Friday 30 March 2018

Good Friday, Billy Graham, and the Transcendent Gospel

The truth presented to us in scripture should tell us something about not only who we are but who our neighbors are: image bearers of the Father in heaven.

Today is Good Friday; the day we remember Christ’s death on the cross. This sacrifice—the greatest outpouring of love this world will ever know—earned us our freedom from the bondage of sin.

Without the pain, loss, and sorrow of Good Friday, we could never know the intense joy of Easter morning. Rev. Billy Graham knew this himself:

Yes, it was a tragedy Jesus had to die—and the reason He had to die was because of us. There was no other way for our sins to be forgiven, and no other way for heaven’s door to be opened to us. He was willing to do this because He loves us, and He doesn’t want us to spend eternity apart from Him.

Rev. Graham dedicated his life to the importance of this day: an encounter with the crucified Christ changes everything. When Jesus bore the burden of our sins on the cross he paved the way for us to accept his free gift of forgiveness and ultimately be reunited with him.

Like a shepherd gathering his sheep, there isn’t a distance our heavenly father wouldn’t have ventured—no wilderness He wouldn’t have braved—to bring us back to himself.

A Global Ministry

Billy Graham understood the importance of going the distance for the gospel. He traveled the world spreading the good news about Good Friday and the joy to come on Easter Sunday. Since the 1940s, Graham’s crusades have visited more than 250 cities worldwide, reaching an estimated 215 million people.

Every single one, a precious child of God.

It’s no secret that each of Graham’s visits to these places brought unique challenges and areas of difficulty.

His visit to South Africa in 1973 comes to mind. For a period of almost 50 years, the nation was wrapped up in a bitter racial ...

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