacrifice, lest he be struck dead by the holiness of God.
But in the exact moment Jesus died, this colossal barrier was violently torn in two. And crucially, as Pastor Sam Merigala's sermon emphasizes, it was torn from top to bottom. This was no accident, and it was not the work of human hands. God Himself reached down from heaven and ripped the barrier apart.
The theological implications are staggering. By ripping the veil, God was visibly and dramatically declaring, "The separation is over! The way is open!". As the author of Hebrews profoundly writes in Hebrews 10:19-20, we now have "confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body". Jesus' torn flesh was the true veil that opened the way to the Father.
Pastor Sam Merigala beautifully pastoralizes this point in his sermon: "God is not distant. He is near and his arms are open wide to all who come in faith". We no longer need earthly priests, animal sacrifices, or intermediaries. The blood of Jesus has forever cleansed us, granting us immediate, unhindered access to the Creator of the Universe. The question the sermon challenges us with is piercing: Are we living like the veil is still there? Are we keeping God at a distance, or are we boldly stepping into the holy presence He died to grant us access to?.
2. The Earth Trembled and Shook
The second miracle recorded in Matthew 27:51 is that "the earth shook". As Jesus died, the ground convulsed in a violent earthquake. This was not a coincidental tectonic shift. As Pastor Sam Merigala teaches, this was nature itself reacting to the horrific, yet glorious, death of its Creator.
Throughout the Scriptures, earthquakes are frequently associated with the direct manifestation of God's presence and judgment. When God descended upon Mount Sinai to give the Law in the book of Exodus, the mountain violently trembled. The Psalmist declares that the earth trembles before God's infinite power. Now, at Calvary, the earth quakes again, but this time it is a witness to the completion of the work of redemption.
The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8 that creation itself groans and waits with eager longing for redemption. The cross was not merely a transaction for human souls; it was a cosmic victory that initiated the redemption of the entire universe. The shaking of the earth symbolized the violent upheaval of the old, fallen order of sin and death, and the birth pangs of a new creation.
Pastor Sam Merigala's sermon reminds us that while the earthquake would have terrified the onlookers, there is a deep comfort in it for the believer today. It proves that God is not aloof from the brokenness and chaos of our world. When our own lives feel like they are shaking, when the ground gives way beneath our feet, we remember the God who shook the earth at Calvary. He enters into our suffering, our chaos, and our pain, and He transforms it. The trembling of the earth demands a response from us: we are invited to tremble in holy awe at the greatness and love of our Savior.
3. The Rocks Were Split
Immediately following the earthquake, the Gospel of Matthew notes a third, highly specific miracle: "and the rocks were split". Why does the Holy Spirit inspire Matthew to record this detail? As Pastor Sam Merigala's sermon illuminates, this was not merely geological collateral damage; it was a supernatural sign brimming with theological significance.
In biblical typology, rocks and stones frequently represent hardness, immovability, and the inflexible demands of the Old Covenant Law, which was literally etched in stone by the finger of God. The Law was solid and unyielding, and humanity, trapped in sin, could not perfectly keep it. Consequently, the Law stood as a monument of condemnation. But when Jesus died, having perfectly fulfilled every jot and tittle of the Law, the old covenant was decisively broken, making way for the covenant of grace. The physical splitting of the rocks was the earth bearing witness to the breaking of the old legalistic order.
Furthermore, the splitting of the rocks is a vivid metaphor for the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart. By nature, the heart of fallen man is as hard and unyielding as a boulder, fiercely resisting the love and authority of God. But the sacrifice of Jesus Christ possesses the divine power to shatter even the most stubborn barriers.
Pastor Sam Merigala expertly connects this to the beautiful promise in Ezekiel 36:26: "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh". The cross of Christ has the power to break our hearts of stone. No matter how calloused you may be, no matter how much bitterness, pain, or rebellion has calcified in your soul, the grace unleashed at Calvary can split your stony heart wide open. The sermon extends a pastoral invitation to all of us: Will we remain unmoved like stubborn rocks, or will we allow the earthquake of God's grace to fracture our pride and soften our spirits?.
4. The Tombs Were Opened and the Dead Raised
The fourth miraculous event is perhaps the most shocking and awe-inspiring of them all. Matthew records that "the tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised".
Imagine the sheer terror and absolute wonder of that moment. Dead believers, buried and decomposing, suddenly received life, walked out of their graves, and went into the holy city of Jerusalem, appearing to many. Why did this happen?
Pastor Sam Merigala's sermon provides the essential theological answer: this was a divine display of Jesus' total, absolute authority over death. The wages of sin is death, but when Jesus paid the penalty for sin on the cross, He simultaneously broke the backbone of death itself. The resurrection of these Old Testament saints served as a localized preview, a trailer for the grand eschatological feature.
The Apostle Paul calls Jesus the "firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" in 1 Corinthians 15:20. The raising of these saints was the immediate, tangible proof that death no longer had the final word. Because Jesus defeated death, death is now "swallowed up in victory". The grave is no longer a permanent prison for the child of God; it is merely a waiting room for resurrection.
But Pastor Sam Merigala does not leave this profound truth merely in the realm of future eschatology; he brings it into present sanctification. Drawing from Romans 8, the sermon teaches that the exact same resurrection power that brought those saints out of the grave now dwells within the believer through the Holy Spirit. "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies".
We are called to walk in the "newness of life" right now. We do not have to wait until we die to experience resurrection power; it is available to us today to conquer sin, break addictions, and heal brokenness. And we hold fast to the unbreakable promise that when Christ returns, the dead in Christ will rise first, and we will enjoy eternal physical resurrection, completely free from the curse of death.
5. The Centurion’s Confession
The fifth and final event highlighted in Pastor Sam Merigala's Good Friday sermon centers not on a cosmological disruption, but on a spiritual awakening in the heart of a pagan. Overseeing the bloody, gruesome work of the crucifixion was a Roman Centurion.
This man was a hardened, blood-stained executioner of the Roman Empire. He had likely supervised the torture and crucifixion of countless rebels and criminals. He was desensitized to suffering and completely outside the commonwealth of Israel. Yet, having witnessed the manner in which Jesus died, having felt the earthquake, and having seen the darkness and the tearing of the rocks, this battle-hardened pagan opened his mouth and declared, "Truly this was the Son of God!" (Matthew 27:54).
What a profound irony of divine grace! The chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees—the men who had memorized the Torah, who had studied the prophecies, who had celebrated the Passover year after year—were blind to the identity of the Messiah standing right in front of them. Yet a Gentile executioner, a man with no theological pedigree, looked at the bloodied, disfigured man on the middle cross and saw the sovereign Son of God.
Pastor Sam Merigala points out an intriguing contrast in his sermon: while the Centurion was confessing Christ at the foot of the cross, Peter, the lead disciple, had recently denied Christ three times before the rooster crowed (John 13:38). Truth is often revealed in the most unlikely of circumstances, to the most unlikely of people.
The cross was designed by Rome to be the ultimate symbol of shame, humiliation, and utter defeat. But through the sovereign grace of God, the cross became the very instrument of revelation, opening the eyes of a blind pagan to the glory of God. The Centurion’s life was irrevocably altered in that moment.
And here, Pastor Sam Merigala's sermon brings the theological truth directly to the modern reader’s doorstep. The Centurion's declaration is a piercing challenge to every single one of us. Who do you say that Jesus is? Is He merely a good moral teacher? Is He just a fascinating historical figure? Or do you, like the Centurion, recognize Him as the eternal Son of the Living God, whose substitutionary death possesses the infinite power to transform your eternal destiny?.
Embracing the Cosmic Victory of the Cross
As we conclude this extensive theological journey through Pastor Sam Merigala’s masterclass of a sermon, "The King Who Chose The Cross," we must pause to let the gravity of these biblical truths settle into our souls.
We have seen that Good Friday is not a day of defeat, but the greatest military victory in the history of the cosmos. We have seen a Sovereign King who masterfully directed every detail of His own execution, sending disciples to find a man with a water jar to prepare a room for a cosmic Seder. We have traced the blood of the Exodus lamb across fourteen centuries to see it perfectly culminate on the doorposts of a Roman cross. We have sat in the upper room and watched the Savior redefine the Cup of Redemption, leaving the Cup of Praise untouched until the glorious consummation of the Kingdom of God. And we have stood with the Centurion at the foot of the cross, feeling the earth violently quake, watching the rocks shatter, hearing the heavy veil rip from heaven to earth, and seeing the dead walk out of their tombs.
This is not mere history. This is the bedrock of our theology, the anchor of our faith, and the very source of our eternal salvation. Pastor Sam Merigala has eloquently reminded us that the cross was always Plan A. It was the divine strategy by which God maintained His absolute justice while extending unfathomable grace to sinners like you and me.
Therefore, as we reflect upon the passion of our Lord, let us not do so with mere pity or sorrow. Let us reflect with triumphant joy, profound reverence, and transforming faith. The veil is torn. The access is granted. The debt is paid. The victory is won. May the realities of this Good Friday sermon shatter the rocks of your heart, resurrect dead areas of your life, and lead you to cry out with the Centurion, "Truly, this is the Son of God!"
Grace and peace to you all. Ensure you take these biblical principles, meditate on them day and night, and allow the Holy Spirit to conform you ever more closely to the image of the King who chose the cross.
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