Finally tonight: Good Friday and why it was the badness of the last bad Thursday that made the first Good Friday really good.

The value of the Good News in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ wouldn't be as good if not for the price of the bad news that His atonement paid.

For instance, the wages of sin is death. On Thursday, you had to pay your own way. On Good Friday, Christ paid for everyone who would believe.

On Thursday, a thief was fearing death on the cross with no hope of heaven. On Good Friday, that same thief was hoping for heaven with no fear of death.

On Thursday, the cross was a painful place on which to die. On Good Friday, the cross became the promise of grace in which to rest.

For millions of Christians, it is all that was bad on that last bad Thursday that allows us to appreciate what was really good about that first Good Friday.