Good Friday Poems about the Cross by Christina Joy Hommes
Worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with these Good Friday poems as you gain a fresh appreciation for His death on our behalf on the cross of Calvary.
Still Worthy
Still Worthy
Before the world existed
And time or space were made,
God’s Son was with the Father
In majesty arrayed.
But then He came among us,
A man like you and me.
He faced the same temptations
Yet stood in purity.
Messiah still was worthy
Of sitting on God’s throne
Where not a hint of evil
Can enter or be shown.
Then Jesus took our sin-load
With all our guilt and shame
And gave Himself as payment
As if He was to blame.
His sacrifice sufficient
To cancel all that sin,
The risen Christ ascended
And freely entered in.
He sat beside the Father
On God’s eternal throne
Unscathed and robed in glory
To claim it as His own.
Still worthy of His title,
Still worthy of His place,
Oh, what a glorious Savior
Now fills the throne of grace!
Christina Joy Hommes
It’s one thing for the Son to have been co-equal and able to sit on the Father’s throne before the incarnation. But He twice took steps that would have disqualified anyone else – facing life’s temptations and then bearing our sin – and yet He triumphed in purity and glory, still worthy to claim His title and throne. As we believe:
Jesus…
- Lived on earth as one of us
- Faced the same temptations and troubles we face
- Never sinned in thought, word, or action
- Remained pure and holy without a hint of sin
- Was still worthy to sit on God’s holy throne after 33 years on earth
We know from experience what divine strength and purpose that takes!
And then He…
- Took all of our sins as if they were His own and stood guilty in our place
- Offered Himself as a sacrifice and died in our place
- Was a substitute so pure, so infinite, so acceptable that He did what we could never do
- Paid for and canceled the record of all those sins in full
- Rose to eternal life unscathed by evil
- Ascended worthy to sit on God’s righteous throne, retain His titles, and reclaim His rightful position of honor and majesty
That is magnificent and astonishing beyond our comprehension!
Truly the Lord Jesus is eternally worthy of all worship and praise.
Hallelujah!
Come, See! The God of Heaven
Come, see! The God of heaven
Is walking on this earth;
The angels He created
Announce His humble birth.
Come, see! The God of heaven
Is healing blind and lame
And making friends of outcasts
Who call upon His Name.
Come, see! The God of heaven
Is dying on the tree –
The innocent found guilty
To pardon you and me.
Come, see! The God of heaven
Is rising from the grave
Exalted and triumphant
To prove His pow’r to save.
Come, see! The God of heaven
Ascending to His throne
To intercede forever
For those He calls His own.
Come, see! The God of heaven
Is coming back to reign
With all His saints who follow
Exultant in His train.
Come, see! The God of heaven
Is making all things new.
Our King and our Redeemer
We bring our praise to You!
Christina Joy Hommes
Between the Cross and Sunday
Between
Between the cross and Sunday
Were days of bitter gloom
To those who took Christ’s body
And laid it in a tomb,
Because they’d all forgotten
His promise He would rise
And see them three days later
When He’d secured the prize.
But Christ had not forgotten
Or let their unbelief
Distract Him from His purpose
Though they were lost in grief.
Before the dawn had broken
That Sunday, He arose
Our everlasting Savior
Who conquered all His foes.
Behold the risen Savior
With nail prints in His hands –
The tokens of His conquest
While glorified He stands.
Believe His saving promise
For He will keep His Word
Though everyone’s forgotten
The precious things they’ve heard.
Between the resurrection
And rapture let’s hold fast
His faithful words of promise
That He will come at last.
Christina Joy Hommes
It’s Different Since I Know Him
It’s Different Since I Know Him
It’s different since I know Him,
It’s personal to me
To watch the Savior’s triumph
And pain at Calvary.
I see my Friend so heavy
In anguish and distress
When yielding in the Garden
To take my sinfulness.
I see Him mocked and beaten,
Unjustly tried, condemned;
Yet like a Lamb He’s silent –
So regal to the end.
I see Him trip and stumble
Beneath that cross of mine,
So weak yet speaking comfort –
Still mortal and divine.
I see them nail my Jesus
To hang upon the tree;
I hear Him pray, Forgive them
For what they’ve done to me.
I hear the crowd that mocked Him,
They scorned His Word and claim;
But when the thief repented
Christ saved him just the same.
I grieve as He’s forsaken,
The Father turns away,
Eternal oneness broken
By sin that awful day.
I watch Him cry, It’s finished!
The triumph was complete –
He gave His life for others
And purchased death’s defeat.
I see them take His body
And lay it in a tomb;
I see the soldiers guarding
Salvation’s waiting room.
I see Him rise eternal,
The Prince of life and love,
Now glorified forever
To reign in truth above.
I see Him speak to Mary,
So tender in her grief;
I hear Him near Emmaus
And join the men’s belief.
I watch the Lord appearing
To those who knew Him best
With proofs that He was living
As all of them attest.
I see Him go to Thomas
And show His hands and side;
I hear His grace and worship
My Lord now glorified.
I see Him rise to heaven
Ascending as He’ll come
To take His throne forever
And make our promised home.
I see Him interceding
For those He calls His own –
Still saving, guarding, guiding
His children from His throne.
I see Him waiting, ready
To catch us all away
To share with Him forever
His life and endless day.
It’s different since I know Him,
They’re more than facts to me,
For Jesus is my Savior
Whose love has set me free.
Christina Joy Hommes
Symbols of the Cross
Symbols of the Cross
The thorns and nails, the cross of wood,
Are symbols of the One who stood
To take my place and bear my sin
Though He was pure and wholly good.
The Lord Himself came down for me
And paid my debt at Calvary
To give me hope, forgive my guilt,
And let me live eternally.
He rose and left an empty grave
To show His right to freely save
For Jesus rose in victory
And all my sin and guilt forgave.
My song will ever be of One
Who faced my death for me and won
For by His death I ever live
A witness of what Christ has done.
Christina Joy Hommes
God Didn’t Have to Care
God Didn’t Have to Care
Enthroned in perfect splendor
God didn’t have to care
About rebellious creatures
Who sinned and faced despair.
Yet love defined His nature –
He wouldn’t turn away
From those that He’d created
Though we had gone astray.
He felt our pain and sorrow
And grieved that we were lost;
He set His mind to save us
Despite the awful cost.
He left the light and glory,
The worship and the praise,
To share a world we’d broken
With all our sinful ways.
Then, when He’d faced temptation,
He took sin’s heavy load
And died the death we’d chosen
To pay the debt we owed.
Though crucified He triumphed –
He rose to crush our foe
And offer free salvation
To all who dwell below.
Now risen and exalted,
The God-man gladly bears
The marks of our redemption
Which make us sons and heirs.
Enthroned in perfect splendor
He reaches down in love
To save the lost and give us
His endless life above.
Christina Joy Hommes
Where all My Hopes Are Built
Where all My Hopes Are Built
Yes, I deserve to die,
My sin condemns my soul;
And by myself I can’t escape
Or shake its full control.
But Jesus died for me –
He took my sin and guilt,
He paid my debt upon the cross
Where all my hopes are built.
Now I am free indeed
For Christ has set me free!
He rose again and gave me life
For all eternity.
Henceforth I live in Him
And heed His loving call.
With grateful thanks I praise His Name
For He’s my all in all.
Christina Joy Hommes
He Faced the Cross for Me
He Faced the Cross for Me
He took my sin and faced the cross
Then counted gain what first was loss;
He saw the joy that pain obscured,
And endless life through death secured.
Though He was rich, He came here poor,
The God that sinners would ignore;
Though He was great, He served the least
And through His death, death’s chains released.
He rose again though He had died,
Though once made low was magnified;
The Lamb once slain now lives above
And reigns supreme the Lord of love.
He offers life instead of death,
Gives purpose for each fleeting breath;
Through serving Him He sets us free
To gain a prize we cannot see.
Amazing love! Amazing grace!
That God Himself would take my place;
He died to give His life to me –
I’ll praise Him through eternity.
Christina Joy Hommes
The Nail Prints in His Hands
The Nail Prints in His Hands
His hands and feet still bear the marks
From hanging on the tree;
The nail-scars tell a silent tale
That speaks to you and me.
They mark humiliation’s day
When Jesus bore our sin;
In lonely shame He died for us
That we might enter in.
They mark His triumph over death
For He who died now lives,
And by the power of that life
New life to us He gives.
They’re marks of pain and yet of peace,
Of everlasting grace;
Reminders for eternal day
That He has bought our place.
He bears the nail-prints in His hands
Which reach to you and me
To offer life, salvation, joy
For all eternity.
Christina Joy Hommes
Seeing Jesus At the Cross
(Abbreviated version below full poem.)
Seeing Jesus at the Cross
I see Him in the Garden bowed
In agony to pray,
“Lord, if you can, remove this cup,
But do your will I pray.”
I see Him in His captor’s hands
As gentle as a Lamb,
Though He had just displayed His strength
When He had said, “I Am.”
I see Him in the Jewish court,
Unjustly tried at night,
Declaring that He’d someday judge
If what they did was right.
I see Him look at Peter’s face
And know He was betrayed,
Yet show such love and pity still
For one for whom He’d prayed.
I see Him stand in Pilate’s hall
Without the least reply
Until He offered Pilate truth
And warned the guilt won’t die.
I see Him mocked and pierced by thorns,
I see Him beaten, scourged,
All for my sake, to make me His,
When all my sins were purged.
I see Him led outside the camp,
Bowed down beneath a cross,
Too weak to bear it by Himself
From so much pain and loss.
I see Him walking up the hill
Where grace would answer law,
Still more concerned for those He loved
Than for His pain so raw.
I see Him nailed to yonder tree,
The Son of God and man,
Between two thieves hung up in shame
To keep salvation’s plan.
I see Him cry in deep despair,
“My God, My God,” then say,
“Why have You turned Your back on me?”
For God had turned away.
I see Him shout in victory,
“It’s finished!” All is done.
He bore God’s wrath and paid sin’s debt –
The conquest had been won!
I see Him bow His thorn-crowned brow
Then breath His last and die;
He freely gave Himself, a gift,
My life with His to buy.
I see Him wrapped and laid within
An empty borrowed tomb;
Three days and nights as He had said
Earth felt an awful gloom.
I see Him rise in victory
To die again no more –
The Victor over sin and death
Alive forevermore!
I see Him tender as He calls
To Mary through her tears;
He called her name to give her hope,
And scatter all her fears.
I see Him teach the two who walked
With heavy hearts that day
And show them how God’s Word had said
It had to be this way.
I see Him in the upper room
Reveal His hands and feet –
The Lamb once slain now raised to life
In victory complete.
I see Him back in Galilee
With Peter by the lake
Forgiving and restoring him
For love and mercy’s sake.
I see Him blessing those He loved
Whom He had made His own,
When clouds received Him from their sight
Ascending to His throne.
I see Him calling now to us
To turn to Him and live,
And interceding for His own –
Gifts only He could give.
I see Him waiting to return
To judge and to reward;
Will you be ready when He comes
Our mighty risen Lord?
Christina Joy Hommes
***
Seeing Jesus at the Cross
I see Him mocked and pierced by thorns,
I see Him beaten, scourged,
All for my sake, to make me His,
When all my sins were purged.
I see Him nailed to yonder tree,
To die there in my place,
My sin and shame He freely took
To give me life and grace.
I see Him shout in victory,
“It’s finished!” All is done.
He bore God’s wrath and paid sin’s debt –
The conquest had been won!
I see Him wrapped and laid within
An empty borrowed tomb;
Three days and nights as He had said
Earth felt an awful gloom.
I see Him rise in victory
To die again no more –
The Victor over sin and death
Alive forevermore!
I see Him waiting to return
To judge and to reward;
Will you be ready when He comes
Our mighty risen Lord?
Christina Joy Hommes