He Rested

He Rested
A Missing Piece Found
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I created the booklet The Feast of the Lamb – A Passover/Resurrection Devotional Haggadah in 2022 to make it easy to gather with friends each spring to celebrate Passover (traditionally called The Last Supper) and to remember Yeshua (Jesus) until He returns. With this booklet, the participants walk thoughtfully through the Israelite’s Exodus and then through a timeline of Yeshua’s life with a focus on His last week on earth. It is a special time to celebrate our deliverance through Him. (You can find the booklet here.)

Regarding timelines in the gospel accounts, it is difficult to find them because the accounts were compiled of collections of gathered writings rather than stories written in order. In their authenticity, much detail was not included. However, with the study of Hebrew culture and idioms, understanding of these timelines becomes clearer.

One question I had was – “Where was Yeshua between His death that Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. and His resurrection on Sunday? A few church creeds say He descended into hell after He was buried, but I do not believe Scripture supports this claim. The following verses indicate Yeshua’s state of rest after He died:

• Messiah was not abandoned to Hades. (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:31)
  
  
• Yeshua said to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)
  
  
• Yeshua went to the “heart of the earth.” (Ephesians 4:8-10)
  Heart is the Greek kardia meaning the center of circulation, (not hell).
  
  
• When Yeshua said, “It is finished,” the thick Temple curtain was immediately torn, opening the way to Father (Matthew 27:51-53). In other words, after Yeshua expired, the way was immediately opened for us to approach the throne of grace!
  
  
• When Yeshua said, “It is finished,” it was. Finished is the Greek teleo meaning the end of a goal reached, complete, filled up, a work accomplished. (See John 19:30).
  
  
• The Apostle Paul said that to be absent from the body means to be at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6-8). Paul also said he desired to depart and be with Christ but needed to live on to help the saints (Philippians 1:21-25). Paul’s words tell us that when we die, we are immediately with the Lord. Since Yeshua was our forerunner, I believe He also rested and waited to rise as we will one day rest and rise (if He does not return in the clouds first).
  
  
• In the Epistles, the execution stake of Messiah represents His finished work. Here are just a few of many verses that tell us that His work of bearing all sin happened completely on the cross:
  • “He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree…” (1 Peter 2:24)
  • “He endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2)
  • “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Yeshua Messiah…” (Galatians 6:14)

Further confirmation that Yeshua rested after He died came while we were on a drive to Toledo to celebrate the Resurrection. My husband and I listened to Andrew Peterson’s Resurrection Letters for the first time. This album beautifully walks through the timeline of His last days on earth! Andrew’s song God Rested caused Dusty and me to explode in praise! I exclaimed, “Of, course! Yeshua honored the Father’s eternal ordinance of weekly rest on the Sabbath (or Shabbat)!” Here is a part of the chorus of the song God Rested:

Six days shall you labor,
The seventh is the Lord’s
In six He made the earth and all the heavens
But He rested on the seventh
God rested
He said that it was finished
In the seventh day, He blessed it
God rested

So, they laid their hopes away
They buried all their dreams above the kingdom He proclaimed
And they sealed them in the grave
As a holy silence fell on all Jerusalem
But the Pharisees were restless
Pilate had no peace
And Peter’s heart was reckless
Mary couldn’t sleep
But God rested
The sun went down
The sabbath faded
The holy day was done and all creation waited…

So then, I added these verses to the list above that indicate Yeshua’s state of rest after He died:

• Just as God rested on the seventh day when He finished His creation work, Yeshua rested on the seventh day when He finished His work. Yeshua completely fulfilled Shabbat in life and in death. (Leviticus 23:3; Exodus 20:8-11; 31:12-17; Deuteronomy 5:12-15)
  
  Yeshua’s hell happened on the cross. Darkness fell across the noon-day earth for the last three hours He hung there. He took upon Himself the weight of our sin as well as the sin and death of the entire world. And now all who receive Him find permanent, permeating, eternal rest for their souls. (Matthew 11:28-30)

When we returned home from our Resurrection celebration, I contacted James Whitman who oversees The Center for Judaic-Christian Studies founded by Dwight Pryor whose teaching I have been seeking. James said, “Yes! When Jesus cried, ‘It is finished,’ it was a Shabbat declaration!” 

The understanding of Yeshua’s observance of Shabbat after His work was completed, has given me a desire to fully embrace rest and also to celebrate rest on the Saturday before we celebrate His risen life each year!

Can you imagine the joy and relief of the Ancient of Days?! After Yeshua cried out, “It is finished,” can you hear and feel the Father say with unspeakable, loving relief, “Well done, good and faithful Servant! You are My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased!”? And can you imagine the anticipation in the heavenlies as if the entire creation was holding its breath waiting for Him to rise?! Victory reverberated throughout the cosmos to the heights and the depths that Yeshua is Lord to the glory of God the Father!

O Adonai, God of the Universe,
because You died my sin is removed and paid for.
Because You rested, I can rest in Your finished work.
Because You waited while you rested, I can be patient for Your return.
Because You came alive again, I can walk in newness of life!
Teach me to die and rest and wait and live in You!
O praise You, King of the Universe!
O praise You, my King!

Shale Fragments™ - devotionals by Beth Ann Phifer is a division of Flower Girl Greetings, LLC. ©2020, All Rights Reserved.
Blessings and love in Him,
Beth Ann