The Third Day

Easter is my favorite holiday of the year. I love everything about it.  I love the promise of spring (even if it isn't necessarily here by Easter).  I love the beautiful crocus blooms and tulips in my yard that is otherwise still kind of "winter ugly."  I love color coming back into everything around me.  I love seeing my kids' and husband's creativity when we decorate eggs.  Mine are always so boring, but they show their amazing creativity and it makes me smile.  I love Easter hymns.  I love being close to the end of the school year.

But most of all, I love all that Easter means when I think of a resurrected Christ.  It seems that all other holidays exist just for the sake of this one.  He was born for the purpose of setting an example for us then dying for us.  He was resurrected so that we might have joy.

I've been reading a book by John Ortberg that describes at length the stories in the Bible that are three day stories.  The list includes the 3 days Esther fasted before going before the king, the three days Jonah was in the big fish, the three days it took for the pagan god Dagon to be destroyed, the three days it took for Jesus to be resurrected, etc.

In each case, the first day was a dark day.  Something happened that was bad, undesirable, etc.  It was a deflating, hope-crushing day.  On the second day, things still seemed to be going badly.  There was no sudden rescue, change of events, etc. just more of the same.  But, when the third day came, that's when our God, who is a third day God, works mighty miracles.  Here's a quote:
"The third day is God's day.  The third day is the day when the people come to the mountains and the mountains shake and rivers are parted and people go into the Promised Land.  The third day is the day when harem girls like Esther face down powerful kings.
"The third day is the day when prophets like Jonah are dropped off at seaside ports by giant fish.  The third day is the day when idols like Dagon come tumbling down and God starts coming home to his people.  The third day is the day stones are rolled away.
"The third day is the day a crucified carpenter came back to life.
"You never know what God is going to do, because God is 'God of the third day.'

He then expounds a lot about all that has happened because Christ was resurrected.

"From that third day on, the world has never been the same.  Jesus' followers, who used to observe the Sabbath, began instead to observe on Sunday -- on the third day -- what they began to call, in the New Testament, the 'Lord's Day.'  The third day is the Lord's Day, because, they said, 'we're third-day people now.  We're betting the farm on this one.'  They said that the kingdom they all had longed for turned out to be real.
"You never know what might happen on the third day.  I cling to that.  I put all my hope in a third-day God.
"But I live in a second day world."

Something about those passages really struck me.  I love the idea that joy cometh after some dark and troubling times.  I love the idea that maybe this life is the 'second day' and joy will come next.  That kind of hope is what makes me love Easter.  It gives me more hope to hang on.

As this Easter day comes to a close, I wish you all a glorious, fabulous spring and all the hope that this life affords.  Happy Easter!