The Day Before the New Day

Apr 19th 2014

We think of Resurrection Sunday, as a story of triumph and celebration, but for just a moment put yourself in the sandals of those who do not know. Put yourself in their day before the new day lives. Judas has committed treachery and suicide all in one weekend. Tough-talking Peter has denied Jesus out of fear for his life.  Only John and a handful of women had enough courage or loyalty…to end up at the cross in the moment of Jesus’ greatest need. Put yourself in the bed of those who wake up on Saturday morning before the first Resurrection Sunday.

Little do they know there’s a new day coming.

What is life like, the day before the new day? How do you feel?  Can you relate?

You’ve begun to wonder…who are we? Who am I? I’m a failure. I’m a betrayer of friends. I’m a nobody. I’m unworthy. I’m unwanted. I’m the dreamer of lost dreams, the giver of no hope, the person with no future. But what they didn’t know, couldn’t know was that Jesus was doing something that would forever change the answer to the question, “who am I?” At the darkest moment of Saturday night, they were just a few hours away from a new day. And when that new day dawned something happened, something changed.

When the something that happened, happens to them, it will change them forever. Cowardly Peter will no longer hiding in his room, he will be preaching to 1000’s of Jews in Jerusalem. He will be performing miracles! John will no longer quiet, he will be standing up to the Jewish High Council. They will be rejoicing when they get beat; singing when they get thrown into prison; forgiving people as they get stoned to death. It will be an amazing change radical change.

It will be a change that comes not merely through the inspiration of a good story, or the renewing of an old purpose, or the giving of a new dream. It will be a fundamental change of identity, a redemption of the heart, like being reborn. It will be a change of such magnitude that although every other circumstance stays the same, it will still be a new day. But this is Saturday. The day before the new day.

For them. For us. Today is the day after the new day. And still today God offers us a new day. In 2 Corinthians 6:1-2, Paul writes,

Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:1-2

Let me ask you could today be the new day for you? And if you have already embraced a new day…are you living like someone who has been given a new day?