The Three Longest Days

“And they (the two angels) say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.” John 20:13

When the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, it was certainly the beginning of a downward descent into helplessness and hopelessness by those who had trusted in Him.  It was not a moment of abandonment of Him, but because of the brutalness of His crucifixion, and their knowledge of His goodness and innocence, it was incomprehensible that such a thing should occur.  Though the eleven disciples who were with him in the Garden of Gethsemane had felt Christ’s sorrow to some extent, they had no idea of what was to occur at his trial and crucifixion.  How the Son of God, the Lamb which taketh away the sin of the world, the King, yet coming riding on a donkey, always doing good, and was the hope of Israel, and ultimately the world, the very single, solitary Savior of all men, come to the point of being put to death on a cross for the world to see? It was incomprehensible, and unacceptable, primarily because of the love that Christ had for His disciples, and they in response had for Him.  And yet, even though they had heard from His own lips that He would be put to death, but rise from the dead, they did not understand.  It was not yet revealed to them. So, for three days after Christ’s death, they were in the dark, a darkness of incomprehension, and loss.  It was a darkness where hope was very thin, and their expectations were almost non-existent.

One wonders at this point in time what the reaction was in heaven.  In the book of Hebrews we find where the author mentions that all believers now are “…compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.” (Heb. 12:1) Was there not a cloud of witnesses in heaven, even the very host of heaven, gazing down at the events of the crucifixion, and then at the grave where Christ lay?  At the moment of the crucifixion, there might have been in heaven a silence, one comparable to that mentioned in the Revelation when the last seal of judgment was broken. Certainly because of the coming, and certainty of God’s judgment, which would fall upon the earth in the last days, so now, those in heaven, beholding what sinful men had done to the Son of God, wondered at the judgment that was certainly to come.  But silence most certainly would give way to hope, and the reality of God’s revealed faithfulness in raising the Son of God from the dead. One thing that differed in heaven from that which was on earth, is that heaven KNEW what was coming.  For those of earth, so overwhelmed by the sight of the total annihilation of their hope and aspirations, there was weeping and the sense of total loss. But for those in heaven, there was certainly the quiet, and yet increasing volume of praise and adoration of God, for the moment approached, after the three days in the tomb, that the greatest miracle in the history of the world would occur.  This act of God would exceed the translation of Enoch who would never die, and Elijah, who would be carried to heaven in a chariot of fire.  It would exceed in glory the overwhelming power and wisdom of creation.  It would go beyond speaking to dead, dry, lifeless bones, which would come together, be clothed with new flesh, and stand as an army upon their feet, and this by the word of God.  Here in a tomb lay the darling of heaven, God’s only begotten Son, having been slain for the sins of the entire world.  Christ’s resurrection would be the greatest manifestation of the love and glory of God, restoring everlasting hope to the world.

In heaven, we know that there is joy for every sinner that repents. At the resurrection of Christ, there was endless, overwhelming joy, praise, and worship.

Dear Father, Strengthen us to believe. In Jesus’ name, Amen.