I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. Philippians 3:10
If yesterday was Good Friday, then this is Exceptionally Good Saturday. How can I say “Exceptionally Good,” you ask, when Jesus was in the grave on this day and all hope was lost? Well, the same way we say “Good Friday” when there seems nothing good about Jesus dying. We say Good Friday because of what we know about what Christ’s death accomplished. Those who are in the know know this death was the key to their salvation — the only way God could accept them into His kingdom. It was Jesus dying in our place, releasing us to be loved by a loving God who had to do something about our sin if He was going to bring us into a relationship with Him. So it’s good. It’s very, very good. It’s Jesus in the process of making everything new. This is why He endured all the beatings and the mockery and death itself, because He knew what He was doing.
So if Friday was good, Saturday was even better, because Saturday is one day closer to the resurrection that would seal this whole deal and make it stick for eternity. The resurrection blew open the gates of hell and set a pathway to eternal life that we are now following. Jesus was the first one through and He’s bringing the rest of us who believe right along with Him. Sunday is a glorious day, it’s a victorious day, it’s the most incredible day on the planet. And Saturday? Well Saturday is just one day away. Saturday is waiting. Saturday is anticipating the resurrection power that can make everything new.
Actually, this process goes on in our lives all the time. We experience the death of something important — something we relied upon, something we hoped for — but it died, and in the death is a genuine sorrow. It might have been a habit; it might have been a husband. We grieve, we mourn, as we should — like a child giving up his blanket and needing to be alone for a while to adjust to life without it. That’s Saturday. Saturdays are about experiencing the death. Saturdays can be over quickly or they can last a long time. It depends on how big of a hole the death left in our lives. But inevitably, resurrection power is waiting just around the corner.
Resurrection is all about the next day. And this isn’t some “in the sweet by and by” resurrection power off somewhere in the heavenlies; this is the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead made available to you and me by faith today … now … this instant. This is how we experience Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection all in this life we lead. So celebrate Saturday. Celebrate the loss, and celebrate the power made possible by Christ’s death, burial and resurrection — and ours, too!
