Holy Saturday: The Great Sabbath

Holy Week Reflections #4

Holy Saturday can easily feel like a confusing pause. For the longest time, I had no clue what Saturday's significance was. We have Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, …, Easter Sunday! The Gospels have shown me such richness regarding this day, though. I do not want us to miss the beauty shown in God’s silence on this solemn day.

Exegetical Concerns¹

"Since it was the day of Preparation," John records (John 19:31a)², Jesus and the thieves are taken down from their crosses early. There is a cultural difference here. In Jewish reckoning, sundown was the beginning of the next day, not midnight or sunrise—as in our culture. It was the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath, and the day before the Passover Sabbath! The Jews were concerned with the work of crucifixion being done on the Sabbath, and as such, had them be brought down. Why exactly the thieves are brought down or what happened to them is unbeknownst to me, but Jesus is brought down since he is already dead to ensure that he is buried before the Sabbath begins.

On Good Friday, the day we are currently discussing, "He said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit" (John 19:30, ESV). So, just as the sun set on the day and started the Sabbath, so too was the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2) taken down from the cross to be buried (John 19:42). At the Creation of the world it is on the 6^th day that mankind is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–31). God on the 6th day signaled his work was completed by declaring it to be “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Here on Good Friday, Christ accomplishes redemption and in doing so, re-creates humanity to a new humanity that is free from the bondage of sin and fit to dwell with God.

In Christ’s atoning death, he has declared his work of redemption completed. The door into true humanity has been opened, and his re-creative (read: redemptive) act is complete. Just as God completed creation on the 6^th day with the creation of mankind, Jesus Christ completed re-creation on the 6^th day with the redemption of mankind. Not meant by this is the idea that the fullness of Christ's redemptive work is actually completed. There remains the anticipation of our full redemption at the end of the age. What is meant is that all the work of Christ to secure redemption has been completed and that he can rightly be said to be seated on the throne (Hebrews 10:12).

John skips over the account of the Sabbath but jumps to the beginning of Sunday. Mary Magdalene is said to have come to the tomb "on the first day of the week" and "while it was still dark" (John 20:1). This would have been in the night, after sunset, which would have marked the start of the next day just as it marked the beginning of the Sabbath. When Mary Magdalene came, she "saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb" (John 20:1b). The resurrection had already taken place. The time that Christ was in the tomb would have encompassed the entirety of the Sabbath and just about only the Sabbath. Christ died on Friday and did not rise until the very end of the Sabbath, the break of Sunday morning. What is this for if the work was completed?

On the 7^th day of Creation, God "finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done" (Genesis 2:2). God does not cease activity, but He rests and glories in what He has achieved. Many things are read into what happens on the day between the crucifixion and the resurrection. Still, it is impossible to get away from an interpretation that does not have some Sabbath overtones.

Hebrews shows that Christ is the Sabbath rest for the believer (Hebrews 4:1–11). It is clear, too, that this rest is not merely eschatological but a present rest available to those in Christ. Where others have failed to enter into the rest of God, Christ has entered in. Because Christ has entered into the rest, he beckons those who will come to him into the rest with him.

Theological Reflections

What does this mean for us? It means we have our answer as to what this day is. Holy Saturday is not a day of pure mourning for us, nor a day of pure celebration. It is a solemn and reflective day on which we realize the Sabbath rest that has been secured for us. It is a day that points to the present reality of the new humanity we are part of as Christ and how we will be truer members when he returns again on that beautiful day.

Christ is the founder and perfector of our faith (Heb. 12:2). Our salvation comes from him first walking the road he beckons us down, so it is fitting that he enters into a rest himself before becoming our own Sabbath rest. The whole of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection are dripping with fulfillments of the Old Testament. It is not just his vicarious death (though let us not wander into the territory of accidentally saying his death was not necessary and efficacious!) that secures our redemption, but his perfect life as he lives as the obedient Second Adam and the true Israel. Look at Matthew and the ways that Jesus re-lives the history of Israel perfectly and reveals himself to be the prophet better than Moses.

At the climax of this salvation history, Jesus Christ has done all that is required for salvation. His new humanity has begun, and the sins of his Church have been paid for. Now, on the seventh day, our perfect God-Man rests from all of his works. He sits in the grave, and instead of death and chaos, there is rest because the keys to Hades belong to him (Rev. 1:8).

Let us enjoy the rest of our Holy Saturdays pondering these wonderful truths, rejoicing in our salvation, and remembering our resting Savior.

1. This section is adapted from a paper submitted to Phoenix Seminary.

2. All Scripture references are ESV unless otherwise stated.