Events on Holy Saturday, just before Easter and after Good Friday

A wonderful sermon on Holy Saturday by dear sister Sashmita Samuel. She works as a lecturer in a BPharm college after completing her M.Pharm. She is quiet in the church, but when she gave the sermon on Saturday, it was profound and fulfilling.

Let me quickly give a brief account of what the sermon was all about.

As mentioned earlier, we had this 40 day lent season, where we used to gather everyday at the church in the evening and meditate on the word of God. We focused on meditating 1 and 2 Chronicles and we covered the entire first Chronicles book. Praise God for such initiatives. As we approached Easter, we started the holy week services. Right from Monday - Easter Sunday, we had 7 days of service.

• Monday - Jesus cursing the Fig tree because of its lack of fruit but false display of fullness
• Tuesday - Jesus casting off the business men and the money lenders from the temple and stating the Temple to be the house of Worship.
• Wednesday - Judas agreeing with the leaders and elders of the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver coins.
• Thursday - The last supper and the holy communion - also called as Maundy Thursday.
• Friday - Good Friday - the day Jesus was crucified.
• Saturday - Holy Saturday. We will read more about this day in the blog post.
• Sunday - The resurrection day, when Jesus defeated death and was resurrected.

In this week long meditations, everyday we all went to the Church and enjoyed the presence of the Lord. Good Friday we had a half-day service at the church. And on Saturday, which is called the Holy Saturday, we heard this message from the dear sister.

What is Holy Saturday? What happened on that day?
Let us fist look at three points:

1. There is a wide gap between our faith and its fulfillment. Jesus was crucified on that cross and was buried, and the apostles did not know what was going to happen.

2. The events that happened on this day acts as a bridge between what we believe and what we shall see one day at His appearing

3. This Saturday is also a day of waiting - waiting upon God and waiting upon the possibilities of a new beginning.

Let us go further into the topic and dwell on the happenings on Holy Saturday.

If we remember Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were so downcast, In Matt 27:61, it says "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb." They were sitting opposite the tomb, they did not believe Jesus words where He said how he will rise up on the 3rd day. The disciples also did not believe, so we see them on the same day, they ran to see the empty tomb, but they still did not believe. The ironic part in the entire episode is that the Chief Priests believed what

Jesus said when he was alive. In Matt 27:62-66, "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 the third 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."

What a shame, the enemy remembers the exact words of Jesus and they believed
it, but we do not remember, neither do we trust our Saviour's words. We need to be careful as to not to neglect His word, but to be cautious and always remember His words. If we believe, Saturday will be short, else, long.

Let us look at every year's message on this Saturday. Everybody in this place has shared the same message from the book of Ephesians Chatper 4: 8 - 11.  Every year, message, about Eph 4:8-10 (led captivity captive) the same theme
Therefore it says,
         “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH,
         HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES,
         AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.”
9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.

Ok, for now we will also see what actually happened on Good Friday. We see that in Matt 27: 52, "and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life." How did this happen and we also read that Johseph of Arimathea came and took the body of Jesus and placed it in his own tomb. The next day the Chief Priests arranged heavy guards to guard the tomb.
If we look closely to what Jesus said on the cross, we realize that in the 2nd word, Jesus told the robber "today you will be with me in Paradise."


On the cross - the 2nd word was 'today you will be with me in paradise' - Luke 23:43 "Jesus answered him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." Now, the question is, where is Paradise and how come Jesus told the robber that he will be with him in Paradise on the same day.
If we search for the meaning of the word "Paradise", it says 'heart of the earth', 'place of silence and rest, and in Hebrew it is called 'Sheol' and in Greek it is called 'Hades'.

Let us go a bit deeper and understand the places:
There are 4 places under us:

1. The lowest place - It is a prison for the damned. It has eternal fire.
We will read more about this in II Peter 2:4 "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; " and also in Matthew 11:23 "...And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades..."

2. The purified place - It is a place where sinners purified of sin remain.

3. The place where people who committed original sin stay - It is a place where the little children who don't know God stay

4. Finally, the bosom of holy fathers - It is place which is mentioned in the Bible in LUKE 16:23 -In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. The place where Abraham and the other patriarchs stay.

These 4 places are very important to understand.
Now a question arises, why Jesus had to go to these places....

1. In the epistle to the Hebrews 2:14,15 - it says " Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." Jesus took the form of man and partook the same death, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death...

2. In the parable of the landowner in the book of Matthew 21:33-35 - "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 34“When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. 35“The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third..." we read Jesus going through the same death, same burial and went to Hades


The next question we should naturally get is, what did Jesus do there?

First, he bound Lucifer, in John 14:30 Jesus says, "I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me,"
John 12:31 - "Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out."

Secondly, he preached the gospel. In I Peter 3:19, 20, we read that "in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water." In the ASV, it is written "in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison,"

Also in I Pet 4:6 - "For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God." Here it says, the gospel has been preached even to those who are dead...

Finally, those who do not obey, they will have to go through the 2nd death as it is written in  Revelation 20: 13, 14
Those who don't obey, then 2nd death - Rev 20: 13,14..."And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

My thoughts in the season of Lent

We successfully completed meditating on the chapters in 1st and 2nd Chronicles in our church.

We started on Ash Wednesday, quite some time ago in the month of March and every day we gathered and met up in the evenings. Two hours of dedicated time for praise and worship, reading Bible, exposition and prayer. These two hours were the best hours of the day.

Initially there were only a few people who came, but as the days went by, many people joined the group. Last Saturday, the count was more than 80. No one forces any one to come/attend, it’s purely on their own convenience.

We started focusing on the books of 1^st and 2^nd Chronicles. On Ash Wednesday, we were introduced to the summary of these books, the author, the key themes and such information. 1^st Chronicles – chapter 28:9 is the key verse in that book, whereas 2 Chronicles 7:14 remains the key for the 2^nd book.

We meditated on these chapters every day. Many of our church members took turns to read the Word of God and come prepared so that we may be able to tell others. This exercise helped the person to speak well and to prepare well, as he/she has to teach to others.

Almost everyone from the church spoke, it was a wonderful feeling that each and every person called on the name of the Lord. After the message, people used to pray with earnestness and great desire.

In spite of busy schedules of people, many made it to the prayers in the evening.

Let me now try to focus on the two key themes in the two books – 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles.

1 Chronicles 28:9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.”

In this verse we read how David admonishes his son Solomon. He tell Solomon to Acknowledge the God of your father. How wonderful is to acknowledge God in our lives. There are a few important principles he is trying to tell us:

• Acknowledge the God of your father
• Serve him with whole hearted devotion
• Serve him with a willing mind
• The Lord searches every heart
• The Lord understand every desire and every thought
• We need to seek him and he will be found by us
• If we forsake him, He will reject us forever.

2 Chronicles 7:14 “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Even in the 2 Chronicles 7:14, we find that this is the key verse of the chapter. Let us divide:

• If my people
• Who are called by my name
• Humble themselves
• Pray and seek the face of the Lord
• Turn from their wicked ways
• I will hear from heaven
• I will forgive their sin
• I will heal their land

My experience with 1 Chronicles in the Bible

First Chronicles - Chapter 20

I never knew that Chronicles was so interesting until in our church we started meditating on these chapters every day. We belong to a church which follows Lenten season and we gather every day in the evening for an hour or two to sing and read the word of God. It all started on one Wednesday, also called Ash Wednesday. We gathered and we were told that we would be concentrating on reading from 1 and 2 Chronicles. We thought it would not be interesting at all, yes, reading stories in the Bible is good and reading other books such as Proverbs or New Testament writings is good, but what would Chronicles offer us.

We were all a little apprehensive in the initial stages, but as we went on reading, we found that the Lord God has a special plan for us and he wants us to read and understand his word, whether it be from Chronicles or any other book.

We took this seriously and started meditating chapter by chapter every day.

Surprisingly, every person in the congregation is very interested and they are reading in advance and coming prepared to the services. It is not that you can say something and everyone listens, they are all reading in advance and are coming prepared for a new revelation from the word. This is a bigger responsibility, now that you have to share from the Word of God, a dry subject and make it interesting and learn some practical applications.

I thank God for the church we attend, each and every person is doing the same. They are reading and when their time approaches to share the word, they are getting prepared thoroughly.

After saying all this, I would like to share some points from chapter 20. I was asked to share some points about this chapter and I did not have a clue as to what I should share from just 8 verses.

But as I read more from the word of God, I started realizing that there are many more hidden truths in the verses and I need to study more. I went to different commentaries, of which Henry’s commentary was very helpful to me. I quickly took to the text as a fish takes to water and started getting myself involved in the verses… very soon I found out that there is more under the hood than that which is stated in just the above 8 verses. Not to be heretical or skeptical, but I was cautious and asking the Lord to reveal the inner truths … I was reminded of the verse in the book of John that the Truth will set you free and that Jesus is the truth… how comforting this thought was… so in pursuit of truth I set out reading the 20^th chapter.

Let me now lay down my understanding of the concept in the given 8 verses.

1 And it came to pass, that after the year was expired, at the time that kings go out to battle, Joab led forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. And Joab smote Rabbah, and destroyed it.

In the first verse, it says ‘and it came to pass’… I stopped immediately at the very phrase. In the Bible I find in many places this phrase which says ‘and it came to pass’. Yes, how true it is. Everything will come to pass one day. Nothing is permanent and nothing is forever, we need to keep this in mind when we look at everything that belongs to this world. We need to be cautious as to how we approach the worldly things. We might get too attached to them and might forget the eternal truths… let us always remember that everything will come to pass and it is the word of God that stands forever. In spite of knowing such eternal truths, somehow, we do not want to acknowledge it and we do not want to accept it.

In the same verse, I read that it said, ‘…at the time that kings go to battle, but David tarried at Jerusalem.’ This is a really intriguing and interesting verse. At the time when kings go for battle, King David also should have been in the battle field. He should have led the army and have brought victory to Israel. He should have been a leader by showing through his example. Here, sadly, we find that he is at home and he is taking rest. It is not mentioned in this chapter, but we can find the sad story of David in II Samuel 11^th and 12^th chapters. Oh, how I wish that David is in the battle field. Oh, how I wish that we all like David be in the battle field and not on the terrace watching something that we should not watch.

There is a wide gap between the first verse and the second verse. The story, though not mentioned here, for other purposes, is still a warning to us that Idle mind is a devil’s workshop. In the Book of Matthew, 12^th chapter, it is mentioned that when a demon is gone out of a person/house, it goes out and finds no place to rest. It roams in all places and then comes to see the same place where it left. When it finds to be empty and unoccupied, it goes out and calls 7 more demons that are more dangerous than him and they enter into the person/house. The Bible says that the latter part will be worse than the beginning of that person. Oh, how true it is. We need to be careful as to how we keep our minds. If we keep it idle, definitely, we can be assured that demons will come and rule you.

That is the main reason, why we need to keep ourselves occupied with the word of God and prayer and fellowship. In fact, it is for our own good that the Lord has given us fellowship.

Let us know recapitulate what David did when he tarried at Jerusalem. He could have worshipped the Lord, he could have played and enjoyed with his family. He could have done so many things, but when he went on the terrace one day, he found a woman bathing. He could not turn away his eyes and the Bible says that he lusted after her. In his lust, he does all bad things. How strange it is that when is overcome by something, he/she forgets reasoning and logic. Here, we find David doing all the things are against the heart of the Lord. The person who was called ‘a man after God’s own heart’ was doing things that are against God’s heart. How pathetic the condition of man when he falls in sin and tries to cover it up.

David tried every way to cover his sin, in fact he goes to such an extent that he gets Uriah drunk and tries sending him to his house, but even in the drunken state, Uriah was making sense, and David, though not drunk physically, was in the wrong. Sin skews our perception. It makes us see gray areas and loopholes and then tries to blame others and do all the bad things.

David now things of murdering Uriah, so his mind starts scheming things which are not right for a person of such stature.

Lesson learnt:

1.       Do not be idle. Idle mind is a devil’s workshop. Inundate yourself with the word of God and be filled with the Holy Spirit, then you will not entertain evil thoughts.