The Third Day

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Easter Sunday morning, the 31st of March, 2024.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

The prophet Hosea implores us to, "Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.  After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight."  (Hosea 6:1-2 (NKJV))

“On the third day He will raise us up.”  Those three words – the third day – are seen together 48 times in the New King James Version of our Holy Bible.  They occur together twice as many times in the Old Testament – 32 – as in the New – 16.  And each times denotes a special event.

Now, the number three holds a special place in our worship, in our Bible.  The number three represents God – God in three Persons, the Holy Trinity, the Triune God, God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  So anytime a “three” appears, in any form, we know it has something to do with God or His will, His purpose.  And the third day is no exception.

Looking at a calendar, we note that while today may be the last day of the weekend, it is the first day of the week.  The Jewish Sabbath was yesterday, Saturday.  Well, actually, it ran from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, because the early Jews observed a “day” being from sunset to sunset.  In six days God created the heavens and the earth, and then He rested on the seventh day and declared it holy, as a day of rest for His creation.  God didn’t need to rest, of course, but He set the stage for His creation to be able to rest.  So on the seventh day, the Sabbath day, all labors ceased for the Jewish people.  But then came the first day again, when people could return to their normal daily routines.

Please listen and follow along as I tell you about some of the events that occurred one very special first day, one beautiful Sunday, that also has a connection to “the third day” I mentioned earlier.  This was recorded by the Apostle Luke in the 24th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 31, and I’ll be reading from the New English Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Now on the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women went to the tomb, taking the aromatic spices they had prepared. 2 They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood beside them in dazzling attire. 5 The women were terribly frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has been raised! Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then the women remembered His words, 9 and when they returned from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed like pure nonsense to them, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. He bent down and saw only the strips of linen cloth; then he went home, wondering what had happened.

13 Now that very day two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and debating these things, Jesus Himself approached and began to accompany them 16 (but their eyes were kept from recognizing Him). 17 Then He said to them, “What are these matters you are discussing so intently as you walk along?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are You the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 He said to them, “What things?” “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied, “a Man who, with His powerful deeds and words, proved to be a Prophet before God and all the people; 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed Him over to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we had hoped that He was the One who was going to redeem Israel. Not only this, but it is now the third day since these things happened. 22 Furthermore, some women of our group amazed us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find His body, they came back and said they had seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive. 24 Then some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Him.” 25 So He said to them, “You foolish people — how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things written about Himself in all the scriptures.

28 So they approached the village where they were going. He acted as though He wanted to go farther, 29 but they urged Him, “Stay with us, because it is getting toward evening and the day is almost done.” So He went in to stay with them.

30 When He had taken His place at the table with them, He took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 At this point their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. Then He vanished out of their sight.

--Luke 24:1-31 (NET)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Christ to free us from the bonds of sin!  Jesus came to offer salvation to all the world because You love us all.  And He commands us to go and make disciples of all the world.  Sadly, Father, not everyone believes in Jesus as Your Son and accepts Him as their Lord.  Please help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, sharing the Good News and showing Your love.  Help us spread the message that Jesus has risen from the dead and lives again.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to do Your will and as our Lord Jesus commands us.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today.  Thank You for raising Jesus from the dead to show that we too will be raised to eternal life if we just follow Him.  Help us keep the joy of His resurrection in our heart and our actions as we go about each day doing Your will.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

A man and his wife saved up and could finally afford to visit Israel and tour some of the holy places.  Even though the husband really hated the thought, they took the wife's mother along because she had always wanted to see the Holy City, Jerusalem.  When they visited the site that is believed to be the burial place of Jesus, the mother was completely overcome with emotion, so much so that her heart stopped beating and she died on the spot.

At the American consulate, the husband met with an officer who told him, "You have two options: you can either have your mother-in-law interred here in Israel, or you can have her body flown back home for burial there.  I can tell you that burying her here will cost much, much less than flying her back to the states.  Which would you rather do?"

The husband thought for only a second before responding, "I guess we'll fly her back home.  From what I understand, about 2000 years ago, a man was buried here and he came back to life three days later.  I just can't take the chance that it might happen again."

That’s a funny little story.  But it reminds me that a lot of people just don’t understand the resurrection of Jesus, and that includes some believers.

While there have been instances where medical teams have been able to revive someone whose heart stopped, and we know CPR and automatic emergency defibrillators can work to revive someone, but there is a point when we can do nothing and the person just dies.  There’s no bringing them back.  No normal mortal has ever brought a person back to life after that point has been reached.

We don’t need a medical examiner’s certificate of death to know that Jesus had indeed died on the cross.  A soldier stuck His body with a spear, drawing blood, but getting no reaction from the limp form.  Jesus was wrapped in linen and placed in the tomb, where He remained for at least 24 hours, until the Sabbath ended.

Jesus was dead.  And yet He rose from the dead and lived again, witnessed in the flesh by over 500 people.  Man could not have revived Jesus at that point, not even with modern techniques and tools.  But God could, and did.

Of course Jesus was no ordinary man.  As God in the flesh, Jesus could also resurrect the dead, and I can think of three times He did so.  Probably the first that comes to mind is when He raised His friend Lazarus back to life after the man had been dead and buried for four days!  And then there was the daughter of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue in Capernaum.

The third one we might not remember as quickly.  As Jesus and His disciples were entering the city of Nain, a funeral procession was coming out, for a young man, the only son of a widow, had died.  Jesus took pity on the woman and raised her son from the dead.

But Jesus’ resurrection was different.  For one thing, Jesus predicted it, more than once.  One of those times He told His disciples that the Son of Man – that’s the title He used for Himself that comes from the prophecy of Daniel – “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”  And His resurrection fulfilled some of the more indirect, individual Messianic prophecies I mentioned last week. 

But of greater importance to us, when God brought Jesus back to life in the body, He showed that we would also be given new life, new bodily life, life in a new body.  Reading our scripture, we see that neither the women at the tomb nor the two disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized the risen Jesus at first.  It even took the two disciples quite some time before they realized just who had been walking with them.  Could it be that Jesus had a slightly new body, foreshadowing our own to come, just different enough that those who had been close to Him didn’t recognize Him?  We don’t know; our Bible doesn’t say it, but it is interesting to think about.

Not everyone understands Jesus’ resurrection, not even those whose walked with Him.  The two disciples walking to Emmaus must not have, although they did remember what Jesus said would happen on the third day, and they’d heard about the empty tomb.  But they were still hung up on their Lord’s death.  So Jesus, unrecognizable to them at the time, went over all the old prophecies that were written about Him, all the Messianic prophecies, explaining their meaning to the men.

I worry that many, still today, even among believers, don’t see the connection between Jesus being brought back to life in the body and our own future bodily resurrection.  Some believe that we’ll go to heaven and live there as souls, in the spirit form, for all eternity.  But God promises us a new body to live in the new earth and the New Jerusalem that will come down from heaven.

On the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead and He exited the tomb in His body.  All four of the Gospel writers documented this in some fashion in their accounts of their time with Jesus.  And one other prominent apostle reported it as well.  Please listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote in verses 1 through 11 of the 15th chapter of his 1st letter to the Corinthians regarding the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus…

1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you — unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received — that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then He appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, this is the way we preach and this is the way you believed.

--1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (NET)

Jesus died on the cross.  He was buried in a tomb with a huge stone sealing the entrance.  And then, on the third day, God raised Him from the dead back to bodily life, as attested by over 500 who saw Him.  There is no record, in any text or history book or letter, of even one of those 500+ people refuting that Jesus was seen in the flesh after His death and burial.  Not one person refuted the fact of the resurrection.  We might not completely understand it, but we can agree it happened, just as He said.

Family, today is the third day.  Thursday we stood by as Jesus was arrested, and then we scattered and hid, afraid they’d come for us next.  Friday we listened in disbelief as the crowd cried out for Jesus to be crucified, after having welcomed Him to town just a few days earlier with shouts of Hosanna.  Then we watched in horror as the Romans nailed Him to a cross where He breathed His last and died.  He was laid in a tomb and a large stone was rolled into place to seal the entrance.  On Saturday, the Sabbath, a day of rest, we waited, hidden, but nothing happened.

Today is Sunday, the first day of the week, the third day of Jesus’ death.  But look…  the tomb is empty!  Jesus has been raised from the dead!  Our Lord Jesus lives!  Alleluia!

In just a few moments we will come to the table of our Lord to share His last meal with Him.  The Apostle Paul warns that we must be right with God before doing so.  Otherwise, we share the guilt of His execution, of His death, with those who committed the act.

Now is the time to get right with God.  If you are feeling convicted by the Holy Spirit, if you are weighed down by the guilt of disobedience, if you are holding a grudge against a fellow believer, if there is anything in your life that God would see as sinful, lay it all at the foot of our Lord’s cross, repent, and seek forgiveness.  Get right with God.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who came in the flesh to redeem us, who was raised from the dead into flesh and returned to heaven, and who is coming again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for raising Your Son Jesus from the dead!  He gave up His mortal life to atone for our sin so that we could always be with You, and then You resurrected Him in the body to show that we too will be resurrected in the body when our mortal life is finished.  You will give us a new, incorruptible body that will last for all eternity.  Thank You, Father, for such wonderful gifts, for having mercy on us.  Sometimes, Father, we don’t understand everything that has been saved for us in our Bible.  Sometimes we don’t understand because we don’t spend enough time in study and reflection.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Help us better grasp all that Jesus taught us, and all that the prophets wrote about Him.  Give us greater insight and visibility into all You have promised.  And Father, guide us around any pitfalls in this life and strengthen our spirits to do Your will.  And please help us do a better job of sharing Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, on this day – the third day - so long ago You left an empty tomb behind as You were raised to renewed life by our Father God, just as You said You would be.  So many had trouble believing this, even those who walked with You.  So You showed Yourself to them, in the flesh, and we have their reports and witness so that we can believe.  Thank You, Jesus, for taking our sin upon Yourself, leaving our sin in the grave, and walking forth into a new day.  Please help us follow Your example and pattern our life after Yours.  Help us see through Your eyes.  Help us be more understanding, more merciful, more forgiving, remembering that we are all created in our Triune God’s image and that You came to save us all.  And Lord, please help us reach out to the non-believing world with the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.

Lord Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations and all the false teachings.  Help us fend off his attacks.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.