It's Holy Saturday, or the day before Resurrection Day, and I awoke in the darkness of the small hours thinking about Jesus on this day. The Bible doesn't enlighten us much about it. For one thing, it was the Jewish Sabbath, and a special one at that, since it was Passover week, a required day of rest and remembrance. All we are told about Jesus, and His followers for that matter, is that He had been put in a borrowed tomb, and the door had been sealed and guarded, for fear the disciples would steal His body. Then silence on Saturday.
Paul and Peter both teach that Jesus descended to Sheol, a place of death and darkness. [See Ephesians 4:9, Acts 2:24, 1 Peter 3:19.] All this leads me to believe that on this day Jesus was in a state of complete rest from His labors. After all, one of His last utterances was, "It is finished." And what labors they were-- more painful and ponderous than any of us can imagine! With His torture and bleeding our sins were atoned for, once and for all, His work on earth was done, His purpose accomplished, our salvation complete.
And yet, I can't help thinking that wherever Jesus was on this day, it couldn't possibly have been dark, because HE was there! John tells us, "His life is the light that shines through the darkness--- and the darkness can never extinguish it." (John 1:5 TLB)
Yes, He came back and walked again on earth for a few days, but His toil was done, and He came back victorious over our last enemy, death. No more pain and hatred, only glory and rejoicing.
I wonder, when we have days of heaviness or darkness, if we could possibly look at them as days of rest from our labors and struggles, confident if He is our Lord, that His Light is always in us and the darkness cannot overcome us. And we know that someday soon there will be a day of neverending light and life, when we will shine with Him, simply because we have endured, and then rested.
"He must increase and I must decrease."
John 3:30
✝️
