For the Joy Set Before Him: An Easter DevotionalSample

The world was cloaked in an unnatural, early and consuming darkness the day Jesus died. There was no reason for the sun to shine on this day in history. The Light of the world had been temporarily extinguished. The curtain in the temple, which symbolically separated the most Holy Place from the sinful place, was rent in two! When Jesus took His last breath on the Cross, the curtain was torn to shreds! Mankind would never be separated from their Holy God again! The Spirit of Jesus Christ ripped the dividing wall in two and made a way for you to touch God. The earth shook when Jesus gave up His spirit. The rocks cried out in grief as the Savior of the world took His last earthly breath. Dead people rose from their tombs! Can you even imagine the power that burst forth from heaven’s gate that day? There was no more power in death! Jesus had defeated death forevermore and even tombs could not hold back the dead. These bodies were set free by the power of life that was released in the heavenlies that day! All of humanity knew that something gargantuan had happened on the day Jesus had died. Joseph of Arimathea offered his grave that had never been used. This borrowed grave was in a cave hewn from the rock on the side of a hill. The Body of Jesus Christ was laid inside and then a boulder, larger than the opening, was rolled downhill into a trench. They made the tomb as secure as they humanly could. They sealed the huge rock with clay that hardened. Jesus was literally cemented into the grave. And then, they set a guard to watch the tomb of Jesus. “Make it as secure as you know how,” were the words of Pilate to the Pharisees. What the Pharisees failed to understand was that no clay ... no rock ... no guard ... no grave ... and no soldiers could have prevented the Son of God from rising again! Jesus was about to give back His borrowed grave!