THE MYSTERY OF HOLY SABBATH DAY

The day between death and resurrection
(after Friday, before Sunday)

God’s great Sabbath rest is revealed
in the mystery of this Holy Sabbath Day.
The mystery of the tomb is stated
in the crucial death of Jesus Christ.
As his body remained lying in the tomb,
Christ himself, between death and life,
having fulfilled our salvation on the cross,
descended into hell, his very death
bringing life to the cosmic whole.
Death met life
in the perfect person of Jesus Christ.

Our own baptism let us be buried with Him.
How has it been that some of us remain entombed,
wandering about in the shades of hell?
Did Christ go down into the depth of death in vain?
Did not the dead all hear the voice of God’s Son?
Would not those who heard then live?
The Author of Life, holding the keys of death,
by dying, destroyed that wicked one who failed
to keep his usurped hold on the power of death!
With death destroyed , we have been delivered,
delighted to live free from lifelong bondage.

Great silence reigns this Holy Sabbath Day,
a sacred stillness signifying our Savior’s sleep.
We wait and pray, listening for Him to speak again.
Set free from sorrow, we see great light,
far from death’s dark shadow,
up from the grave-pit of sin’s captivity.
“Awake, O sleeper!” The call has come!
Would that we have ears to hear God’s Son.