Every Lord’s Day is a time of celebration! It is the day of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, an event especially celebrated also on Easter Sunday. However, the joy of Easter would be impossible without the darkness and death of Good Friday. That too forms part of the glad tidings in which redeemed sinners may rejoice. The two are closely related as can be seen in the testament of our Saviour.

The Testament of Our Saviour⤒🔗

If someone dies, then at some date after the funeral, the will or testament is read. This is an important and solemn occasion – an occasion no one involved wants to miss out on. The inheritance is being divided!

In a real way, our Sunday worship services are like that. After all, does the proclamation of the Word not tell us the riches that are ours because of the death of the great Testator (maker of the will) Jesus Christ. He has died! And his will and testament can, therefore, be read and his riches distributed! That is one of the reasons that make our public worship an event we would not want to miss! Christ’s riches, the riches of his will and testament, yes the riches of the new covenant which have superseded and displaced the old covenant, are proclaimed every Lord’s Day in the worship services. As people of God, we want to be at this proclamation!

Christ Jesus – He has died and that is, in this context, good news. For as Hebrews 9:16-17 points out, before a will can take effect, the one who made the will has to die. Well, He has died and as a result we have a great inheritance coming our way! Yes, He laid down his life for He had to die – not only according to the normal rule governing wills and testaments – but, especially according to the rules governing the testament and will God made with man. According to the old covenant (or testament), blood had to be shed for the atonement of sin. And according to the new covenant, it is the same: the blood of the covenant had to be poured out and it was poured out in Jesus Christ.

Therefore, Scripture says, we may rejoice! For only Christ’s blood and death is sufficient for the true and full forgiveness of sins. And therefore, Christ’s death is so carefully documented in Scripture, for without that death, the will cannot go into effect. Yes, without the death the covenant cannot be executed.

Celebrating His Death←⤒🔗

You sense that there is a very close relationship between “will” or “testament” and “covenant.” Indeed, they are the same word in the Greek of Hebrews 9:16-18. So Christ’s death means the riches of the new covenant are ours. The new covenant – for no longer is it the blood of animals that speaks of the death, but now it is the fulfillment of all these shadows! The Testator, the Maker of the will, has himself come down to die and to put his new testament/covenant into effect!

Therefore although it may seem paradoxical, we may celebrate the death on Good Friday and at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Christ’s death is glad tidings! It speaks of the inheritance Christ has laid up for us.

To be sure, Good Friday and the Lord’s Supper is a sober remembering of solemn facts: the horror of Christ’s agony and suffering and death – a death is remembered. Yet, it is also a joyous remembering! For the blood of the covenant has been poured out for forgiveness! Yes, but there is more. It is a celebration and not a subdued gathering as when an estate is being split up. For what is the key part of the inheritance?! Is it not, that we may have the greatest treasure of all, namely, the living Saviour! For He who died, “was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). He lives to guide his sanctified people to himself! That too is part of his work of salvation.

After all, He only died to put the provisions of his testament regarding our redemption into effect. Therefore He laid down his life and therefore He took it up again (John 10:17-18). That is why remembering his death can be a celebration!

Persevere in Celebrating←⤒🔗

Our Saviour lives and He is himself a guarantee that those riches of the inheritance are ours. Now it could happen that we grow weary and tired in waiting for that inheritance to come from heaven in all its full splendour, where it is kept imperishable and undefiled for us (1 Peter 1:4). However, lest this happens, our Saviour has given us the regular preaching of the Word. Every Lord’s Day is a time of hearing the details of the last testament of our Saviour who died to put it into effect and who rose from the dead according to that same testament. He lives to guide us on by his Word and Spirit. He lives, also to encourage us by the signs and seals of the sacraments. Our Saviour lives and He wants his people to know that the inheritance really does belong to them with all the riches of his covenant – the riches of the forgiveness of sins and therefore life in communion with God – life eternal.

What a joyous incentive to worship and listen to the preaching of the Word and to use the sacraments! Children of God are rich beyond compare – rich in Christ Jesus, crucified and resurrected!