The abbreviation or short speak of choice for sharing an announcement on social media - ICYMI - just this moment held special meaning for me because I had missed it.
After all of these years of the stories of Jesus' death and resurrection I had missed it!! I admit to a slowness from time to time, but this???
Per Hebrew custom, a day is from evening to evening. So between the evenings of Jesus's arrest and of Passover, a time referred to as the Day of Preparation in the Biblical account, Jesus is crucified. He is placed in a newly hewn tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea and preliminarily dressed for burial. Of course, that Passover was a fulfillment of the original Mosaic Law for remembrance of the redemption and deliverance of God's people from enslavement in Egypt - the firstborn lamb sacrificed and its blood slathered on the door posts and lintels of abodes, which brought salvation to those inside, and the redemption price paid in the death of the Egyptian firstborns. The Passover had been in effect for hundreds of years and after hundreds of celebrations of that ancient event, it is all fulfilled in that one night. Jesus becomes the Passover Lamb whose blood saves. I have for so long been in awe of this aspect of that evening to evening, of that Passover night almost 2,000 years ago, and my soul feels it once the 'busyness' of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday settle.
But, what I have missed is this: the next day was Sabbath! The day following Jesus' death is the sabbath! Knowledge of it has been buried in my cerebrum somewhere, and like a memory prodded from a deep place, ICYMI was impressed on me! Exodus 31:15 says: "For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord." It was a long six days that week - take time to see the work Jesus accomplished that week up to and including His greatest work.
Jesus enters into a special sabbath rest in the tomb. Think about it: the Lord of the Sabbath enters a special sabbath rest that seventh day. Because this knowledge has been newly resurrected in me, I am going to consider and contemplate this significance. O, O, O, O - sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble...
