A Holy Week devotion to carry your spirit to Easter Sunday:
When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. Matthew 27:50–52 (NIV)
How come this detail doesn’t get more notice? Many people came back to life on the day Jesus died. That’s a big deal! In all the Easter weeks I’ve spent in church, never once do I remember a single mention of the life that began at the moment of Jesus’s death.
READ MORE: 8 Prayers for Holy Week
Each year when Good Friday arrives, the sky seems to hang lower, the atmosphere subdued by the weight of the universe and eternity and loss. We can’t wait for Easter, when we can give a standing ovation for Jesus’s victory. The hope of Easter brightens the darkness of Good Friday.
I’ve always thought Jesus’s Father God waited until Easter to clarify His victory, but He did not! He began bringing His people back to life immediately. Eternal rebirth for humanity began immediately after Jesus paid the price for us.
Jesus won, a truth that unequivocally means life. Eternal life in all its healing, saving glory began on Good Friday.
Whatever the day looks like from your perspective, whatever season of happiness or sorrow you are in today, celebrate His gift of your life as you thank Jesus for dying to buy you back from death.
FAITH STEP: Spend a few minutes imagining the scene in Heaven’s throne room after Jesus died as faithful followers were reborn. Thank Him for life.
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