A new day

Matthew 28:1 "Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb."

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I have wondered about the silent Saturday that Jesus was in the tomb.  Why did it happen that Jesus would be dead for that day.  Why couldn't He rise on Saturday instead of Sunday?  I don't really know but it occurred to me that Jesus was dead over the course of the full Sabbath.  The Sabbath had been instituted by the Father to remember the 7th Day of Creation, when the Father rested.

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Genesis 2:3 "So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation."  

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Just as the Father rested from all His work, done in Creation, so the Son rested when His work was done for restoration.  John 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.  Luke records it this way: Luke 23:46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last.

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We think of Jesus as dead for that day but we know He'd committed His spirit to the Father and he promised the thief on the cross next to him: Luke 23:43 And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise."  

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And you might consider this the final official Sabbath because the next day became known as the Lord's Day...Sunday...and now we mark the beginning of the week, as we mark the celebration of new life, purchased by the blood of Jesus.

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John 20:"19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

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The Cross represented incredible agony but it also marked incomparable victory...a victory celebrated first when the Son went to the Father in Spirit immediately upon dying and by the Disciples when He returned to His body and rose.  Jesus celebrated the final Sabbath rest with His Father and now we celebrate the victory of life on the day He rose!

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blessings!

Rob Smith

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"Death is inevitable.  Life is a choice!"

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live."