Three Days

Close your eyes and imagine this: You abandon your family, your livelihood, and all that you knew to follow a man who called you by name and asked you to trust him. You travel the unknown from town to town. Along the way, he asks you to do strange and seemingly impossible things. You witness unexplainable miracles. He calmed the sea, walked on water, and brought the dead to life! You talked with him. You shared meals. You prayed together. Together you navigated countless challenges. You developed a friendship, and you trust him. Then, he tells you that he will be delivered into the hands of men who will kill him. Open your eyes.

How would you feel? Maybe fear? What about worry or anxiety? Maybe even confusion? Matthew 17:23 says, “And they were greatly distressed.” More than fitting, right?

Matthew 17:22-23 reads, “As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.’ And they were greatly distressed.” Look deeper. Jesus offers a glimmer of hope out of a dark and dreaded truth in the promise of three days. Don’t miss this. I never realized the significance of the third day until I did some digging into the Old Testament. Genesis tells us that life emerged on the third day. Again, in Genesis, Abraham was tested, and on the third day, the father and son walked to the place together where the Lord provided a sacrificial ram in the place of Isaac. Hosea referenced God’s restoration of Israel on the third day. Jonah was in the belly of a whale for three days. We see in Exodus that God delivered His people from their bondage in Egypt, and on the third day, God said He would come down to Mount Sinai to be with His people.

I wrestled with this for some time. I knew the Lord had placed “three days” upon my heart for a reason, I just couldn’t grasp its meaning. Then, on a Sunday morning during our worship rehearsal, it hit me. I looked around and saw the beautiful people I am privileged to serve alongside - each with their own stories and life circumstances. Whether their testimonies were past or exist presently, one thing is evident; God is working and renewing. In the waiting, we are to prepare ourselves for Him.

In this life, there will be toil and trouble. In those seasons, begin the work of preparation. Prepare your heart and position yourself for the way of the Lord. Fervently pray and hold fast. The third day is coming.

Hallelujah! He brought forth life on the third day! He renewed His relationship with Abraham and renewed Abraham’s relationship with his son through the sparing of Isaac on the third day. He renewed His chosen people, Israel, in the days of Hosea on the third day. He renewed Jonah’s purpose on the third day. He entered a covenant with his people on the third day at Mount Sinai. Jesus died on the cross, descended into hell, crushed the enemy, took the keys of death and the grave into His hands, and rose on the third day! On that third day, WE were renewed and set free.

As the song says, “So when this life is done and my final breath gives way, I know that like my king, in that grave I will not stay!” And again, I say, the third day is coming!