April 16 – Holy Saturday, Sunday Is Coming

“And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.” Matthew 27:66 (NIV)

We have been considering how Jesus approached His death on the cross and how He died. Now, let us consider what happened after He died and after He was buried by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus in a new tomb. Because the Sabbath began at sunset His burial needed to be done quickly on the same evening (Friday) that Jesus died. What happened on Saturday? We are told that some of the women who had followed Jesus watched the burial that Friday evening, spent time preparing spices and perfumes to anoint His body (Luke 23:25-26). But because Saturday was the Sabbath, the women decided to wait one more day and rested on Saturday. The interesting thing is that although the friends and disciples of Jesus were inactive on Saturday, some of his enemies were not. Matthew 27:62–65 records how the enemies of Jesus remembered what he had said about rising again. They went on Saturday to request a special guard at the tomb where Jesus was buried. Today's verse describes what resulted from their request. Jesus had promised to rise again and nothing that his enemies did would stop what God would be doing on Sunday morning.   

198

January 22 – Resting While Working

“So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” Hebrews 4:9-10 (NASB)

Resting is trusting in the midst of trials and testing. It’s well for us to be aware of the benefits Christian faith which God gives us to experience. In these days as attacks on our faith by the enemy grow more and more overt, we can find a promise of rest in today's verse. This concept of resting began a long time ago. God rested after the creation of the universe. In the Old Testament God wanted His people to rest on His promise to take care of them. They often disappointed Him by trying to work things out their own way. God is still eager for us to rest upon His promises. We rest on His promise to give us eternal life when we believed on Jesus as our Savior. He wants us to know that our ultimate promised rest is not realized fully during this life on Earth. That rest is ours today and it will be fully realized in the Messiah’s Kingdom. Now we hold an earnest of the promise. Instead of worrying about things, let's rest on God goodness and love today and remember the promise that has been given to each of us.  

198

September 2 – Rest by the Grace of God

“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” Hebrews 4:9-10 (ESV)

The author of these words is reminding us and pointing back to the time when God created the world.  We remember that the Bible tells us that after God had finished the work of creation, He rested (Genesis 2:2).  This meant that the work He had planned to do was all done.  Our verse today also reminds us that God wants us to rest too.  We can call this the rest of faith.  God doesn't want us to continue to keep trying to be good enough to earn this rest.  He wants us to accept what Jesus has done for us through faith-believing and to allow His work to make us good enough.  He offers us rest and He has made it possible for us to enter that rest.  We really do not please God by trying harder, we please Him by trusting what He has already done for us and trusting Him to work in our lives each day – even today.  This is the promise of rest we have been given.  Not because we did it but because Jesus did it for us and we believe it by faith.

If these short posts bring encouragement to you, please share with others. 

# # #

March 31 - Holy Saturday, Sunday Is Coming

“So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.” Matthew 27:66 (NIV)

We have been considering how Jesus approached His death on the cross and how He died. Now, let us consider what happened after He died and after He was buried by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus in a new tomb. His burial was quickly done on the same evening that Jesus died. What happened on Saturday? We are told that some of the women who had followed Jesus watched the burial that Friday evening, prepared spices and perfumes to anoint His body. But because Saturday was the Sabbath, the women decided to wait one more day. The interesting thing is that although the friends and disciples of Jesus were inactive on Saturday, some of his enemies were not. Matthew records how the enemies of Jesus remembered what he had said about rising again. They went on Saturday to request a special guard at the tomb where Jesus was buried. Today's verse describes what resulted from their request. Jesus had promised to rise again and nothing that his enemies did would stop what God would be doing on Sunday morning.   

January 5 – Resting While Working

“So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” Hebrews 4:9-10 (NASB)

It is well for us to be aware of the benefits of the Christian life which God wants us to experience.  In these days as attacks on our faith by the enemy grow more and more bold, we can find a promise in today's verse. The concept of resting began a long time ago. We read about God resting after the creation of the universe. The idea of resting is mentioned in the Old Testament where God wanted His people to rest on His promise to take care of them. They often disappointed Him by trying to work things out for themselves. God is still anxious for us to rest upon His promises. We rest on His promise to give us eternal life when we believed on Jesus as our Savior. He wants us to rest on His promise to care for our needs each day. Instead of worrying about things, let's rest on God goodness and love today and remember the promise that has been given to each of us.  

March 1

“It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,” Psalm 92:1-2  (NIV)

We know, of course, that the Psalms were written by God’s people, the Jews, and were sung by the Jewish people. Their day of rest, of course, was the Sabbath. It was a day to worship God in a special way. We have our special days set aside to worship God. Whether we get to church or not we can have the special blessing that comes from praising God in word and in song as well as in our thoughts. We experience that it is good to praise Him, telling of His love as we begin the day and His faithfulness when the day is over.