Holy Saturday calls us to remember those who died in Christ.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

A number of you reading this blog today are busy preparing for tomorrow. You’re planning what worship service to attend, preparing food and cleaning house. The Saturday before Easter can be a busy day.

It was the opposite for the women who saw Jesus’ crucifixion. Saturday was the Sabbath. They were not allowed to do the loving task of preparing Jesus’ body for burial. They couldn’t do what their hearts ached to do.

They were forced to rest.

“So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God.”
Hebrew 4:9 New Living Translation

St. Philip’s Church, Charleston, South Carolina

These bodies at St. Philip’s Church in Charleston have rested for quite sometime. As old as this cemetery is (a signer of the Constitution is buried here), there are others in this world that are hundreds of years older, places where the saints of God rest.

Jesus’ rest in the grave has made holy the graves of all who have died in him. His promise is that the ultimate rest of heaven awaits his saints. The special rest of which the writer to the Hebrews refers is that which we will experience when Jesus raises the dead and brings them home.

Until that day may we find rest in the arms of the one who invites us into his presence.

Today is the day to remember your loved ones who have died in Christ. I give thanks to God for my father, sister, mother-in-law, grandparents and the many faithful in Christ that I have been privileged to lay to rest in cemeteries in Michigan, Nebraska, Washington, Oregon and Colorado.

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life.”
Revelation 22:14 English Standard Version

Copyright Douglas P Brauner