I was talking to a friend this week as events were shutting down and our weekend became increasingly more open. She stated it was as if the country was being forced into a mass “time out.” All of our busy schedules had been wiped clean. Our plans for our time had been overridden.

Time out. This is very significant for us today as time holds a very high place in our culture. Virtually everyone has access to the precise time due to watches and phones. Most of our clocks are synchronized through modern technology. Take a moment to think back to Jesus’ time. There weren’t personal clocks, but maybe a sun dial. If the dial was portioned out into 12 sections, each hour would not necessarily equal 60 minutes. Summer hours would have been substantially longer than winter hours.

Our definitions of a “day” differ as well. We consider a day as a time period from midnight to midnight. Jesus would have grown up in Israel with a different understanding. The Jewish people base their definition of a day on Genesis 1:5:

God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”
And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.

Because of this, they consider a day to begin at sundown and continue until the following sundown. You may have noticed calendars that specifically state Jewish holidays “begin at sundown.” The Sabbath is also an important, defining aspect of time in Judaism. This is why it was so important for Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus to prepare Jesus’ body in the tomb before sundown on that Good Friday so long ago. At sundown on Friday, the Sabbath begins. A day of rest. A time out.

I have often wondered why the definition of a day in Genesis 1:5 begins with darkness. The concept is very different for me. Why not begin with day and end in night? But as I considered this question, the message of the Bible resonated in my soul. The Bible’s message is redemption. It is a story of the lost being found, those in bondage being freed, and people in darkness being brought into the light.

Our story begins as a story of darkness. But God doesn’t leave us there. He is with us in the darkness. He is the one who brings us light. He is our hope. How amazing, then, that even the definition of a day reflects this truth. God builds hope into this perspective of a day. The day may start out in darkness, but we know the sun will rise. The light will come.

Let us consider Christ’s burial again. When we read the biblical accounts, most jump from the burial on Friday evening in one verse to the resurrection on Sunday morning in the next verse. However, a significant amount of time took place between those two events. Jesus’ body remained in the tomb (what we would consider) Friday night, Saturday day, Saturday night, and then the resurrection occurred around daybreak Sunday morning.

What about Jesus’ followers? They experienced a night, a day, and a night of overwhelming grief, fear, and confusion. All they had thought and hoped for, was destroyed. Their world had been turned upside down. Their hearts were overshadowed and weighed down by the darkness of their situation.

It’s easy to look back and think, “Ah, they just needed to hang in there a bit. It would soon be over.” But they didn’t know that. Their darkness, their pain was very much valid and lasting. They didn’t know how the story would continue.

As I was reviewing the timeline, it struck me that this occurred over the Sabbath. A day of rest. A time out. I felt that in that moment God was impressing on me the importance for disciples then and now to rest in God. During this sabbath from the normal, rest in the assurance of our mighty God. He is our hope. He does not abandon. Even though we are in the midst of night and uncertainty, we know the sun will rise. Rest your hope on Him.

Scriptures on hope and rest this week:
Job 11:13-20, *v18*
Psalm 62, *v5*
Acts 2:25-35, *v26*
1 Timothy 4:7-12, *v10*
John 19:38-20:18