Jesus' Last Week: Saturday! Is it all over? Has the Devil won the fight?

It’s Saturday! It’s the Sabbath. This will be a day of rest for the Jewish people. What was God’s command to His people about the Sabbath?

                Exod. 20: 8 “Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. 9 You have six days in which to do your work, 10 but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work—neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country. 11 In six days I, the LORD, made the earth, the sky, the seas, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the LORD, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy.

And, so Jesus rested on the Sabbath anticipating the next move. A move He alluded to in His exchanges:

               Mat. 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to say plainly to his disciples, “I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much from the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. I will be put to death, but three days later I will be raised to life.”

Christians can take courage when (it seems) like the enemy has won. It is during these times that we should adopt an attitude of “rest.” How many times have you arrived at the place of defeat, with no hope in sight? The children of Israel can tell you a thing or two about feeling down and out:

                Exod. 14:10 When the Israelites saw the king and his army marching against them, they were terrified and cried out to the LORD for help. 11 They said to Moses, “Weren't there any graves in Egypt? Did you have to bring us out here in the desert to die? Look what you have done by bringing us out of Egypt! 12 Didn't we tell you before we left that this would happen? We told you to leave us alone and let us go on being slaves of the Egyptians. It would be better to be slaves there than to die here in the desert.” 13 Moses answered, “Don't be afraid! Stand your ground, and you will see what the LORD will do to save you today; you will never see these Egyptians again. 14 The LORD will fight for you, and all you have to do is keep still.”

If you are facing challenging times…remember, it’s Saturday. Sunday is coming!

                   Meanwhile……the guardians of the Law were pretty busy!

Mat. 27: 62 The next day, which was a Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees met with Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember that while that liar was still alive he said, ‘I will be raised to life three days later.’ 64 Give orders, then, for his tomb to be carefully guarded until the third day, so that his disciples will not be able to go and steal the body, and then tell the people that he was raised from death. This last lie would be even worse than the first one.” 65 “Take a guard,” Pilate told them; “go and make the tomb as secure as you can.” 66 So they left and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and leaving the guard on watch.

                 What’s about to happen next has eternal implications…

GoogleImage

Written by Kevin A. Hall.