Easter 2020 Devotional – Buried

Day 5

by Charmain Hibberd

Marketing Assistant (Writer), CBN Europe

We’ve reached Day 5 of our Easter 2020 Devotional series. Today we will be looking at broken promises, hope and how the death of Jesus Christ was never meant to be the end.

The Burial of Jesus

Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

(John 19:38-42 NLT)

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‘Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away.’

(John 19:38 NLT)

Hope Abandoned

On the surface of things, all hope had been lost.

Jesus, the promised Saviour of the world, was dead and buried.

Joseph of Arimathea, along with Nicodemus, had physically embalmed and wrapped His body and laid Him down in the new tomb to rest.

On the surface of things, all hope was gone.

The Disciples would have been distraught having watched their only hope defeated by man.

Confused, scared and unsure, I can only imagine what the followers of Jesus must have been feeling, believing that all they had been promised would never come to pass.

Broken Promises

Have you ever felt this way?

Perhaps, in your present circumstances, things have been spoken over your life; promises, hope, future. But none of them have come to pass yet and you are confused, scared and unsure of what to think.

It’s hard to wait isn’t it?

Hard to wait on the promises of God and believe that, even when you cannot see what is happening beneath the surface of what appears to be a grave, life and hope reside underneath.

Friday was a day of depression, darkness and loss for the Disciples of Jesus. But Sunday was on its way.

‘Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.’ (Matthew 24:35 NLT)

If God has made you a promise, just as He did the Disciples concerning Jesus Christ, rest in the knowledge that He cannot act in opposition to who He is, and His words will never disappear.

Questions

In each day of our Easter 2020 Devotional we will have some new questions to ask you regarding what you have read. Why not take some time, listen to the music below, and contemplate what God would say to you today?

Q1. What does today’s scripture reveal to you?

Q2. What promises and hopes exist in your life that appear dead on the surface?

Q3. How will you posture yourself as you wait for God to come through on his promises?