All four Gospels tell us of the burial of Jesus. We know that He was laid in a tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus helped with the burial. They wanted to get Him off the cross and buried before the Sabbath started, which in their way of reckoning time, would be at 6 p.m. on Friday. Look at a detail John included.

John 19:31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.

Jesus was already dead, so His legs were not broken. However, the part of the passage I want to point out is that the Jews said the next day was a “special Sabbath.” Every Sabbath was considered a special day of rest, but this Sabbath was during Passover, so it was considered to be even more significant.

They were correct in saying this would be a special Sabbath, but they did not understand just how special it would be. Even as our God rested on the Sabbath after the six days of Creation, so now our God entered a Sabbath rest in the tomb after the work of redemption was complete. Let that sink in for a moment.

The writer of Hebrews wrote a lot about rest in chapter four, where we read:

Hebrews 4:9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;

And Jesus had earlier said:

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

e enter His rest when we come to faith in Jesus. Our trust in Him guarantees us life eternal, which begins here on earth, and continues when we die. We speak of those who have died “resting in peace.” That is when we enter the eternal rest of being in the presence of our Savior. Not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of who Jesus is and what He did for us.

May Jesus “resting” in the tomb remind you of the rest you have because of your faith in Him.