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In the name of Jesus. Amen. The gospel text from Matthew printed in your bulletin is the text for Holy Saturday. That text from John 20 is the text for the Easter vigil. And it’s quite fitting that we, in fact, would think about both of them because we’re right on the cusp of this most momentous occasion. When the sun goes down on Saturday, and there’s a couple of stars able to be glanced in the sky, and now all of a sudden it is the third day, the day of the resurrection. When night falls, the lights come on, and the church begins to celebrate the truth that our Lord Jesus has risen from the dead, that he has accomplished the work that he set out to do.
But let us not forget also that on this Saturday, he rested in the tomb. This is the second rest that we know of that God had. The first we heard of earlier in the first lesson from Genesis chapter 1 and 2, that rest on the seventh day, after the Lord looks at all that he’s made: the stars in the heavens and the sea and the land and all of the trees and the birds and the fish and the animals, and there the first man and woman, husband and wife, Adam and Eve. And he looks and he says, “It’s very good.” And it was evening and morning. The sixth day’s accomplished. And on the seventh day, the Lord rested from all his work. This was the first rest that we know of—the rest of creation, the rest that the Lord entered into after he had crafted the entirety of the universe.
Now, it’s an amazing thing that after only six days of creating, the Lord says it’s time to rest, but then on the eighth day of creation, he begins his second great work, the work of redemption. The work that starts even in the garden, when Adam and Eve had sinned, and the Lord comes to them and sees them in their shame and covered in their fig leaves. And he says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, to the devil, and between your seed and her seed. You’ll crush his head, and he’ll crush your heel.” That work that began on day eight extends all the way through.
We heard just a few of the stories of the Lord’s redeeming work, rescuing his people out of Israel, which was… This night, I did the math. I see if I can remember: 3,000, you’ll have to check me out, 3,498 years ago, the Lord’s people crossed through the Red Sea and Pharaoh was drowned. The day after the Passover was instituted, the Lord redeemed him and brought them out of Egypt. He set them up with a tabernacle with Moses at Mount Sinai. He sent to them prophets and priests and kings to teach, rule, and govern them. He was with them in all of their trouble, even joining them in the fiery furnace where they were sent to die because of the idolatrous king Nebuchadnezzar.
All of these marvelous stories of redemption continue until, at last, in the fullness of time, it pleased the Son of God to take upon himself our humanity, to be born of a virgin, to live and to suffer and to die, to be condemned to death, and to be crucified. And then that work, that second great work of God, was finished. We heard it yesterday from the cross: “It is finished.” And then he rested from his labors. He remembered the Sabbath day to keep it holy. His rest in the tomb on this day makes this day holy. He’s accomplished this second great work.
But I’d like for us to consider tonight the third great rest that the scriptures speak of. If there’s a seventh day of creation rest, and then if there’s a Holy Saturday redemption rest, there ought to be a third article rest as well that has to do with the Holy Spirit. And this, dear saints, is the rest that the Lord Jesus wants us to have and wants us to know. There remains a rest for the people of God.
Now, here is the work—sorry, here is the rest that the Lord wants to work in us by his word. All of us are inclined, because of our fallen, sinful nature, all of us are inclined to try to set ourselves up for the judgment day by our own works and efforts, by our own striving to be good enough for God. We’re all, in one way or another, convinced that if God is mad at us because of our sins, then he’ll be pleased with us because of our good works of service. And all of us are tempted in one way or another to try to work to achieve the Lord’s smile and accomplish our own salvation.
Now here is the rest that the Holy Spirit wants to bring to us tonight: that your sins are forgiven, that your salvation is accomplished, that the sacrifice that Jesus offers of his body and his own blood on the cross is acceptable to God. And so we can… You can lay down all of your striving, all of your efforts, all of your attempts to please God, and you can rest in this—that the Lord Jesus is the Savior, the Redeemer, the one who forgives all of your sins.
And He’s brought you here tonight so that you can join in this rest, so that He can feed you His true body and blood, so that He can soothe your conscience with the promise of the gospel, and that He can press into your hearts this great promise that He has already overcome death and is already working in you life that will never end.
So we rejoice, dear saints, today, that on the seventh day the Lord saw all that He’d done and rested from His labors, that breath being His last, our Lord Jesus said, “It is finished” and laid in the tomb, and that God the Holy Spirit comes to you tonight and gives you His peace, His mercy, and His rest. May God grant it for Christ’s sake. Amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.