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If you are a follower of Jesus, imagine waking up on the morning after His crucifixion. You’ve spend a sleepless night tossing and turning, crying and praying, and you finally drift off to sleep just before morning. You wake with an unexplained emptiness in the pit of your stomach, then you remember. Jesus is dead. Hope is gone. It’s the Sabbath before Easter.
Have you been there?
The day after some tragic, life-changing event?
The moment reality starts to sink in and sorrow overwhelms your soul?
Jesus was crucified on Friday. Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath: a day created for rest and worship.
The Sabbath before Easter could have been one of expectant hope. After all, Jesus told His followers many times that He would be killed and rise again on the third day (Luke 9:22, Matthew 12:40, Matthew 16:21). But their grief clouded their memory. Instead of watching and waiting, they were hiding and mourning.
As I strive to help my family and yours in creating lifelong memories in everyday moments, the most important things I want them to remember are the words of Jesus. Only His words bring hope during those darkest moments in life.
Words of Jesus That Give Us Hope
- Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3 NASB
- I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; John 14:1 NASB
- I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:1 NASB
- These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. John 16:33
- Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:3-4
- For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? Matthew 6:25-26 NASB
- If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! Matthew 7:11 NASB
- “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
- For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. Luke 9:24 NASB
- Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows. Luke 12:6-7 NASB
- Now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:7-8 NASB
- “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Revelation 1:17b-18 NASB
- “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Revelation 22:12-14 NASB
The Sabbath Before Easter
On that dark Sabbath before Easter, did some remember the words of Jesus?
Did a woman afraid to hope hold on to hope anyway?
Did a man continuously repeat to himself Jesus’ prophecy about His resurrection?
Did a child dare to suggest that this wasn’t really the end?
Scripture doesn’t tell us. Today, we look on knowing the rest of the story. A glorious Easter morning was coming. If only they had known!
For those in Christ, we can look on tragedy knowing the rest of the story as well. God has a plan and Sunday is coming! (Know Jesus, Share Jesus)
No, we do not know the details of all that is to come in our life, but God assures us that the ultimate victory is ours in Jesus. He is working for His glory and our good. He has a plan. Our Sabbath before Easter, though dark and full of grief, holds infinite hope.
Always remember His words.
No, we do not know the details of all that is to come in our life, but God assures us that the ultimate victory is ours in Jesus. He is working for His glory and our good. He has a plan. Our Sabbath before Easter, though dark and full of grief, holds infinite hope.Click To TweetHe is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”And they remembered His words. Luke 24:6-8
I know I can fall into a bit of hopeless mind when grief sets in. But God’s word is so full of hope! Thanks for sharing all those scripture verses today! And such a beautiful picture of the child at the foot of the cross.
This goes very well with my Lent post on Jesus crying my God, why has thou forsaken me. I’ve shared this with my Lent group.