Our theme for this month: “Life on this side of the cross”
Our Bible verse for today: “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison who in the past were disobedient …” 1 Peter 3:18-20 (CSB)
Our thought for today: “With God there is always something going on behind the scenes.”
On Friday Jesus suffered and died upon the cross, taking the sins of the world upon Himself. On Saturday He was in the grave and it appeared as if He had failed in His mission to redeem the world. To those who had observed those events, they could only conclude that it had all come to a sad end.
But there was a lot happening behind the scenes.
In 1 Peter 3:18-20 we discover that on Saturday, while His physical body was in the tomb, Jesus was in the spiritual realm declaring a message of victory to imprisoned demons. Not only did people in the physical realm believe that Jesus had failed in His mission, but at that point Satan and the demons thought so too. But what happened on the cross was actually a great victory, and what was going to happen on Sunday would be a bigger victory still. So on Saturday, while the body of Jesus was in the tomb, there was a lot going on behind the scenes in the spiritual realm. I will teach more about this in the Easter sermon at Oak Hill Baptist Church this Sunday morning. You can watch and listen at www.oakhillbaptist.net.
What we see being demonstrated in that passage is the great truth that with God there are always things going on behind the scenes, things that we are probably unaware of. This is what the Apostle Paul was explaining to us in Romans 8:28 when he wrote, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” That does not mean that all things are good, because of course many things are not, they are bad. The crucifixion of Jesus was a cruel and horrible act that was bad. But God works behind the scenes in bad situations bringing good things out of them for those who love Him.
That was true for Jesus and it’s true in your life too. Regardless of how rough Friday was, and regardless of how bad things might look on Saturday, God is at work in the middle of your situation and Sunday is coming! As I wrote in yesterday’s devotional, hang in there. Better days are coming. God’s not done yet. There are good things being prepared for you behind the scenes that you’re not even aware of yet.
Oak Hill Baptist Church