The Longest Day

 The Longest Day

April 19, 2025

Luke 23:50-56 (NASB95) 

50 And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man 51 (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man fromArimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; 52 this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. 54 It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 55 Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Matthew 27:62-66 (NASB95) 

62 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63 and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’ 64 “Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until thethird day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.

Luke 24:19-21 (NASB95) 

19 And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sightof God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. 21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.

Friday had been full of furious activity; betrayal, arrest, torture, death and burial. Sunday was coming with the great miracle of the resurrection, but what about Saturday? The scriptures don’t tell us much about that day. Luke tells us that it was the Sabbath so they rested. And Matthew tells us that the chief priests were worried about a fake resurrection, so they posted a guard on the tomb. In Luke we here that the disciples were still discussion things early on Sunday morning; “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.” But what about Saturday?

All the disciples hopes were dashed. One of their own had betrayed Jesus and even Peter had denied knowing Jesus. W/hat was to become of them? What was to become of their hopes in one who was to redeem Israel? It was the Sabbath, but did they dare show their face in the temple, or would they be arrested also? What would the Romans do? Would they try to track down and crucify the other “insurrectionists”? It was a day of waiting, or death and despair.

Jesus had tried to tell them, but they didn’t really hear that there was a resurrection coming. That redemption and salvation were indeed about to be revealed to Israel. As the saying goes,”it is darkest before the dawn”. The disciples were down and uncertain about what to do. They had had a hope, but their hopes were dashed when Jesus died, and they were left with only uncertainty.

Have you ever been in such a place where your hopes were dashed and you didn’t know what tomorrow would bring? Waiting on the Lord is hard when everything around you screams death and despair. But have faith, because Sunday is coming! The resurrection brought renewed hope as well as actual salvation. The Sunday dawn revealed the power of God to overcome all enemies, even death. The prophet Hosea saw this many years before:

Hosea 13:14

14 Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?

Shall I redeem them from death?

O Death, where are your thorns?

O Sheol, where is your sting?

Compassion will be hidden from My sight. 

So take hope in the Lord, whatever your present circumstances. Friday is dark and Saturday is uncertain, but Sunday is coming…