“Destroy this temple,” Jesus had said, referring to His own body. “And in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). Now Jesus was dead. With his death, despondency, fear, sorrow, doubt and hopelessness had settled over the believers like a thick fog. The disciples were despondent and fearful as they met together in secret discussing in hushed tones…what now? The women were weeping at the cross and later at the tomb. Their hearts broken that their Lord was gone from them. Thomas was gripped in doubt. The 2 on the road to Emmaus said we had hoped…but now all their hopes and dreams had been crushed. Their Messiah had been slain. The despair in their hearts was palpably expressed in Cleopas’s words: “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel but now hopelessness.
He was gone…perhaps gone forever.
But then three days passed. And with the passing of those three momentous days, the world—indeed the universe—changed forever. On that glorious Sunday morning, when Jesus walked out of His tomb, He heralded a permanent change in the order of things. Victory over despair and victory over death. That’s what Easter represents. “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? The answer to that question, of course, is found in Jesus: “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).
Perhaps you, like the disciples, find yourself facing difficulties and problems. Maybe you have had occasion in the past few days or months to sink into the depths of despondency and anguish. Trials, disappointments, disease, and death—these are all an inevitable part of life down here, under the sun. Your 3 days may be so dark that life seems barely worth living.
But just remember: it only took three days. So whatever heartache life stabs you with, whatever grief you might be forced to bear, always remember… joy comes in the morning…hope arrives at the break of day…because Jesus is alive!
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