Easter Saturday

Was there ever a Saturday like that Saturday ?

​Jesus was dead - cruelly, viciously put to death on the Friday. The crowds had watched and jeered. Some of His followers had watched - we know that John, his mother Mary and some of the women were there.

And now on the Saturday, what was left? - a horror of the past few days; the death of all their hopes; the new life they had found- shaken to its foundations; confusion; fear of the future. And, above all, the loss of the one they loved more than any other. He was the One who had calmed every storm for them and had met every need. Now He was no more. A dark, dark day.

But there was another picture they could not see at that time.

When Jesus died He cried out, "It is finished!" What did they think that meant? It must have seemed that He meant that it was over.

But we, who live after the resurrection, know that it meant something very different. He meant, " It is accomplished! It is completed'". And when He died He went down into death not as other men had gone, but as the One who breaks the power of death, the power of hell and of the grave!

On that Saturday, if they could only have seen what was happening in the spiritual world but had not yet broken into the natural world!  That was to come on the Sunday.

In that other world there was a turning of the tables, there was a breaking of power in the stronghold of Satan, there was deliverance for the captives! We read in Matthew's gospel that at the moment He died -

​The curtain in the sanctuary of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus' resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem and appeared to many.
​(Matthew 27v51-53)

​I don't claim to understand all that is in these verses, but one thing is clear - something cataclysmic was happening! His death was not an end and a defeat. There was a release of power - it was a victory!

And on the Sunday, that truth began to break into the natural world, into this world, and the power of it never left the disciples through all of a lifetime!

What should we learn from this? And learn not simply in our minds, but deep down in our spirits. It is totally different and life-changing when you learn something in your spirit.

We can learn that Jesus Christ is Conqueror! No matter how dark the circumstances in your own life or in the global situation we face today, He is Lord and we look for the manifestation of His power and His glory.

He has conquered. The last enemy is death and He has conquered it. And He is the conqueror of every dark thought within you, of every circumstance that would seek to break you. Jesus is stronger than all that can come against us. Let us turn our eyes to Him and wait with anticipation for the resurrection morning, when the darkness is past and the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings!

​The morning is coming!

Jennifer Jack