Unlocked Devotional: EasterSample

WORST SATURDAY

It was the worst Saturday ever. The sun had come up, and the birds were still singing just like any other day. But to Jesus’s disciples, the whole world had been destroyed. Jesus had died on a cross.

The disciples were alive, but their hope was gone.

Of course, their people had felt this sorrow before. Several hundred years earlier, a savage empire had invaded Jerusalem, sacking the city, taking the people captive, and destroying the temple. That day, too, was like the end of the world.

But the prophets had said there would be a restoration. They had said God had promised to save His people from sin and death and restore them to the land. The disciples had thought—had known—that Jesus was the promised King who would restore the kingdom.

All the signs were there. He had performed miracles, spoken and taught with authority, and even raised the dead.

Now He couldn’t do any of those things. What is more, they had lost a friend and the only One who would teach them. Had they misread the signs? Was God angry with them for having followed a false teacher? Or did God even remember His people and His promises?

They didn’t know that the next morning, the story wouldn’t just be continued, but ended. That Jesus would win so unexpectedly and decisively. That He would fulfill all the promises made to His people. That He would do what was literally impossible…and rise from the dead.

– Kevin Zeller

THINK ABOUT IT

Have you ever felt like your whole world was destroyed?

What sorts of resurrection promises can you find in the Old Testament of the Bible?

Read John 11:25, 1 Corinthians 15, and 1 Peter 1:3-5. Because of Jesus’s resurrection, what hope do we have as Christians?

KEY VERSE

“For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man [Jesus] will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.” Matthew 12:40 (CSB)