Holy Week Devotional Plan from New Life ChurchSample

DAY SIX | Quiet Before the Triumph

Have you experienced the chilling silence following shocking news or a painful experience? It can feel as if someone pulled the oxygen out of the atmosphere and the slightest hint of sound will shatter everything. You want to shout, you want to deny what’s happening, you want to wake up and shake the experience from a sleep-fogged mind. But it’s all too real. You play everything back in your mind, wondering if you could have prevented it somehow.

The disciples must have felt this. The One they hoped in, abandoned and silenced in the grave. 

But that wasn’t the end of this story. Life would overcome. He would return with glory and power over death!  

The silence of Jesus’ death is what gives such power to the shout of triumph that is the resurrection. There is no need for resurrection without first a death, just as there is no need for triumph if there is not first a battle. Sin had to be put to death, and in order for that to happen, our Savior had to be silenced. We could have attained only a temporary resolve to our sin, but Christ died to pay the full amount of our debt so we could walk freely. As the apostle Paul would later articulate, “God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead.” (Ephesians 2:4-5) Take heart in the times of silence or struggle: there is a shout of triumph for you in Jesus!

Application: Set a timer for two minutes and sit in the quiet. Once the time is up, turn on worship music and thank the Lord that you have eternal life through the Savior’s death and resurrection!