Springtime is a wonderful time of year…flowers are blooming, animals are glorifying God. Spring is a time of renewal, a time of celebration. It is a New Day in the Universe.
Spring is a “New Day” season in the sight of God. It is at this time of year we recall that Jesus gives us a new chapter in our approach to pleasing our loving God.
Let’s talk about that love…the ultimate Love story that expresses how much God loves us.
In John 2:18-22 Jesus made a prediction that bothered both his adversaries as well as supporters to the point that many fell away.
· “18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
Jesus wasn’t talking about the building but HIS body. That is what we will focus on; humanity’s most important three days; from crown of thorns to crown of righteousness.
· Many call this Holy Week; especially these three days; Holy Friday, Holy Saturday and Holy Sunday which turned the tide against Satan and replaced hopelessness with hope through an eternal relationship with God.
Friday was the “the struggle” death
Events that led to the cross –
Passover was going on… a time when the nation should have been remembering their freedom from the Egyptians and focusing on God. Instead, the religious leaders were focused on how the people loved this Jesus, they were upset with how He had disrupted the sales at the temple but mainly they were jealous.
· So, Jesus had to endure the suffering from His creations…the ones He came to save put Him to death.
· In Jn 18:12-14 “So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews4 arrested Jesus and bound him. 13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.”
Eventually they sent Jesus to Pilate to allow the Roman government to put Him to death.
· However, Pilate could find no fault in Him, but since the people kept yelling for him to kill Jesus he gave them a choice, a known criminal, or an innocent man.
· The people shouted for Barabbas to be released
· At that, Pilate washed his hands and turned Jesus over to be prepared for crucifixion...
· Jesus was flogged, mocked, and tortured, being made to carry His own cross to Golgotha/Calvary. Jesus was crucified between two criminals. After He died He was given over to Joseph and Nicodemus to be buried in a grave before the Sabbath.
At this point, it would seem that Satan is incredibly pleased with humans…believing this was the end; Jesus was dead.
However, Satan did not know that was all a part of GOD’s plan that Jesus knew of.
The next day was Saturday, the Sabbath.
Here is an excerpt from Max Lucado entitled “Silent Saturday”
Jesus was silent on Saturday.
· The women have already anointed his body and placed it in Joseph’s tomb.
· The stone was secured, and guards placed outside to make sure no one steals the body.
God is also silent on Saturday after making Himself heard on Friday.
· He tore the curtains of the temple,
· opened the graves of the dead,
· rocked the earth,
· blocked the sun of the sky, and
· Sacrificed the Son of Heaven.
· Earth heard much of God on Friday.
Nothing on Saturday. Jesus is silent. God is silent. Saturday is silent.
Easter weekend discussions tend to skip Saturday. Friday and Sunday get all the coverage. The crucifixion and resurrection command our thoughts. But do not ignore Saturday.
Silent Saturdays. The day between the struggle and the solution; the question and the answer; the offered prayer and the answer thereof.
Saturday’s silence torments us. Is God angry? Did I disappoint him? God knows Jesus is in the tomb, why doesn’t He do something?
GOD was silent.
What do we do when it appears that GOD is silent?
· We pray. We wait. We engage GOD and show patience and loyalty.
· We do exactly what Jesus did. Lie still. Stay silent. Trust God.
Jesus knew God would not leave him alone in the grave. You need to know; God will not leave us alone with our struggles.
· His silence is not his absence, inactivity is never apathy.
· Saturdays have their purpose…. the eye of the storm; calmness before chaos!
· They let us feel the full force of God’s strength.
· Had God raised Jesus fifteen minutes after the death of His son, would we have appreciated the act? Were He to solve your problems the second they appear; would you appreciate His strength?
For His reasons, God inserts a Saturday between our Fridays and Sundays.
· If today is one for you, be patient. Wait on the LORD. “Be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord” (James 5:7 NKJV).
ON Sunday: the “Solution” …the risen Savior
Jesus rose from the dead…. the victim becomes the victor!
· John 20: 1-10 “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Jesus from death to life
· Matt 28:18 “All authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the FATHER, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age!”
Our prophet, priest and king rose from the dead
So, what is the significance of these three days?
Jesus endured suffering to include death on the cross. He waited patiently on Saturday to respect our FATHER and the Sabbath but came to life on the next day.
What is significant about it?
· He rose from the dead…. victory over Satan! Satan no longer has any advantage over us! Jesus took that authority from him!
We have life. We have hope. We have peace.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Mainly, we have love abound!!
1 Cor 13:7 “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
The Three days are the greatest days of humanity. GOD expressing HIS unwavering love for us by giving HIS Son on a Cross!
HE did it so we may have life, hope, peace
What about you? DO you believe that Jesus rose from the dead?
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