GOD OF THE THIRD DAY

(My post today are the words of John Ortberg written in his excellent book, Faith & Doubt. John's emphasis is on the third day because after Jesus was crucified and buried, he rose on the third day.)

The third day is God's day. The third day is the day when prisoners of Pharaoh get set free. The third day is the day when the people come to the mountains and 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."


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."


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.