In Between Day

Scripture tells us that on Good Friday Jesus was crucified and on Sunday, He was resurrected. But what about Saturday, the day in between?
​ Saturday, the day in between?
We’ve seen the movies, The Passion, King of Kings, Ben Hur and many others. They show us the humanness of Christ, the treachery of man, and the power of God. We hate the injustice, but as Christians, we know the necessity of Christ dying for us. Without His death, we’d have no bridge to the Father. We rejoice when Sunday comes and the tomb is empty! What happened to Jesus on Saturday? Where was He? What was He doing?

Today, on this day in between, I want us to think about what He endured. The suffering didn’t end with His death on the cross. He did not release His soul from His body to float around earth for a while and then return to his body. No. He descended into hell. For us. Otherwise, the debt would not be paid, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23. Strong’s Concordance, defines death in this particular scripture as the Greek noun thanatos and here it speaks of Christ punishment, with the implication of future misery in hell. I don’t like to think of hell, or the fact that I was squarely on the wide road to it, until I met Jesus and He changed my direction. But it bears a great deal of thinking about, because Jesus went to hell, so that when we believe, repent, and accept Him, we do not go to hell.

Imagine how the disciples felt on that in between day. They believed Jesus was the Messiah, and indeed, He is; however, they expected the Messiah to be a warrior, to free them from earthly oppression, to make them rulers of the land. God’s plans are always bigger and farther reaching than ours! On that in between day, while the disciples scattered and hid from the authorities in fear, Jesus was fighting a battle in hell that would free them, and us, for all eternity, not just the oppression of earth, brought about by the devil and his ability to entice us to sin.

Here is further validation. After the resurrection, Mary Magdalene sees Jesus in the garden and she does not recognize Him, she believes he is the gardener. Once He opens her eyes, she realizes who He is and she wants to touch Him. He does not allow her to because He tells her He has not yet ascended to the Father, read the full story here. If he had not ascended to the Father and He had not been on earth during this period, from where do you think He had come? Hell.

We do not like sermons about hell and many do not believe there is a hell. Frequently I’ve heard it joked about, as if hell is a partying place where all the people that want to have fun get to go. If we really believed, and could conceive of the torment and hopelessness that is hell, we would not joke about it or tell someone to go there. Hell was never intended for humans. Hell was intended for the devil and his followers AKA demons. We have no problem believing angels exist, but seem to baulk at demons. Demons are the same creatures as angels, they just followed the wrong dude - Satan.

The Good News is this: Christ left heaven and came to earth for us, He died for us, He beat hell for us and His resurrection is proof of His having beat hell. Here’s a great scripture for this in between day, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10

Marantha my friends!